So, as we heard, tonight's class is on פסח שני, and the reason I chose that subject is obviously because פסח שני is this week. We still got a few days to prepare to פסח שני, so it's always good to learn about the holiday that we're preparing for, so we know what we're preparing for. In truth, we had a class on פסח שני two, three years ago, I don't remember when, but twice. So, number one, it doesn't matter if we review the same thing that we learned, but besides that, I think, I don't remember exactly, but I think then it was more general, and today I think I will try to get into some more specifics of different opinions in פסח שני. Obviously not the halachic aspect of it, but more the Chassidus aspect of it. But the Chassidus aspect is always an ex- an an explanation, a chassidic ex- explanation on the halachot, certain halachot, there's certain details of whatever holiday it is. So therefore, we will talk about certain opinions of פסח שני and then try to explain what that means looking at it from the perspective of of Chassidus or Kabbalah, etc., etc. We'll start off with a triple argument in Gemara: what is פסח שני? Now when I say what is פסח שני, we all know what פסח שני is. פסח שני is that there was a din, there is a din that a person has to bring a קרבן פסח, a special קרבן פסח on ערב פסח. If a person could not bring it because he was tamei, he was impure, or he was far away, or some other reason that he couldn't bring the קרבן פסח, so Hashem gave a second chance that a month later, which is the fourteenth of Iyar, because ערב פסח is the fourteenth of Nisan, the fourteenth of Iyar you have a chance to bring a second קרבן פסח. So we know what the what פסח שני is. That's not a question. The question is: what is the geder? What kind of Yom Tov is that? Meaning to say like this. And I'll first quote the wording of the different opinions, and then I'll explain it, and then I will go into trying to explain the chasidishe aspect of it. One opinion says that פסח שני is a רגל בפני עצמו. רגל בפני עצמו means it's a Yom Tov for itself. I'll explain in a moment the difference between the opinions. The second one is that it's not a רגל בפני עצמו, it's not a Yom Tov in itself, but it's תשלומין, תקנתא ד-, תשלומין דראשון. It's משלים, it finishes off what the first one was missing, was not finished. And the third opinion is it's תקנתא דראשון. It's מתקן, it fixes what the first one was missing. And I'll say I'll talk exact- explain exactly what the peshat in this Gemara is based on the interpretation of Rabbeinu Avraham ben HaRambam, because there are different interpretations in in the Gemara what the three opinions mean. Rashi actually has a little bit different, but the simplest one, the one that makes more sense, it's easier to understand, is the interpretation of Rav Avraham ben HaRambam. And this is what he says: The first opinion is, רגל בפני עצמו means it's a Yom Tov for itself, meaning to say that even though the one that brought the קרבן פסח on ערב פסח does not have to bring the קרבן פסח on Pesach Sheni, but the Pesach Sheni is a Yom Tov for itself, and therefore if somebody was not obligated to bring the first קרבן פסח, he still has to bring Pesach Sheni. If Pesach Sheni is only to make up for what you missed out because you did something wrong by not bringing the first korban, so if somebody was not obligated to bring the first korban, then he shouldn't have to bring Pesach Sheni. For instance, גר שנתגייר, if a person, a goy, converted in the days of sefirah between Pesach and Pesach Sheni, he never was obligated to bring the קרבן פסח. So if you would hold like the other two opinions, that it's to fix up the first or to be משלים, to finish off the first, that means that if you had the first, you got to do something about it. You had an obligation on the first, you missed out your obligation, you got to do it. But if you never had the obligation, then you shouldn't have to do it. Or another example: a child becomes bar mitzvah in middle of between Pesach and Pesach Sheni, he wouldn't have to bring the קרבן פסח because you never were obligated. So this opinion says: No, you are supposed to bring because it's a Yom Tov for itself. There is a Yom Tov that Pesach Sheni is a beginning of an obligation, but there is a condition to this Yom Tov. The condition is that if you brought the first korban you don't have to bring the second. But the second is a Yom Tov in itself, it's an obligation in itself that even if you did not have the obligation first. The second opinion, which says it is תשלומין דראשון, means like this, that when a person brings the קרבן פסח, doesn't bring the קרבן פסח in the first Pesach, automatically he has done the sin for which he is he would get the punishment of karet. We know that for not bringing the קרבן פסח the punishment is karet. Karet is a very harsh punishment, punishment that Hashem would make the person die at a young age, etc., etc. If he wants to get rid of that karet, he has to bring the Pesach Sheni. Now, what happens if when it came to Pesach Sheni, something happened beyond his control and he couldn't bring it? He still would be חייב כרת. In other words, this opinion holds that פסח ראשון is the Yom Tov, you have to bring the קרבן פסח, for not bringing it you're חייב כרת. Now, if you bring the second one, you take off the karet. If you didn't bring the second for whatever reason, your karet is there. The third opinion says no, that when a person doesn't bring the קרבן the Pesach Rishon, he is not חייב כרת yet. If he doesn't bring the Pesach Sheni, that's when he's חייב כרת. And therefore, if something came up that he couldn't bring the Pesach Sheni, he's not חייב כרת, because he was a shogeg. According to the second opinion, he's חייב כרת right away no matter what. He could take it away. If his mazal was that he couldn't take it away, so too bad on him, because you're חייב כרת right away, so the second one is just תשלומין. The third one says it's תקנתא דראשון, means it is the tikkun. In other words, the first one is not finished. When you don't bring the first, there is it's not over yet. Your karet is not there till you bring the second. If you don't bring the second, you get karet, as only then. Obviously, if you were shogeg, you couldn't bring the second beyond your control, then you're not חייב כרת. These are the three opinions. So basically, to get back, one opinion is that Pesach Sheni is a Yom Tov in itself. The second one is that Pesach Sheni that the Pesach Rishon is finished and Pesach Sheni could come and be משלים it. And the third one is that Pesach Sheni that Pesach Rishon right away in Pesach Rishon right away we have the fact that you're able to bring Pesach Sheni and you don't get karet yet without the Pesach Sheni. What we need to understand is that since we know that even though when there's an machloket in Gemara and the halacha is usually like, not usually, is always like one opinion, you can't have the halacha like all three, it's one of the three, but אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים. Because they're opinions in Torah, all of them are true. Not physically, physically the halacha is like one, but spiritually they're all true. So we have to find the spiritual interpretation of these three opinions in Pesach Sheni, which will explain to us what they are, so we'll see how all three are true. The halacha actually is like the first opinion, that it is a רגל בפני עצמו, it's a separate Yom Tov. Because it's a separate Yom Tov, because that's the halacha, the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvot where he enumerates every single mitzvah, he counts the mitzvah of פסח שני as a separate mitzvah. One mitzvah is to bring פסח ראשון, then there's a separate mitzvah to bring פסח שני. And the reason the commentaries say is because since the halacha is that it's רגל בפני עצמו, it's a separate Yom Tov, so it's a separate mitzvah. So therefore, פסח שני is a separate mitzvah in the count, in the numbers of mitzvot. But the question is, as much as it's a רגל בפני עצמו, it's a Yom Tov for itself, nevertheless, the one that brought פסח ראשון does not have to bring פסח שני. So it would seem that as much as it's a separate Yom Tov, but the inyan, the concept of it, is a substitute for the first, but not in a way that if you were not obligated you don't have to bring, you have to bring it anyway. But it still should not be a separate mitzvah, because after all, it's only a repeat. It's a repeat as a Yom Tov for itself, but it is definitely a repeat of פסח ראשון. The proof is that if someone brought פסח ראשון, you don't bring פסח שני. So if it's a repeat of פסח ראשון, why in the mitzvot should it be counted as a separate mitzvah? So that's another thing that we have to understand. And again, we're not going to go into this according to halacha, according to pilpul, according to nigleh, the way it will be understood according to Chassidut.

So to understand this, let's just first look at other details in connection to פסח שני. The difference between פסח שני and פסח ראשון, and the regular קרבן פסח. The din by פסח ראשון is that when you bring the קרבן פסח, you are not allowed to have any chametz. You bring it at a time when chametz is already forbidden. You couldn't bring the קרבן פסח before midday, only after chatzot, and then already was a time that you were not allowed to have any chametz. פסח שני, at the time you bring the Pesach Sheni, at the time you're eating the Pesach Sheni, you're allowed to have chametz in your house. You're just not allowed to eat chametz together with the meat of the קרבן פסח. But there is no din of בל יראה בל ימצא, there is no din that you're not allowed to own, see, or have chametz in your possession. You're allowed to. You're allowed to even have eaten chametz five minutes before, you can eat chametz five minutes later. Just at the time you can't. While on the first Pesach, Pesach Rishon is a time when you are not allowed to have chametz. Then there's another thing the Gemara says as a difference between the first Pesach and the second. The first Pesach, the Gemara says, is seven days. The second Pesach is just one day. Now even though the קרבן פסח, even by the first one, is only once, they don't bring the קרבן פסח for seven days, but nevertheless, the Gemara refers to it that the קרבן פסח is a is a קרבן which has along with it seven days. All seven days are an extension of Pesach. Actually we call the יום טוב פסח in connection to the קרבן פסח. So the din of Pesach which is connected to the Pesach Rishon is seven days. While the din of Pesach in connection to Pesach Sheni is one day. They brought the קרבן פסח on the fourteenth of Iyar, and then they, later on at night you ate it, and that's it, there is nothing more with the קרבן פסח. What is the reason for it? So in order to give the reason we have to understand: what is the spiritual difference between Pesach Rishon and Pesach Sheni? Pesach Rishon is when a person brings the קרבן פסח as he is supposed to, as is the proper order of things. The seder is there's a certain time when the קרבן פסח has to be brought, a person brings the קרבן פסח in its proper time, בזמנו, in its time. Pesach Sheni is when a person brings the קרבן פסח not in its proper time, in a time when really this is not the time of Pesach. And therefore there would have been even a thought, a hava amina, that you shouldn't be able to bring. Like we find by all other sacrifices, עבר זמנו בטל קרבנו. When you have to bring a קרבן at a certain time, and the time passed, that's it, you can't bring the קרבן again. You have to bring the קרבנות of מוסף. On שבת they would bring special קרבן מוסף, that's why we daven Mussaf. Let's say for some reason they didn't bring it, they didn't have the animal, whatever, they didn't bring it. Too bad! You can't make it up, say, \"Well, I'll bring the מוסף tomorrow.\" So there would have been a thought here also, since it's not the right time, you missed out the time, you can't bring it, so you shouldn't be able to bring it again. Nevertheless, the קרבן פסח שני means that at a time when it's not the right, proper time, you still are able to bring the קרבן. And that's where the famous expression of the Frierdiker Rebbe comes in, that פסח שני means az s'iz nitah kein farfalen. It's never too late. That's what it means. This is a type of קרבן that's never too late. You missed the time, but you didn't miss the boat, you still are able to fix it. Which basically means, if we want to put it into other words, that the difference between פסח ראשון and פסח שני is, that פסח ראשון represents what we would call in חסידות עבודת הצדיקים. And פסח שני represents עבודת הבעלי תשובה. A tzaddik is a person that does everything correctly, does everything properly, does everything according to the proper order. There's a pasuk that says, אלקים עשה את האדם ישר, השם made a person straight. And a tzaddik is a person who works straight, does everything right. A baal teshuvah is a person who missed out, he didn't do things right, and now he's trying to fix later on what he missed out before. And that is basically the difference between the two קרבנות. פסח ראשון is the עבודת צדיקים, that's when you do things right, he brings the קרבן פסח in its proper time, and פסח שני represents the fact that there are people who serve Hashem as baalei teshuvah, that they did not do the right thing before, they missed out on what they were supposed to do, and now they are changing themselves and coming back and doing the right thing. That's what פסח שני represents. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said, פסח שני is nitah kein farfalen, there's not too late, means a baal teshuvah is never too late. When we look at the circumstances of the two קרבנות, we see exactly that's how it was. What were the circumstances of the first Pesach? Of the קרבן פסח? The circumstances were the time of יציאת מצרים. When the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, they were basically all tzaddikim. Why? Because we know that the time of יציאת מצרים, that's when the gerut, the conversion of the Yidden started. So the Yidden were like gerim. As bad as we always say that the Yidden were in מצרים, and they had to run away from מצרים, etc., etc., but that all didn't count, because they were like gerim. And what's the din of a ger? גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד דמי. A ger that converts is like a child that's born. All the things that he did before don't count, they don't exist. He's a new human being, actually a new human being. Even his relationship to his relatives don't count. His father is not his father, and his mother is not his mother, and his sister is not his sister. There are certain דינים מדרבנן that they still have to keep in order people shouldn't look, say, look what happened, he became a Yid, he doesn't care about his parents. So the רבנן made certain דינים, but באמת, he's like a newborn child with everything from before is off. So when the Yidden went out of מצרים, since they were gerim at that time, they were tzadikim, because they had no past. So they had no עבירות to say that they're now doing teshuvah for עבירות. What they did have were mitzvot. They had the mitzvah of Korban Pesach, they had the mitzvah of milah, that's all they had. All the other things don't count, so they were basically tzadikim.

Let's look at the circumstances of Pesach Sheni. What happened at Pesach Sheni? There were people in the מדבר, in the desert, that was a year later, that were tamei. And when people are tamei, that shows that they are not tzadikim. Tumah, impurity, shows that they're not at the level the way it should be. A tzadik is tahor, is pure, is clean. They were not, so obviously they were not, at that time things were not right. And what kind of tumah did they have? We have different types of impurity in the Torah. The worst one of all is טומאת מת. From one perspective, there are other פסוקים, מצורע stuff, but from one perspective, טומאת מת is the worst, when you become tamei by touching a dead body. And that's what they were. These people, it says in Chumash, were tamei because they touched a dead body, and that shows their level was very, very far from kedushah. It represents that, because the whole concept of death has to do with the חטא עץ הדעת. When did death come into the world? From the sin of the עץ הדעת. So טומאת מת shows an extension of the עץ הדעת, which is the source of all sins. So therefore, a person who's טמא מת shows on a very, very low level. Actually, it says in Midrash that when Moshe Rabbeinu heard from Hashem the laws of טומאת מת, that there is a person who could become טמא מת, the Midrash says the words נתכרכמו פניו של משה. Moshe's face became white, became frightened, and he said to Hashem, \"זה, במה תהא טהרתו? Something like this, such a terrible thing, will he ever be able to get pure and clean again?\" So Hashem said, \"Don't worry, I'll give you the din of פרה אדומה, and there is a way to get clean.\" Why did Moshe get so scared? When he heard about other טומאות, he didn't get so scared, of טומאת נבילה, מצורע, because this represents the lowest level a person could reach. So here we're talking about the people in the מדבר who were in the level of tamei, טמאי מת, and they came to Moshe Rabbeinu, and they said, \"למה נגרע? Why should we miss out in bringing the קרבן פסח in its proper time?\" By them saying \"למה נגרע\", you know what they did? Teshuvah. That was teshuvah. What is a baal teshuvah? A baal teshuvah, how does a person do teshuvah? Comes to Hashem and he says to Hashem, \"I feel bad for what I did. I don't want to have that, I want to change, and I want to have an opportunity to do everything good.\" That's exactly what they said. They came and they did vidui. What's vidui? One of the things in teshuvah is vidui, confession. That's what they said, \"למה נגרע, we are tamei, why should we lose out?\" So basically, the circumstances that brought about פסח שני represent teshuvah. So here we see when we're dividing the two levels, that פסח ראשון is the level of the way a tzadik works, and פסח שני is a baal teshuvah, we actually see it not only because this is the proper time, so that's like a tzadik, and this is someone who lost time, missed, and therefore he's like a baal teshuvah. The original circumstances where they both started show that this is tzadikim and this is baalei teshuvah. Which is the reason Chassidus says why the din of פסח שני came from Hashem different than most of the mitzvot in the Torah. Most of the mitzvot in the Torah did not come after a request. Hashem told Moshe, \"Tell the Yidden, put on tefillin, tell the Yidden to do this, tell the Yidden to do this, tell the...\" Very few we find. This is one of them, that the people came and they requested, and they wanted, and Hashem answered them, \"Okay, you can have it.\" Why is this why if Hashem wanted there should be פסח שני, and obviously He did want, and the best proof He wanted is that He gave it, so why didn't He give it Himself? Why did He wait for them to come? The answer is, because פסח שני represents teshuvah, and this is the whole concept of a baal teshuvah. A baal teshuvah, it says in Chassidus, does not come because there is some גילוי אור, some light that shines upon him from שמים, because a baal teshuvah means a person who before he's a baal teshuvah, in simple words he's a בעל עבירה. He's a person who does aveirot, a person who is in a low level, a person who is not a keli, not a vessel to respond to any Godly Godly revelation. So what pulls him out from that mud? It comes from within himself. A baal teshuvah, it says, comes because a Yid has a neshamah, so from in ממטה למעלה, that's exactly what it says, that a tzadik's avodah is ממעלה למטה, comes from above, and this is as from himself, from himself he comes to realize and something happens within him, and he comes and turns back to Hashem. That's what teshuvah is. That's why פסח שני, which is the level of baal teshuvah, came because they asked for it, it has to come ממטה למעלה. So here we have, according to Chassidus, that the difference between פסח ראשון and פסח שני is פסח ראשון is צדיקים, פסח שני is the level of בעלי תשובה. Which of the two is greater? So, we all know. On one hand, צדיקים are greater and therefore פסח ראשון is greater, and that makes sense. פסח ראשון, which is the right way to do it, that's the right way, that's the פסח שני is already, ווי מען זאגט אין אידיש, שוין געלאטעט, that's already patched up, so that's not the same. So פסח ראשון should be higher. On the other hand, we know that baalei teshuvot a baal teshuvah is greater than a tzadik. במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים, צדיקים גמורים אינם יכולים לעמוד. The level of baal teshuvah tzadikim don't stand. And there are many explanations why, but one of the explanations why a baal teshuvah is higher, because a baal teshuvah can elevate and be מברר things which a tzadik can't. A tzadik, when he eats, he elevates the food, when he does a mitzvah with something, he elevates the גשמיות, he brings a lot of kedushah into the world, obviously. But there is a limit of how low he could go. He could only elevate things which are kosher. There's no way a tzadik could elevate חזיר, because the Torah said, \"Don't eat it.\" He can't. He could lower himself to drink water, which is not a mitzvah, but by making a brachah and and making a ברכה אחרונה, and drinking it לשם שמים, he elevates it, but there's a limit. A baal teshuvah is able to elevate something that's very, very low. And the koach to do that has to come from a very, very high level. Because in order to have that power of lowering yourself to something that's so low and being able to bring it, like a baal teshuvah. How does a baal teshuvah do it? A baal teshuvah did aveirot, he ate חזיר, and now when the baal teshuvah does teshuvah, we know זדונות נעשו לו כזכיות, his aveirot turned into mitzvot. So now the חזיר that he ate has an elevation. So he has the power. Where does he get that power? It says that's from such a high Godly level, which Chasidut would call למעלה מהשתלשלות, that's higher than השתלשלות. Because from the level of השתלשלות, which is limited, even spiritually limited, this cannot happen. Even spiritually there's a limit what you could do. There's a limit how far you could bring Godliness. But it could only come from a higher level. That's why we find an interesting thing in Midrash. It says in Midrash that three were asked, what should a person who did an aveirah do? חכמה was asked, נבואה was asked, and Torah was asked. These three. No one came up with the answer, let him do teshuvah. Then finally sha'alu laHakadosh Baruch Hu, they asked Hashem Himself, and Hashem said חוטא מה תיקונו? What should a sinner do? יעשה תשובה ויתכפר לו, he should do teshuvah. So chassidut explains, what does that mean? That only because of such a high level, which is higher than hishtalshelut, that's why there could be such a thing as teshuvah. From the lower level, even from the level of Torah, the level of נבואה, the level of חכמה, this couldn't happen, because it makes no sense. If he did an aveirah and something is bad, how could you elevate the evil that you have within you? How could you change it? It's impossible. But only because Hashem Himself, who's beyond everything and there's no limits to Hashem, so Hashem could do it. And that's what happens by פסח שני, that by פסח שני there is this כח of teshuvah, which is stronger than the one that brings פסח ראשון. This is the explanation to the two differences that we said between פסח ראשון and פסח שני. פסח ראשון we said you're not allowed to have chametz in your house. פסח שני you are. Another thing: פסח ראשון is seven days, פסח שני is one day. The difference is because of what I just explained now. Why is it that by פסח ראשון you can't have chametz in your house? Because chametz represents גאוה, חמץ represents evil, chametz, always in the Gemara when they use it, not always, sometimes when they want to say someone became bad, turned bad, it says החמיץ, became sour, chametz actually means sour, so chametz represents קליפה, evil. In the time of פסח ראשון, which is the avodah of צדיקים, צדיקים cannot elevate the evil. They can elevate things which are not holy, but things which are evil they can't elevate. They could elevate, as chassidut says, קליפת נוגה, but not שלש קליפות הטמאות לגמרי, not things which are complete קליפה. That's why פסח ראשון, which represents the avodah of tzadikim, you can't have chametz, because chametz is a contradiction to serving Hashem. So when you're serving Hashem with the korban Pesach, which represents your service of Hashem, going to Hashem and elevating, you can't have chametz in your house. While a baal teshuvah, Pesach Sheni, he has that power of elevating even evil, even שלש קליפות הטמאות לגמרי, which is completely evil, he has that power, as he says. So Pesach Sheni, to show that if this represents the level of a baal teshuvah, you're allowed to have chametz in your house. That means that there's a korban Pesach and you're serving Hashem and you have chametz, because you could even bring up the chametz. It's similar to what it says the difference between Pesach and Shavuos. Pesach, chametz is forbidden, forbidden. All year round it's not forbidden, but it's not a mitzvah. Shavuos, chametz is a mitzvah. The שתי הלחם, the special two breads that was brought in the Beis Hamikdash on Shavuos, was a special din, had to be chametz. Normally chametz was forbidden in the Beis Hamikdash all year round. Not only Pesach. A קרבן מנחה that was made with bread didn't have chametz. A pasuk says כי כל שאור וכל דבש לא תקטירו, you can't bring chametz. The לחם הפנים, the bread, the what's called, the showbread, which were a tefach thick, a tefach, but it was matzah, it wasn't chametz, it was a special way to bake it so it shouldn't become chametz, but you're not allowed chametz. Shavuos, the two special breads that they had to bring on Shavuos was chametz. And Chassidus says the difference is like this: Pesach is a time when we just start, and therefore we cannot get involved with chametz, chametz is dangerous. By the time you reach Shavuos, and then you already passed the seven weeks of Sefirah, which means you counted the days and you elevated, you refined yourself, you purified your middos, by then, when it comes to Shavuos, already you could have chametz, you have the power of elevating. Similar to that is the idea of פסח שני. פסח שני is not Shavuos yet, but פסח שני represents the level of a baal teshuvah who has the power of elevating even chametz, which is similar to Shavuos. For the same reason, פסח שני is one day, and not seven like Pesach, like Shavuos. It says in Chassidus: why is Shavuos one day? Other holidays are not. Shavuos is one of the שלש רגלים, the three special holidays, Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos. Pesach is seven, we're talking from the Torah, now it's eight. Sukkos is eight, now it's nine. Shavuos is only one. So normally we think Shavuos is one because it's a שוואכע יום טוב, it's a smaller Yom Tov, so one day is enough. Pesach is a special Yom Tov with matzah, we're not allowed to eat chametz, Sukkos with sukkah, with lulav, with etrog, it's a special... Shavuos, what do we do on Shavuos? There's nothing special, Shavuos is just a Yom Tov and that's it. You eat blintzes, what else do you do, I mean there's nothing special on Shavuos. So it's one day. So Chassidus says the opposite: Shavuos is one day because it's a higher level. One represents unity. One represents the nekudah. It represents something that's beyond limits. Seven is a limit. Eight is a limit. The reason Pesach is seven, it says clearly, because seven days is the time when we purify our seven middah. Seven days means that we have all seven days of the week, just like it says by Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, why are there seven days of עשרת ימי תשובה? Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah is two days, Yom Kippur is one day, all together it's ten, you have seven days in between. So the Arizal says: because no matter which day it starts, if you have seven days, you have every day of the week. So we need seven days of עשרת ימי תשובה to do teshuvah. The Sunday of עשרת ימי תשובה is teshuvah for all Sundays, the Monday is for all Mondays, etc., etc. The same thing with Pesach. It's not teshuvah, but the idea is Pesach is we have to work with one middah, another middah. But Shavuos, it says, since it's the day of Kabbalat haTorah, Hashem gave the Torah, that's something that's a nekudah. Nekudah means it's a, how would you say it in English? Nekudah means a dot, but it means it's very essential that's beyond the limitations. And that's connected to teshuvah, because we know by teshuvah, the Zohar says, how long does it take to do teshuvah? בשעתא חדא וברגעא חדא. You can do teshuvah in one split second. Certainly, if you want to expand on it, but the concept of teshuvah is בשעתא חדא וברגעא חדא, in one second. Shavuos, it says, is a day, it has to be a day, it can't really In theory, Shavuos should have been a second. But it can't be a second, so it's one day. The moment you have more than one, the Rabbanan is a second day, but if you have more than one originally, it shows it's already there's a limit, there's a limit of two. Then it will be less than Pesach. Two is less than seven. But one is not less than seven. One is less than seven, but one represents something that completely beyond, that's why since there's no limit, so it's one. And that's why Pesach Sheni, because it's teshuvah, teshuvah is in one second. We find in the famous story in the Gemara of Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia, that Rabbi Elazar ben Dordia was a big baal aveirah, he did all the aveirot in the world. He did all the aveirot in the world. So, finally, something happened that caused him to realize his mistake, and when he realized that, he sat down at the, by the big mountains. That is a separate avodah. And that's what it is. It's the avodah of teshuvah, which comes, if you didn't, if you're not a tzaddik, then you do the avodah of teshuvah. But it's a separate mitzvah, a separate mitzvah means it's a complete different avodah.

This is the explanation for the three opinions of what פסח שני is, according to Chassidus. Because since we just said that keep on saying that פסח שני is teshuvah, in teshuvah you have three types, three levels. One level of teshuvah is that when a person does an aveirah, in the aveirah itself is built in the fact that he could do teshuvah. It's an aveirah, when you do an aveirah, you have at that moment a chance to do teshuvah, which is parallel to that level that that opinion that says that when you do, when you missed the קרבן פסח, you have the chance to bring the פסח שני. See, what did we say there are? One opinion is that it's a separate Yom Tov. Another opinion is one opinion is that says that right away, when you do the קרבן פסח, you're not חייב כרת. In other words, right away you have that chance of פסח שני. And the other opinion says no, it's finished, you're חייב כרת, then if you want, you can come later and fix it, and if you made a if you couldn't do it, then you get your כרת. So, here, too, we find teshuvah, normally, when a person does an aveirah, you're able to do teshuvah. As soon as you do the aveirah, you're able to do teshuvah, which is similar to that opinion that when you didn't bring the קרבן פסח, you have at that moment the opportunity to bring פסח שני. You're not finished yet because you can bring פסח שני. When you do an aveirah, you're not finished, you could do teshuvah. But then there is a case where a person cannot do teshuvah. האומר אחטא ואשוב, if someone says that, \"I'm doing the aveirah because I know I could do teshuvah,\" אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה. They don't allow him to do teshuvah. So, as far as the aveirah is concerned, you are finished now, you can't do teshuvah. Nevertheless, we all know that there is a concept called דחק ונכנס. If you push hard, you could get through. But that's something that's new. It's not that like in the first case, a normal case when you do an aveirah, right then and there you have a possibility of doing teshuvah. That's something new, that if you there is no possibility now, but if you later on work hard, you could push in. That's what the Alter Rebbe says that even those places where it says אין מספיקין, that they don't let you do teshuvah, it just means they don't help you, they don't give you the opportunity. But if you want, you have to work hard to push through. The ראיה, the famous ראיה they bring from the Alter Rebbe is from the story of Acher. Acher, the famous Acher who used to be a great tanna, and then he turned away from Yiddishkeit, whatever, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, \"שובו בנים שובבים חוץ מאחר. I want all My children to return to Me except Acher.\" So Acher said, when he heard that, he said, \"If Hashem doesn't want me, that means He's not going to give me Olam Haba anyway, so what's the use?\" That's when he went completely out all the way against Yiddishkeit. So the Maharsha asks the question: how can we blame him? If Hashem Himself made this announcement that, \"I don't want you. You're not going to be able to come back anyway,\" so why do we blame him? The Maharsha asks, says, but Hashem takeh said it, but דחק, had he pushed, he would have gotten in, and he should have pushed. So we see that even where there is a case where they make an announcement from heaven that you're not, that means when you did an aveira, you are finished, you are able to push in. So the same thing by אחטא ואשוב, if someone says, \"I will do an aveira, and I will do teshuva,\" which אין מספיקין, that means as far as you're concerned, the aveira now doesn't leave place for teshuva, if you want, later on, you could do teshuva. So that, the second level type of teshuva, that the teshuva doesn't come directly after the aveira, but it comes later, which is like by the Korban Pesach, the other opinion, which says that when you don't bring the Korban Pesach, you are finished, you have karet, but then you have another chance later on. So the normal case of an aveira is the other opinion, the opinion that right away, within the not bringing the Korban Pesach, already there is built in the fact that you bring a Pesach Sheni. And then this type of aveira is that as far as aveira is concerned, it's over, later on, there's a new thing of teshuva if you push. Then there is another level of teshuva, that is not for aveirot. We all know that the Baal Shem Tov said that there is a level of teshuva which is not for aveirot. The Baal Shem Tov said, \"Every tzaddik, every talmid chacham has to do teshuva.\" Which was, by the way, one of the sources, causes for the מחלוקת between chasidim and mitnagdim in the time of the Baal Shem Tov. They said, \"How could you say that? You are mezalzel, you are going against the kavod of tzaddikim, of talmidei chachamim.\" But he explained, what he meant was, not teshuvah for aveirot. The neshama of a Yid came down from heaven and is not at all at the same spiritual level as it was before it came down, and our job is לשוב, to make the neshama return back to that same level. That's also called teshuvah. And that also has a lot of things in common with regular teshuvah, not for now, but that's a level of teshuvah which is not for aveirot. That level of teshuvah we could call is a רגל בפני עצמו, that's a separate Yom Tov for itself, a separate level for itself. And since Pesach Sheni is the the day that represents teshuvot, so in Pesach Sheni, we have all kinds of teshuvot. All three possible levels of teshuvah, and that's why in Gemara we find three opinions, and we said they're all right. Halacha, it's one, but they're all right spiritually, because spiritually, Pesach Sheni, which represents teshuvah, on one hand, the fact it represents teshuvah, so it's a רגל בפני עצמו, תשובה is something that is a separate issue, nothing to do with aveirot, nothing to do with פסח ראשון. It's a Yom Tov for itself. Even if he didn't miss out on פסח ראשון, he was never obligated, he was a ger, he was a child before, and was not obligated. He had to bring Pesach Sheni, because it's an avodah for a person even if he did not do aveirot. Then there's the second opinion, that when you do the aveirah, right away you're finished, and then later there is something else, that's the other level of teshuvah if you say אחטא ואשוב. And then the third, other level of teshuvah is by a regular aveirah, when you do an aveirah, you have the opportunity right away to do teshuvah, that's the third opinion of the קרבן פסח. But the bottom line of all that is, that when it comes to Pesach Sheni, and when it comes to the days before Pesach Sheni when we prepare ourselves for Pesach Sheni, we have to keep in mind that this is another opportunity to do teshuvah. And not only opportunity, it's a time when this is the obligation. People think the obligation to do teshuvah is Tishrei, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, Elul. A person always has to do teshuvah, but besides having to always do teshuvah, there are certain times of the year when that is the I wouldn't say the mitzvah of the day, but that is the inyan of the day. Pesach Sheni is one of those things, is the inyan of the day, that it's never, never too late. And it says in Chassidus that Pesach Sheni, it's called the second Pesach, is connected to another Sheni that there is. In Tanya, it says in the beginning of the second perek, והנפש השנית בישראל, there is a second nefesh. It says every person, every Yid, every Yid has two nefashot. The first one is the נפש הבהמית, והנפש השנית, the second nefesh is a חלק אלוק ממעל ממש, is part of Hashem. And it says in Chassidus that Pesach Sheni has to do with נפש השנית. That when a person's נפש השנית, his neshamah, is very, very strong and shines very strongly, this person will fulfill the mitzvah of Pesach Sheni very much. Because if your neshamah is strong, you always are able to do teshuvah, whether it's for aveirot, or even not for aveirot, teshuvah as a mitzvah for as an inyan for itself, and we're able to get closer to Hashem in the time of Pesach Sheni more than other times of the year. Well, for us, Pesach Sheni, the way we celebrate it is just to be like the some practical thing is that we eat matzah. We should eat matzah on Pesach Sheni. There's a question when to eat the matzah. Should the matzah be eaten during the day of 14th, because that's when they brought the קרבן פסח, פסח שני, or do we eat it at the time when they ate the Pesach Sheni? The Pesach Sheni was eaten at night, the night after, so we eat at night. The Rebbe writes, it's not clear. He says it's not clear. The Munkatcher used to eat both times. But I think the custom that's accepted is to eat during the day. Chabad is, that's the most accepted custom. And by doing that, it reminds us of the what it it stands for. Yes. Well, in different In different places in chassidus, it says different It says that they were looking at it from different perspectives. From one perspective, they were very low, and it says that they had to pick them up, and the other perspective it says that what they had to do is a practical thing, pashut, because physically they were still the way they were. But in level, in status, they were considered tzaddikim. Because what does it mean to be a tzaddik and a baal teshuvah? What was your past? Did you have aveirot? Since they were גרים, there's no aveirot. But physically their מדות were still... Take למשל, I'll give an example of a person who's מגייר, a person who has bad מדות and he's מגייר. So what does this person have to do? He has to work on his מדות. But it doesn't change the fact that the second he's מגייר, he's a tzaddik. He has no aveirot. But since physically he's still the same human being as before and characteristics are bad, so he has to work on it. That's true. That's exactly the way it happened here. It shows the fact that they had to elevate themselves, but as their status, they had the status of tzaddikim. This was the beginning of the גירות, it started. The Rebbe, when he explains this, he says that this was And he writes: התחלת גירות, the word התחלת in parentheses with a question mark. In other words, the Rebbe himself questioning himself, is this considered the beginning of גירות? Or is this considered already a גירות which finished off later? But not for sure Well, the טבילה was actually later, too. The טבילה was before מתן תורה. But this was definitely the beginning, because מילה, this was the מילה, but it was already the יציאת מצרים. So, to a certain degree, this was at that time the inyan of גירות. The שלמות of גירות was later. But the Rebbe himself questions it whether it's it's the real only the התחלה or it's the real גירות. But definitely it shows that they represent the fact that they were like גרים. That's a good question. Should be everything. It shows everything. But Pesach, the קרבן פסח is the beginning of Klal Yisrael. The יציאת מצרים it says that was the birth of Klal Yisrael. So when Hashem wants to give us a lesson that there is never too late, he couldn't give her everything, so he chose the first, very first mitzvah that he gave us as a as they're becoming, and from there we take the lesson. Just one second, yeah. Why a month? Well, a month that's the cycle. By Yidden, we go follow the moon. A month that is a complete cycle. Actually, the fact that there is a year is something new, because according to the cycle of the month there is no such thing as a year. Every 30 days Yeah, yeah, that's the complete cycle of time. Exactly. That's why it's called chodesh. The word chodesh comes from the word חדש, which means new. Every month is a renewal again of the beginning. A month later, it's exactly, it's a new beginning. It's a new beginning in a different level altogether. Right, right, the same day, but in the second, in the month of Iyar. Yeah. Even though they were tzadikim. But it still represents the nekudah, it teaches us. See, from what they were, and from the level that they were in tumah, it teaches us that this is a level of changing from tumah, because of tumah. Vadai In other words, not every aspect of the story fits to this, but we're taking out points. Vadai, never will we find any mashal we find that every prat of it... Here certain pratim fit, certain pratim it teaches something else. This prat teaches us this inyan of teshuvah. Those that observed פסח ראשון? No. Okay. But it represents, see, those those few had to bring the קרבן פסח, but the Yom Tov was celebrated by everybody, because what that represents, everybody has to follow. Like now, we don't have פסח ראשון, we don't have פסח שני. Why do we follow פסח שני? Because it represents something, and that teaches us a certain, another teshuvah. Well, we have the halachah, not a story. המקדש את האשה על מנת שאני צדיק גמור, אפילו רשע גמור, הרי זו מקודשת. It doesn't say, I don't know of a story, but it says halachah. If you give kiddushin to a woman, saying on condition that I'm a tzadik, even if he's a rasha, she's mekudeshet, because he thought in a second he can think teshuvah. Now, are there other stories in Gemara? There's another story similar to Elazar ben Dordia. Reish Lakish. Reish Lakish, yeah. Teshuvah, he decided, right? He made a החלטה, yeah. That's, for an example, I don't know if it says the word teshuvah, but yeah, he made a החלטה to learn Torah, yeah, yeah. Well then, that wasn't teshuvah, that's zechut. He had a זכות למעלה that overweighed all his aveirot, because of mesirat nefesh, that he put his life on the line to save other Yidden, yeah, but that's not, that's not teshuvah. Teshuvah, I... Well, we don't have a קרבן פסח now, but we have a זכר. But the זכר ברוחניות we have to accomplish what they accomplished then. We still do the spiritual avodah of what they did then, we could do now just as well. Right, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it's too severe of a aveirah.