Dedicated to the memory of Louis Levine z”l,
Baruch Aryeh ben Avraham Halevi
on his twentieth yahrzeit, 19th of Sivan
In Parshat Behaalotcha (Bamidbar 9:9-13), we read about those who are granted the opportunity to observe Pesach Sheni:
God spoke to Moshe saying: “Speak to B’nai Yisrael, saying: Any person, if he will be impure from a human corpse or is on a distant journey, whether among yourselves or for your descendants, he shall perform the Pesach offering for HaShem in the second month, on the fourteenth day, in the afternoon, he shall perform it; with matzot and maror (bitter herbs) they shall eat it…”
The Mishna in Pesachim 93b asks how we would define a distant journey that would exempt someone from observing the first Pesach.
According to Rabbi Akiva, a distant journey is anywhere from the city of Modi’im and beyond or a like distance in any direction.
Rabbi Eliezer says: From the threshold of the Temple courtyard and beyond is considered a distant journey; therefore, anyone located outside the courtyard at the time that the Paschal lamb is slaughtered is exempt from observing the first Pesacḥ.
Rabbi Yosei said to him: Therefore, there is a dot over the letter hey in the word “distant [rechoka]” to say that it is not because he is really distant; rather, it includes anyone located from the threshold of the Temple courtyard and beyond.
In the Gemara, Ulla clarifies how far Modi’im is from the Beit HaMikdash: The distance from the city of Modi’im to Jerusalem is fifteen mil. How far can an average person walk on an average day? One can walk ten parsaot, which are forty mil. This is divided in the following way: From dawn until sunrise one can walk a distance of five mil and from sunset until the emergence of the stars one can walk another five mil. There are thirty mil remaining that one can walk in a day: Fifteen from sunrise to noon and fifteen from noon until nightfall. A distant journey is any distance from which one is unable to reach Jerusalem and enter the Temple by the earliest time of the slaughter of the Paschal lamb.
The Gemara continues on 94a. The Sages taught: If one was standing closer to Jerusalem than Modi’im but was not able to enter the Temple in time due to the camels and wagons which delayed him, I might have thought he would not be liable for failing to offer the Paschal lamb because he is trying to enter; therefore, the verse states: “And was not on a journey,” and this person was not on a distant journey and is therefore liable.
This person could have dismounted and come to Jerusalem on foot, but he wanted to bring his family with him in a carriage and was consequently delayed. One’s liability is determined based on his distance from Jerusalem.
We learn from here that any area that is past Modiin is considered far from Jerusalem. People need to leave enough time to walk all of the way to Jerusalem which could take around four hours. If they plan on “driving”, they also have to keep in mind that there may be traffic and that would not count as an excuse for being late.
With all of the traffic in Israel today, it is crucial to set out early when one has something important to take care of in order to get there in time, especially on the eve of a holiday.
