page_title: Behaalotecha
section_title: Numbers chapter 9
hierarchical_section_title: Behaalotecha / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Numbers chapter 9
caption_attribution_description: English: He led them by a pillar of cloud, illustration from a Bible card published between 1896 and 1913 by the Providence Lithograph Company
context_page_description: Behaalotecha, Beha'alotecha, Beha'alothekha, or Behaaloscha is the 36th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Numbers. The parashah tells of the Menorah in the Tabernacle, the consecration of the Levites, the Second Passover, how a cloud and fire led the Israelites, the silver trumpets, how the Israelites set out on their journeys, the complaints of the Israelites, and how Miriam and Aaron questioned Moses. The parashah constitutes Numbers 8:1–12:16. It is made up of 7,055 Hebrew letters, 1,840 Hebrew words, 136 verses, and 240 lines in a Torah Scroll.
  Jews generally read it in late May or in June. As the parashah sets out some of the laws of Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, Numbers 9:1–14, as the initial Torah reading for the fourth intermediate day of Passover.
context_section_description: The Gemara noted that the events beginning in Numbers 9:1, set "in the first month of the second year," occurred before the events at the beginning of the book of Numbers, which Numbers 1:1 reports began in "the second month, in the second year." Rav Menasia bar Tahlifa said in Rav's name that this proved that there is no chronological order in the Torah.
  The Sifre concluded that Numbers 9:1–5 records the disgrace of the Israelites, as Numbers 9:1–5 reports the only Passover that the Israelites observed in the wilderness.
  Rav Naḥman bar Isaac noted that both Numbers 1:1 and Numbers 9:1 begin, "And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai," and deduced that just as Numbers 1:1 happened (in the words of that verse) "on the first day of the second month," so too Numbers 9:1 happened at the beginning of the month. And as Numbers 9:1 addressed the Passover offering, which the Israelites were to bring on the 14th of the month, the Gemara concluded that one should expound the laws of a holiday two weeks before the holiday.
  Chapter 9 of Tractate Pesachim in the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud and chapter 8 of Tractate Pisha (Pesachim) in the Tosefta interpreted the laws of the second Passover in Numbers 9:1–14. And Tractate Pesachim in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of Passover generally in Exodus 12:3–27, 43–49; 13:6–10; 23:15; 34:25; Leviticus 23:4–8; Numbers 9:1–14; 28:16–25; and Deuteronomy 16:1–8.
  Interpreting Numbers 9:9–10, the Mishnah taught that anyone who was "unclean by reason [of contact] with a dead body or on a distant journey" and did not observe the first Passover was obliged to observe the second Passover. Furthermore, the Mishnah taught that if anyone unintentionally erred or was prevented from observing and thus did not observe the first Passover, then that person was obliged to observe the second Passover. The Mishnah asked why then Numbers 9:10 specified that people "unclean by reason of [contact with] a dead body or on a distant journey" observed the second Passover. The Mishnah answered that it was to teach that those "unclean by reason of [contact with] a dead body or on a distant journey" were exempt from being cut off from their kin, while those who deliberately failed to observe the Passover were liable to being cut off from their kin.
  Interpreting Numbers 9:10, Rabbi Akiva taught that "a distant journey" was one from Modi'in and beyond, and the same distance in any direction from Jerusalem. But Rabbi Eliezer said that a journey was distant anytime one left the threshold of the Temple Court. And Rabbi Yose replied that it is for that reason that there is a dot over the letter hei (ה) in the word "distant" (רְחֹקָה, rechokah) in Numbers 9:10 in a Torah scroll, so as to teach that it was not really distant, but when one had departed from the threshold of the Temple Court, one was regarded as being on "a distant journey."
  The Mishnah noted differences between the first Passover in Exodus 12:3–27, 43–49; 13:6–10; 23:15; 34:25; Leviticus 23:4–8; Numbers 9:1–14; 28:16–25; and Deuteronomy 16:1–8. and the second Passover in Numbers 9:9–13. The Mishnah taught that the prohibitions of Exodus 12:19 that "seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses" and of Exodus 13:7 that "no leaven shall be seen in all your territory" applied to the first Passover; while at the second Passover, one could have both leavened and unleavened bread in one's house. And the Mishnah taught that for the first Passover, one was required to recite the Hallel (Psalms 113–118) when the Passover lamb was eaten; while the second Passover did not require the reciting of Hallel when the Passover lamb was eaten. But both the first and second Passovers required the reciting of Hallel when the Passover lambs were offered, and both Passover lambs were eaten roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. And both the first and second Passovers took precedence over the Sabbath.
  Tractate Beitzah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws
caption: God Led Them by a Pillar of Cloud (illustration from Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company)
exif: {}