Halacha Date: 20 Nissan 5786 April 7 2026
The Torah (Shemot 12) states: “Speak to the community leadership of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. But if the household is too small for a lamb, let it share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted—head, legs, and entrails—over the fire. You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a Passover offering to Hashem. For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, both human and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I am Hashem. And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.”
Our Sages taught the Jewish nation took male lambs and tied it to their beds on the Tenth of Nissan (which also happened to be Shabbat Ha’Gadol). The lamb remained tied to their beds for several days until the Fourteenth of Nissan, Erev Pesach, at which point the lambs were slaughtered and their blood was smeared on all Jewish doorposts. As a result, the Jewish nation merited redemption from Egypt.
Hagaon Harav Tzvi Pesach Frank zt”l (about whom Maran zt”l exclaimed that he received his skills for halachic ruling from Harav Frank, who received it from Harav Shmuel Salant zt”l) explains that the point of all of the miracles that occurred to the Jewish nation in Egypt, which are still recounted until this very day, was to instill in them the belief in Hashem’s divine intervention in this world.
In those generations, people were steeped in all sorts of idolatrous and astrological beliefs, and they were certain that the stars and planets decreed things on people. This is why Pharaoh told the Jewish nation, “See here! Evil is opposite your face.” Pharaoh observed a specific star named “Evil” which represented bloodshed and thus, Pharaoh and the Egyptians were convinced that the Jewish nation would be slaughtered in the desert, in the vicinity of Mount Sinai.
It was therefore necessary to ingrain into the Jewish nation that Hashem is the one an only true G-d, and there is nothing else besides Him. Since the zodiac of the month of Nissan is Aries (a ram or male sheep) and the Egyptians worshipped sheep as a deity (because sheep represented Aries, the zodiac of Nissan, the head of all of the months of the year), Hashem therefore commanded the Jewish nation to perform a drastic action that was the antithesis of the popular belief at that time. On the Tenth of Nissan, the day that the zodiac of Aries ascends and becomes stronger, the Jewish nation took lambs and tied them disparagingly to their bedposts. They publicly proclaimed that they would slaughter these lambs four days later on the Fourteenth of Nissan, after which they would be redeemed from Egypt. This was the polar opposite of what people believed at the time.
Indeed, Hashem turned over the constellation for the benefit of the Jewish nation since they degraded the entire concept of zodiacs and horoscopes by tying the lambs to their beds and eventually slaughtering them. Specifically in this merit did Hashem pass over the Jewish houses when He, in all His glory and not by agency of any angels, smote the Egyptian firstborns on the night of Pesach. Even when the Jewish nation arrived at the Sinai Desert, where their blood should have been spilled according to the stars, Hashem commanded Yehoshua bin Nun to circumcise the Jewish nation and in this way, this astrological decree was foiled.
We can add that at the Red Sea, Hashem once again showed his uncontested control over the forces of nature, for the splitting of the sea was the antithesis of any naturally occurring event. Since all future Jewish souls were contained in the souls of the Jewish people in that generation, we must all understand that we have implanted in us intrinsically the complete belief and knowledge of Hashem’s total control and omnipotence in the world, for these is nothing else besides Him. Just as Hashem performed miracles for our ancestors in those days during this time, may we quickly merit fulfillment of the prophecy of Micha, “Like the days when you left the land of Egypt shall I show him miracles.” Then, then entire world, which is currently caught up in all sorts of social media outlets and fashion crazes, will stands amazed at how Judaism will spread throughout the world as the undeniable truth emerges. All the residents of America, Russia, Europe, China, Japan, and everywhere else on the planet shall affirm the belief in Hashem as transmitted by Moshe Rabbeinu, as the prophet (Micha 7:16-17) continues, “Let nations behold and be ashamed despite all their might; let them put hand to mouth, let their ears be deafened! Let them lick dust like snakes, like crawling things on the ground! Let them come trembling out of their strongholds to Hashem our G-d; let them fear and dread You!” Amen!
