R. Avi Killip on Pesah Sheini: A Ritual Made for All

Redemption cannot happen without everyone. We learn this lesson from the Seder ritual, when we open our homes by inviting guests and asserting that all who are hungry come and eat. But the idea of radical inclusion is perhaps most clearly found in the laws of the pesah sacrifice itself. Every person should join a group that will offer the pesah sacrifice and eat the entire offering together. Nobody can be left out. This mandate to include everyone in this sacrifice extends so far as to necessitate the creation of an additional make-up holiday for those who were unable to participate in the primary pesach offering. This second-chance holiday is called Pesah Sheini (“Second Passover”), and falls each year exactly one month after Pesah.