Mishchu U'Kchu - Bo 5771

12:21 The first Posuk after Chamishi when Moshe Rabbeinu calls together the Ziknei Yisroel and says to them (וַיִּקְרָא מֹשֶׁה לְכָל-זִקְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם:  מִשְׁכוּ, וּקְחוּ לָכֶם צֹאן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיכֶם--וְשַׁחֲטוּ הַפָּסַח). He tells them the Mitzvah of Korban Pesach and the language used is (מִשְׁכוּ, וּקְחוּ לָכֶם). The Gemara understands to Darshun this Posuk as follows. Mishchu Yidaichem Mai’avoda Zorah, Uk’chu Lachem Tzon. First pull your hands back from the Avodah Zorah, which many Jews had become accustomed to in Mitzrayim, and then go purchase for yourselves a sheep for the Korban Pesach.

In the Sefer Panim Yafos he explains the question beautifully in a Derach Halachah. He asks, since the sheep were Avodah Zorah they should not have been suitable for a Korban. How did it become Kosher for the Korban Pesach?  

He answers based on a Halacha. In Maseches Avodah Zorah we find the following Halachah. That if a non Jew owns an Avodah Zorah it is possible for that Avodah Zorah to become permitted because of something called Bitul. What is Bitul? Bitul is when the non Jew who is an idol worshiper is Mevateil the Avodah Zorah. He shows that he no longer believes in it either by breaking it or by doing something to it which would show that he doesn’t respect it anymore. If he performs any type of such action, he could render that Avodah Zora something which is now permissible.

One type of Bitul is if an idol worshiper sells the idol to someone else who is himself not an idol worshiper. Someone who believes that it is an idol would not sell the god to someone who does not believe in it. Certainly not an animal which the person would kill. Therefore, when the Mitzrim sold their Avodah Zorah, their sheep, to a Jew, that itself constituted a Bitul which would make it Muttar.

But one minute. A sale only works as a Bitul if the purchaser himself is not an Oved Avodah Zorah. If the purchaser is himself an Oved Avodah Zorah then the sale doesn’t show Bitul. Therefore, the Posuk Mishchu Yidaichem Mai’avoda Zorah, first demonstrate that you no longer believe in Avodah Zorah and only then Uk’chu Lachem Tzon, then could you purchase for yourself sheep for the Korban. A beautiful Halachik interpretation.  

We have to add and stress that this was a tremendous Achrayos and responsibility on Klal Yisrael. Between the time that they were commanded and the time that they purchased the sheep they had to separate themselves from Avodah Zorah to a degree that it would be noticeable to all. That any non Jew who looked at them would understand that these people were no longer Oved Avodah Zorah. After all in their hearts they were not idol worshipers, however, if the sellers thought that they were, that would not be a Bitul. The whole point of the Bitul is that you have an idol worshiper who was selling to a non idol worshiper. This was the obligation of Klal Yisrael. Mishchu, to pull themselves back from being Oved Avodah Zorah , specifically at this moment, so that the Korban would be good.

Based on this we can understand something in Navi. In Melachim 2 Perek 23 we find that King Yoshiyahu (the last great king of Klal Yisrael) started a Teshuvah movement among the Jewish people.  We find there that when he started the Teshuvah movement it was right before Pesach. He afterwards gathered the Jews together and they offered the Korban Pesach and the Posuk says 23:22 (כִּי לֹא נַעֲשָׂה, כַּפֶּסַח הַזֶּה, מִימֵי הַשֹּׁפְטִים). That this Pesach was so extraordinary in that in the past centuries there had not been any Pesach such as that. We ask ourselves, what are you talking about? Dovid Hamelech, Shlomo Hamelech, they had Pesach. Certainly they were more knowledgeable and more Mehadeir B’mitzvos than the generation of Yoshiyahu who had just done Teshuvah?

What was so unique and special about Yoshiyahu’s Korban Pesach? Anyone who learns this part of Navi has to wonder, so many great Kings were before him, what was unique about his?

Now we can understand. The Korban Pesach of (מִשְׁכוּ, וּקְחוּ לָכֶם), go to the Korban Pesach as Baalei Teshuva, who have just withdrawn from being Oved Avodah Zorah, that was something that Dovid Hamelech and Shlomo Hamelech’s generation didn’t do, Yoshiyahu Hamelech’s generation did. The beauty of the Korban Pesach of Yoshiyahu is that they were moving in the direction of Teshuvah. That is what made it so special, so unique that it had not taken place on such a scale for centuries.