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Bible Encyclopedias
Pesaḥim

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Name of a treatise of the Mishnah and the Tosefta in Babli and Yerushalmi, treating chiefly of the regulations in Exodus 12, 13:3-7, 23:15, 34:18; Leviticus 23:5 et seq.; Numbers 9:2-15, 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8. In all the editions of the Mishnah it is the third treatise of the order Mo'ed. It is divided into ten chapters containing eighty-seven paragraphs in all.

Leavened Food.

The Paschal Lamb.

The Tosefta.

The Tosefta to this treatise, which likewise is divided into ten chapters, contains much that serves to explain and supplement the Mishnah. For instance, Tosef. 1:1 explains why the leavened food must be sought by candle-light, as ordained in Mishnah 1:1; Tosef. 8:7-8 supplements and completes Mishnah. 9:3; and Tosef. 8:11-22, Mishnah 9:5. Noteworthy is the account of King Agrippa's procedure in taking a census of the people assembled at Jerusalem for the Passover (Tosef. 4:3).

The Gemaras.

The two Gemaras discuss and explain the several mishnayot; and both, especially the Babylonian, contain a large number of sentences, proverbs, stories, and legends, as well as various interesting haggadic interpretations and notes. Some passages from the Babylonian Gemara may be quoted here: "One should never use an indecent expression" (3a). "The teacher should select brief and accurate expressions in his lessons" (3b). "On the evening closing the Sabbath God inspired the first man to take two stones and rub them together, and the man thereby discovered fire" (54a). "Through anger the sage loses his wisdom and the prophet his gift of prophecy" (66b). "God conferred a benefit upon Israel by scattering it among the different peoples; for if the Jews had remained under the dominion of one people, they would long ago have been destroyed by its hatred and persecution. Now instead the Jews save themselves from persecution by seeking refuge with their brethren living under the dominion of another people" (87b). "What, however, is the ever-continuing cause of the Exile and of the dispersion of the Jews among the peoples? The desire of the Jews to approach the peoples, to assimilate themselves and be related to them" (118b). Several sentences follow describing the bitter hatred existing between the scholars and the country people or "'am ha-areẓ" (49a, b). Especially noteworthy is the discussion of the question of the pronoun "I" in the Psalms, as also the notes on the division of many chapters, e.g., whether the "Halleluiah" belongs to the end of the preceding psalm or to the beginning of the following one (117a). Incidentally it is seen that the division of the Psalms as it existed at that time differed in various points from the present division (comp. Tos. ad loc. s. "She-'Omedim."

W. B.
J. Z. L.
Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Pesaḥim'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​p/pesaayim.html. 1901.
 
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