Passover Sacrifice

As a historical commemoration, Passover is tied to a specific date. Nevertheless, the Torah gives a make-up date for bringing the offering a month later. Gerim, non-Israelites living among Israelites as equals, are also allowed to bring this offering, even though it wasn’t their ancestors who were freed. How do we make sense of these anomalies?  

In the Torah’s description of the paschal sacrifice, God pasachs the Israelites. Though the simple meaning of this verb is “to spare or protect,” the standard translation of the verb here is “pass over.” A look at the Greek-Jewish translations of the verb pasach and the festival name, Pesach, and a consideration of the theological problems with Exodus 12:23, sheds light on how this translation came about. 

To counter Christian exegetes who saw the paschal lamb as symbolizing Jesus, medieval rabbinic commentators offered new rationales for the details of this ritual.

As late as the Second Temple period, Passover and Chag HaMatzot were viewed as two separate holidays. What was the final impetus to concretize the synthesis of these holidays into one?

When a Temple of Yahu Stood Near a Temple of Khnum

An expert in ancient Near Eastern contagious diseases reflects on living through a modern one.