במדבר, פרק ט׳, פסוק י״א

A second chance is established for those who missed the opportunity to offer the Passover sacrifice. Exactly one month after the original date, during the month of Iyar [ביאור שטיינזלץ], an alternative time is set for this fulfillment. The necessity for this provision arose specifically at this point in history. The original Passover in Egypt was a singular, one-day event that offered no possibility for a makeup date. It was only with the construction of the Tabernacle that the Israelites received the instruction to establish this second date as a permanent law for all future generations [חזקוני].

One might wonder why an impure person is delayed to the following month rather than simply sending the sacrifice through a messenger, a practice allowed for other offerings. The answer lies in the very nature of the Commandment. The primary requirement of the Passover offering is the actual eating of the meat. Because an impure person is forbidden from entering the holy courtyard and consuming sacred food, fulfilling the duty through a proxy is impossible. This demonstrates that consuming the sacrifice is an essential and indispensable condition of the Commandment [תורה תמימה].

A clear distinction exists between the first and second Passover. The primary approach among commentators is that during the second Passover, only the laws directly related to the physical sacrifice and its consumption apply. This includes roasting the meat, ensuring its bones remain unbroken, and eating it alongside unleavened bread, which is bread that has not risen [נתינה לגר], and bitter herbs. Conversely, broader holiday rules, such as the prohibition against keeping or destroying leaven, are absent. Therefore, a person observing the second Passover may keep both leaven and unleavened bread in their home, and the day itself does not carry the status of a full holiday beyond the specific duty to eat the sacrifice [רש ר הירש, צאינה וראינה, מלבי״ם].

The instruction to consume the sacrifice together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs led to a significant discussion regarding the proper method of eating. Hillel the Elder understood that the Passover meat, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs must be wrapped and eaten simultaneously. His colleagues, however, maintained that each item could be consumed separately. To accommodate both perspectives, the established custom is to first eat each item individually with a blessing, and then to eat them wrapped together in memory of Hillel's practice. Furthermore, because the bitter herbs are closely associated with the sacrifice, the Sages concluded that the Biblical obligation to eat bitter herbs is entirely dependent on the presence of the Passover offering. Today, in the absence of the sacrifice, eating bitter herbs is observed solely as a rabbinic decree. In contrast, the requirement to eat unleavened bread remains a strict Biblical obligation, as it is mandated by a separate and independent Commandment [תורה תמימה].