Messiah in Pesach Chapter 12
- A company of thirty
- Men and women are equally obligated…
- The Memorial Supper of the Korban Pesach
A company of thirty:
According to tradition the sacrifice of the lamb must be made before a quorum (also referred to as a company) of “thirty.” In the Temple, the Levites sang Hallel while the Kohanim (priests) performed the sacrificial service.
Men and women are equally obligated…
Men and women are equally obligated regarding the Korban Pesach. “On the feast called Pesach they sacrifice from the ninth (approximately 3 p.m.) to the eleventh hour (Josephus). Women were obligated, as men, to perform the Korban Pesach and to participate in a Seder.
The Memorial Supper of the Korban Pesach:
During the existence of the Tabernacle and later the Temple of Jerusalem, the sacrificed Pesach was eaten during the Passover Supper (now called a Seder) on the 15th of Nisan. However, following the destruction of the Temple, no sacrifices are allowed to be offered or eaten.
Today, in the absence of the Temple, the mitzvah of the Korban Pesach is memorialized in the Korban Pesach Seder. The Korban Pesach Seder, a set of scriptural and rabbinic passages dealing with the Passover sacrifice, is recited during or after the afternoon prayer (מנחה-Minchah) service on the 14th of Nisan.
The Seder Korban Pesach is recited in the form of symbolic food placed on the Passover Seder Plate, which includes as a symbolic substitute for the lamb a roasted shank-bone. [cf. outline and brief discussion of each of the fourteen parts of the Passover Seder located in chapters 19-33 of this document “Messiah in Pesach.”]