As a child, I always looked forward to the Pesah Seder. My entire extended family would gather at my grandparents’ A”H house and it was a really awesome experience year after year. One year I fell asleep and missed it entirely. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. The Gemara (Berakhot 54a) tells us it is fruitless to dwell on the past, and yet, if only there was a way to make up for the lost opportunity.
In Perashat Beha’alotecha, exactly one year after leaving Egypt, it was time once again to bring the Korban Pesah (Bemidbar 9:1-3). Suddenly, a group of people approached Moshe and Aharon, tameh, ritually impure, and therefore unable to bring the sacrifice. They couldn’t accept that through no fault of their own they would simply miss out. They said “why should we lose out?” Moshe brought the question to G-d, who instructed that anyone unable to bring the Korban Pesah in its time has a second opportunity, Pesah Sheni, exactly one month later on the 14th of Iyyar.
Who were these “people” and why does the Torah single them out? The Gemara (Sukkah 25b) offers various opinions: those who were carrying the bones of Yosef, or those tending to the bodies of Nadab and Abihu, or they were caring for a death with no one to tend to the burial. Either way, they were occupied with a misva, in honoring the dead. They didn’t miss out because they were careless, but because they were doing the right thing, and yet they still couldn’t let a misva go.
The Gemara (Sotah 21a) teaches that one who performs a misva is protected from harm. The pasuk states ‘For the misva is a lamp and the Torah is light’ (Mishlei 6:23). Just as a lamp illuminates while lit, the misva protects you while engaged in it, before and after. The Ramchal teaches that as we do more and more misvot, we bring the world closer to a state of perfection (Da’at Hatebunot). He adds that the more we cling to G-d and perform misvot, the more G-d reciprocates in kind, measure for measure (Derech Hashem).
Sometimes in life we are faced with once in a lifetime opportunities, a major business deal, a chance at fame or fortune, something that seems too good to pass up. We jump at those without a second thought. With misvot, our attitude should be the same. We should be like these people who had a real sense of FOMO and couldn’t accept missing out on even a single misva! Keep in mind that even when we try our best and don’t succeed, G-d gives us opportunities to make it up, such as Pesah Sheni, and others. Either way, remember that G-d doesn’t want or need perfection from us. He only wants our hearts and minds. So keep moving forward, keep looking for opportunities to do good, and know that as long as your heart and mind are in the right place, you are on solid ground.