[Avodah] Passover and Circumcision in the Desert

[Joshua Meisner]

On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 9:40 AM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
>
>  I wondered about shitas haTosafos, since according to either opinion,
>  the women could form chaburos without any men in them. So why wouldn't
>  they have brought the qorban?

Mishneh L'Melech (Hil. K.P. 5:6) derives that milas avadim is m'akeiv
a woman from bringing the korban pesach.  Would the same thing apply
by milas banim?

Alternatively, the Korban Pesach is not shechted if any fewer than 50
"b'nei adam" are participating, based on a drasha of "k'hal adas
Yisroel" (Rambam Hil. K.P. 1:11 based on Pesachim 64b).  Perhaps this
count doesn't include women? (While it would seem like there would
vadai be at least 50 men out of 600K+ who would be eligible to shecht
the korban pesach, this question would apply even if we leave aside
the question regarding the women).

The Tos' cited by RMB explains that the reason why they didn't offer
the KP was because "rubam areilim", which appears to imply that even
if a mi'ut is eligible to offer, they are still drawn after the rov
and do not offer, but this would go against the gemara on Pesachim
64b.  The closest analog I could find is the halacha stated in Hil. KP
7:4 that if rov are ineligible to offer (for reasons other than tum'as
meis) on Pesach Rishon, t'mei'ei meis do not offer on Pesach Sheni.

Shabbat Shalom,

Josh