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This week we begin sefer Vayikra, which concentrates on korbanos. Since we have not had a Beis Hamikdash for almost two thousand years, the topic of korbanos seems remote, removed, and foreign to us. I’d like to begin by listing the many ways that the korban Pesach impacts upon us.

1. While the yom tov of Pesach does not begin until the night of the fifteenth of Nissan, one is forbidden  to eat chometz on erev Pesach from midday (Devarim 16:3), as that is the time when the korban Pesach was slaughtered.
2. One is not to own chometz on erev Pesach, as the Torah says, “you shall not slaughter my blood offering (i.e. the korban Pesach) while in possession of chmoetz” (Shemos 24:25)
3. The mishna (Pesachim 4:1) teaches that from midday on erev Pesach it is forbidden to work, as one is restricted from working whenever their korban was brought. Thus, erev Pesach starting from midday, i.e. the time for bringing the korban Pesach, is to be treated like chol hamoed, even outside of Eretz Yisroel
4. Unlike Shabbos, which one may begin from plag hamincha (a halachik hour and a quarter prior to sunset) and eat their Shabbos meal while it is still day (Friday), one is not to begin the Pesach seder until night. The reason for this is that the Torah ordains that the Pesach is to be eaten at night (Shemos 12:8) and all the other mitzvos of the night go into affect with the time of the korban Pesach
5. The custom of wearing a kitul at the seder is explained by the Netziv in his Hagadah as a remembrance to the white robe on donned when eating kodshim (sacrifices).
6. The custom of having the zroa on the sder plate is to recall the korban Pesach. The placing of the hard-boiled egg is to remember the korban chagigah
7. We wash our hands prior to eating karpas. The vegetable is dipped in salt water (dovor shetibulo bemashke), and such dipped items require hand washing when one eats the wet food. The Taz points to this practice and sharply criticizes those who are not careful to wash their hands before eating a wet fruit or vegetable all year long. One could defend the practice of “urchatz” not only to arouse the curiosity of the young, but to conduct ourselves on this night in keeping with the way all practiced when we had a Beis Hamikdash
8. Rav Chaim Brisker zt”l  explained that the purpose of the custom of hiding the matzah designated as afikoman after yachatz is not only to maintain the interest and excitement of the children, but also is connected to the korban Pesach. The afikoman is eaten at the end of the meal as a remembrance of the korban Pesach, and the korban Pesach needed shemira (guarding) and hesech hadaas(lapse in awareness) could disqualify the Pesach lest it became tamei (impure). To avoid such disqualification, the korban Pesach was kept in a safe place until the time it was eaten, hence our minhag to hide the afikoman. It would therefore make sense for the one conducting the seder to hide the afikoman, not the children.
9. While we point to the matzah and marror when we explain their significance as part of Rabban Shomin ben Gamliel haya omer, we do not point to the shank bone, lest we assign it the actual status of a korban Pesach.
10. The mitzvah of eating marror today is only a mitzvah miderabanan (rabbinic mitzvah). It is doraysa (Biblical) only when it accompanies the korban Pesach.
11. The custom of Ashkenzim is to abstain from eating roasted meat at the sder lest one assume they are eating the korban Pesach, which would be a violation of kodshim bachutz.
12. In keeping with the opinion of Rosh, the afikoman is eaten at the end of the meal, just as the korban Pesach was eaten “al hasovah – when they were full”, and serves as a remembrance of the korban Pesach. According to Rashbam, the afikoman, the fulfillment of the mitzvah of matzah, is eaten at the end of the meal as a remembrance of the matzah that was eaten with the korban Pesach at the end of the meal. Both Rosh and Rashbam agree that it is preferable to eat the afikoman prior to chatzos, as was the korban Pesach.
13. Rav Yosef Salant zt”l (in Be’er Yosef) explains that the practice of opening the door after birkas hamazon is not only to welcome Eliyahu hanavi ushering in the future redemption. One had to eat the korban Pesach on the ground level, as the roofs and upper floors in Yerushalayim did not share the kedusha of the rest of the city that enables the consumption of the korban Pesach. The door was kept closed during the meal lest one take the korban Pesach outside or upstairs, and after the meal the Jews went onto the rooftops to sing Hallel. We open our doors today in remembrance of this sequence.

There is one additional way that the korban Pesach impacts upon our seder. The word seder means a prescribed order of events. Out of the fifteen components of this seder, the first fourteen are all some type of action (including the fourteenth – Hallel – the recitation of the second half of Hallel). The last component is somewhat challenging. Nirtzah means acceptance, and we daven that our seder will be accepted On High. For this reason the Chidah in his Hagadah (Simchas Haregel) lists only fourteen components, counting Hallel and nirtzah as one.

However, in light of the impact of the korban Pesach on our seder, the final component takes on great meaning. Nirtzah comes from the passuk (Vayikra 1:4), “vnirtzah lo lechaper alav – it shall become acceptable to him, to atone for him.” The term ritzui is only found after and in conjunction with korbanos. We don’t ask for ritzui after affixing a mezuzah, wearing tefillin, etc. We do, however, conclude every shemoneh esrei with the prayer of retzei. Since our daily tefillah substitute for the daily korbanos in the beis hamikdash, we conclude our tefillos appropriately with a supplication of ritzui.

If our rabbis looked upon the seder only as the performance of a set of mitzvos (matzah, hagadah, daled kosos, marror, etc.) there would be no place for nirtzah. However, the text of nirtzah exclaims, “as we have carried out the Pesach observance of this seder, so may we merit to fulfill the actual korban Pesach in the future.” We are asking Hashem to accept our seder as a partial fulfillment of the korban Pesach, and thus the inclusion of ritzui is appropriate.

This special request, that our seder partially replace a korban Pesach, can only take place in an environment of kedusha. While it is true all year that, “when we were privileged to have a Beis Hamikdash the mizbeach was mechaper; now shulchano shel adam is mechaper” (Berachos 55a), this is especially true at the Pesach seder. I have witnessed how not yet observant families who participated at a Pesach seder found the experience to be transforming, to the point that they embraced a Torah observant lifestyle. Make your seder count. Not only during maggid should there be an exciting give and take among all the participants, but even the discussions during the meal should be channeled to reflect “ashreinu matov chelkeinu umanaim goraleinu.”