The world knows that Nero ((Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (December 15, 37 – June 9, 68), born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne. As Nero Claudius Caesar, he succeeded to the throne on October 13, 54, following Claudius’ death. Nero ruled from 54 to 68, focusing much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and increasing the cultural capital of the empire. He ordered the building of theatres and promoted athletic games. His reign included a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire (58–63), the suppression of the British revolt (60–61) and improving diplomatic ties with Greece. In 68 a military coup drove Nero into hiding. Facing execution, he reportedly committed forced suicide. Nero’s rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance. He is known for a number of executions, including his mother and adoptive brother, as the emperor who “fiddled while Rome burned” and an early persecutor of Christians. This view is based upon the main surviving sources for Nero’s reign—Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Few surviving sources paint Nero in a favorable light. Some sources, though, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the Roman people, especially in the East.)) the meshugganer Roman emperor set fire to the city of Rome and then fiddled as the city burned. The story goes that he then commited suicide. Our Jewish version of the story has a different ending. He went to Jerusalem, converted to Judaism and was the grandfather of Rabbi Meir the Mishanic Tanna, whose Yahrziet is on Pesach Sheni the Yom Tov of the second chance.

Men came to Moshe Rabbeinu in the wilderness in the second year after our leaving Egypt, they were members of the Chevra Kadisha ((A chevra kadisha is a loosely structured but generally closed organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of Jews are prepared for burial according to Halacha (Jewish law) and are protected from desecration, willful or not, until burial. Two of the main requirements are the showing of proper respect for a corpse, and the ritual cleansing of the body and subsequent dressing for burial.

The task of the chevra kadisha is considered a laudable one, as tending to the dead is a favour that the recipient cannot return, making it devoid of ulterior motives. Its work is therefore referred to as a chesed shel emet (a good deed of truth), paraphrased from Genesis 47:29 (where Jacob asks his son Joseph, “do me a ‘true’ favor” and Joseph promises his father to bury him in the Land of Israel).

At the heart of the society’s function is the ritual of tahara, or purification. The body is first thoroughly cleansed of dirt, body fluids and solids, and anything else that may be on the skin, and then it is ritually purified by immersion in, or a continuous flow of, water from the head over the entire body. Tahara may refer to either the entire process, or to the ritual purification. Once the body is purified, the body is dressed in tachrichim, or shrouds, of white pure cotton garments made up of ten pieces for a male and twelve for a female, which are identical for each Jew and which symbolically recalls the garments worn by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Once the body is dressed, the casket is sealed. When being buried in Israel, however, a casket is not used.

The society may also provide shomrim, or watchers, to guard the body from theft until burial (although in some communities this is done by people close to the departed). At one time, the danger of theft of the body was very real, now it has become a way of honoring the deceased.

A specific task for the burial society is tending to the dead who have no immediate next-of-kin. These are termed a meit mitzvah (a mitzvah corpse), as tending to a meit mitzvah overrides virtually any other positive commandment (mitzvot aseh) of Torah law.

Many burial societies hold one or two annual fast days and organise regular study sessions to remain up-to-date with the relevant articles of Jewish law. In addition, most burial societies also support families during the shiv’ah (traditional week of mourning) by arranging prayer services, meals and other facilities.

While burial societies were, in Europe, generally a community function, in America it has become far more common for societies to be organized by each synagogue. However, not every synagogue has such a society. )) carrying the bones of Joseph, which as you remember, Joseph had made the Jewish people swear they would carry out of Egypt with them when they left. They said ” Why should we be left out of the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb?” You see! said Sholmo, they were hurt by the lost opportunity. Even though they were not at fault and they would be credited with the mitzvah for their desire to perform it, still they felt that they would be left with the scar. The fact that a wound heals does not mean that there will be no scar. They said, ” We don’t care that we are not culpable, that our Pesach is and was a part and parcel of that celebrated by the whole Jewish people. We want to do our own”
Do you know my friends what Amalek is always saying to us? He is saying, “Your contribution counts for nothing” Who needs your Seder night? who needs your Hallel? So he attacks on Pesach Sheni.

What made these people carrying Joseph’s bones have the conviction that it was up to them to demand a second chance? that they could bring Pesach Sheni down into this world? Just who was Joseph whose bones they were carrrying? He was the son of our mother Rachel. You remember the story. She was engaged to be married to our Father Jacob. He, knowing what kind of a man was Laban his father in law, arranged a secret code and password with Rachel so that at the wedding he could make sure it was she he was marrying. Rachel, seeing that Leah was being prepared as the bride, gave over the secret password to her sister Leah so she would not be embarrased at the last moment. So what would have been so bad, if Leah had not been given the secret password? So she would have been hurt, so she would have been broken hearted. But would’nt she have gotten over it? Time would have passed she would have met someone else. But you see: the scar! she would have been scarred for life, The scar never goes away and Rachel did not want to see her sister scarred. So look at what she was ready to give up for her sister. Everything, this world and the next world. Everyone knows that the world said; Issac has two sons, Laban has two daughters, the older one goes for the older one and the younger one to the younger one. Rachel knew that she would now end up being married to Esau! What she didn’t know was that she was bringing down the “second chance” into the world. She too was married to Jacob and her son Joseph whose bones the Men were carried, was the child of the second chance. So they felt moved to ask for the second chance.

But Rebbe Akiva says these men were Mishael and Elzafon, the pallbearers of Nodov and Avihu. Nodov and Avihu who died in HaShems Name in order to add to the Torah. And Rebbe Akiva, master of the Torah she-bal-peh, the Torah of Adding-To, surrenders himself to die in HaShem’s Name and connected to the neshomos of Nodov and Avihu. To connect to the Torah of More, you must be ready to enter the Holy of Holies and die in HaShem’s name a million times.

Pesach Sheini is always during the fifth week of the Omer ((Counting of the Omer is a verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This mitzvah derives from the Torah commandment to count forty-nine days beginning from the day on which the Omer, a sacrifice containing an omer-measure of barley, was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, up until the day before an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple on Shavuot. The Counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover and ends the day before the holiday of Shavuot.

The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah, which was given by God on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day, Shavuot. The Sefer HaChinuch states that the Jewish people were only freed from Egypt at Passover in order to receive the Torah at Shavuot and to fulfill its laws. Thus the Counting of the Omer demonstrates how much a Jew desires to accept the Torah in his own life.)). Everyone knows that the Sfira that is fixed this week is Hod (distinction). “Hod v’Hadar Livusho”, the priestly garments are connected with Hod. What is Tferes (beauty)? It balances the first two sfiros, Hesed (kindness) and Gvura (judgment). And what is Hod? “Hod v’Hadar Livusho”. Hod is the beauty of going back, of Tshuvah. Why did Aharon the High Priest make the golden calf? Because only a High Priest can connect to Hod v’Hadar. Only a High Priest could fix the sin of a golden calf by serving in a Mishkan ((The Tabernacle is known in Hebrew as the Mishkan. It was a portable dwelling place for the divine presence from the time of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt through the conquering of the land of Canaan. Its elements were made part of the final Temple in Jerusalem about the 10th century BC.)). Gevaldt, a second chance. Everyone knows that during this week the neshamos of Nodov and Avihu are being fixed.