Like The Seeds of a Pomegranate

"Even the empty in you are full of mitzvot like a pomegranate"
אפילו ריקנין שבך מלאים מצות כרמון Berachot 57a.

Two great, righteous Jewish kings held Passover celebrations as a means of renewing the covenant between the Jewish people and God.    The first was Chizkiyahu, the second, a few generations later, Yoshiahu.

Chizkiyahu's celebration/organization of Passover had a very strange element.  He had sent out invitations to all of the Kingdom of Judah, and also to the Jews in the Northern kingdom, that everybody should come and celebrate Pesach.   Not in the month of Nissan, because everyone was impure (tamei), but rather in the month of Iyar, so people could bring the Korban Pesach on Pesach Sheni in a state of purity.  But lo and behold, the people from the North did not have time to get there in time and purify themselves.  What were they to do?

Well, what they did do is bring the korban Pesach in a state of impurity, which I believe is, halachically, an issur karet (a prohibition bearing the punishment of being cut off from the Jewish people).  Then, Chizkiyahu prayed for them.   Here's his prayer in II Chronicles Chapter 30:

For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying: 'The good LORD (MM-- The Compassionate One) pardon 19 every one that setteth his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, though [he be] not [cleansed] according to the purification that pertaineth to holy things.' {S} 20 And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. {S}  (JPS 1917 translation, bolding is mine)


It seems that Chizkiyahu (Hezekiah) allowed them to do this (after all, they had a whole system set up for the slaughtering of the Korban Pesach for the people who were impure).   But he said, "God, please forgive them, their hearts are in the right place."

This is astounding!   It seems (especially from the balance of the chapter) that two things are happening here:  1) Chizkiyahu asks, and God grants, forgiveness, to the people for their sin; and 2) God considers it as if the people had actually done the mitzvah!    I understand forgiveness, but how can #2 be possible?

To understand the difficulty, look at this counter-example:   Imagine that this afternoon I discovered that my tefillin, which I have been wearing for many years, including this morning, are not kosher.  I did everything correctly--I bought them from a reputable Sofer, I had them checked, I took care of them properly.    Have I fulfilled this mitzvah?

Certainly I have not fulfilled the mitzvah in a technical sense.  If my tefillin, which I wore in the morning, are found to be not kosher, I would be obligated to put on a new pair of tefillin in the afternoon, because I didn't really do the mitzvah today.


If so, how could the people be considered as if they brought the Korban Pesach properly?


Perhaps it is possible to reconcile Chizkiyahu's example and the example of the tefillin.  Perhaps there is no contradiction because from God's perspective,  God is looking at our intent.   God forgave the people because their intent was good.   They did the wrong thing halachically, but they thought they were doing the right thing.   This kind of sin God not only forgives, but considers it as if the person actually did the mitzvah.

Same thing with the tefillin.   Certainly, a person who does everything right and still fails in the performance of the mitzvah has done everything in his power.   Here, presumably God looks at intent and credits us, as it were, for having done the mitzvah.   But if we discover that there was a problem, and we are able to fix the problem, then we must fix it, because from our perspective, we have not yet fulfilled our obligations.   If we were then remiss in fixing it, that would be flaw in the purity of our intentions.

Perhaps this is an application of the verse in the end of Devarim, "The hidden things are for the Lord our God, and the revealed things for us and for our children forever, to do all the words of this Torah"  (Deuteronomy 29:28).

It is for us to "do all the words of this Torah," to the absolute best of our ability.   But the hidden things remain for God, and ashreinu, mah tov chelkeinu, how fortunate are we and how good is our lot that we are in the hands of God, The Compassionate One, who, even when our own best efforts leave us empty, fills us up with mitzvot in abundance, like the seeds of a pomegranate.