Our Gemara on Amud Beis describes the unique quality of the Pesach sacrifice. The Korban Pesach has a quality similar to that of the sin offering, in that if it is slaughtered with the intention of a different sacrifice it is rendered invalid. Other sacrifices, such as Shelamim and Olah, if they are slaughtered with the intention of a different sacrifice, they are still kosher.

The Korban Pesach has a twist which is different even than the sin offering. The Korban Pesach outside of the day of Passover, at its window of obligation, is considered as a Shelamim. Therefore, during the time that the Passover offering is supposed to be brought on the 14th of Nisan, if it is slaughtered with the intention of another sacrifice, it is invalid, but if it is brought with the intention of Pesach, it is valid. Likewise, and to the exact opposite, if during the year it is brought up with the intention of a Paschal sacrifice, it will be invalid but if it is brought with the intention of a Shelamim, it would be valid. So the same exact sacrificial animal, depending on when it is brought, can be made valid or invalid for opposite intentions.

What is unique about the sin offering and the Paschal offering is that it becomes invalid if it is brought with the intention of another offering because, unlike Olah or Shelamim which can be brought voluntarily at any time, the character and nature of these sacrifices are defined by their purpose. In the case of the sin offering, it is in order to achieve an atonement for a particular sin and for a particular sinner. The Passover sacrifice is for the purpose of redemption and a memorialization of the rejection of the Egyptian idolatrous ways; therefore, if it is brought with improper intentions, its entire purpose is subverted. However, with the voluntary sacrifices, such as Olah or Shelamim, since they are not tied to a unique historical moment, or a unique and particular obligation, their purpose is not subverted if they’re brought with a different intention.

Returning to the Passover sacrifice, perhaps we also see a larger lesson when it comes to redemption. There are two kinds of spiritual processes. The typical one is a gradual awareness and transformation that grows and develops over time (as we discussed in our Psychology of the Daf post on Zevachim 7). However, there also is a sudden and sweeping redemption, such as happened on Passover night in Egypt: “You left Egypt in haste” (Devarim 16:3). Such fortuitous redemptions are rare occurrences, and they require special divine intervention and sanction. For example, even though hours earlier there was a window of opportunity for the Jews to conquer the land in Israel, when they rejected that opportunity and tried later on their own initiative, it met with disaster (Bamidbar 14:40–45). There is a similarly themed Midrash about how, back when the Jews were in Egypt the Tribe of Menashe unsuccessfully sought to rebel against their Egyptian overlords (Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer 47). And of course, the history of false messiahs from Bar Kochba to Shebbetai Tzvi shows how dangerous premature “redemptions” can be.

This idea that sudden miraculous redemption requires special divine sanction can be seen as included within this unique halacha of the Korban Pesach: it is valid only at that high level of sanctification during its window of opportunity; at a different time, the same intentions, no matter how noble, make it invalid. So too, personal redemption and spiritual elevation, as well as societal redemption, is usually a gradual process that does not come suddenly, nor does it need to. However, once in a while, there’s a sign or a signal, a special invitation from God to take a quantum leap forward. At that time, the opposite is true: if we don’t follow the proper intentions at its proper window, we lose the opportunity.