NUM63 The mitzvah of the Pesach [second--AJL] Sheni offering on the fourteenth of Iyar. Key concepts: The mitzvah of the Pesach offering serves as strong, clear testimony that the world has a Creator and did not always exist. Rather, it was brought into being by the Almighty on the date that is known according to the Jewish calculation. The Pesach offering testifies to the world's origins because when the Almighty took our nation out of Egypt, He showed us great miracles and wonders and altered the laws of nature before many nations of the world. Everyone saw that Hashem watches over even the physical realm of Creation and as absolute rule over all of it. From then on, all believed that the Almighty created the world ex nihilo, “something out of nothing,” in contradiction to all “natural” laws, just as at the time of the Exodus. He performed many wonders that violated the laws of nature. He split the sea for the entire Jewish nation to cross through it on a dry seabed. He then returned the waters to their normal state and drowned the pursuing Egyptians. Afterwards, for forty years as our forefathers traveled in the barren desert, He sustained them--an entire nation--with bread from Heaven. Since the fact that the world has a Creator is the foundation of our religion and our Torah, the Almighty wants every member of our nation to be able to perform the esteemed mitzvah of the Pesach offering. No one should lose out due to being far away from Jerusalem at the time of the mitzvah, or because of other circumstances that were beyond his control. Since the Pesach offering is such a pillar of our faith, if someone converts to Judaism between the first Pesach and the second, or a boy reaches the age of Bar Mitzvah during that time, the Torah obligates him to bring the Pesach offering on the fourteenth of Iyar.