300. q.v.: The obligation to rest on the seventh day of Passover

The Torah tells us that Pesach (Passover) lasts seventh days, the first and last of which are “holy gatherings” that we are meant to sanctify by refraining from acts of labor called melacha. In Mitzvah #297, we talked about the obligation to rest on the first day of Pesach; all that is equally true on the seventh day. (As mentioned in Mitzvah #299, by rabbinic enactment, we observe an additional day of Yom Tov outside of Israel, so we would rest on the seventh and eighth days.)

Unlike Succos and Shemini Atzeres (which we will discuss in Mitzvos #318-325), the first and last days of Passover are the same Festival. Therefore, we do not recite the bracha “Shehechiyanu” (that God sustained us until this season) on the last days of Pesach. It’s not “new” since it’s been Pesach all week!

This mitzvah applies to both men and women in all times and places. It is discussed in the Talmud throughout the tractate of Beitza and in Makkos (21b-22a). It is codified in the Shulchan Aruch in Orach Chaim 495. This mitzvah is #160 of the 248 positive mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos and #27 of the 77 positive mitzvos that can be observed today in the Chofetz Chaim’s Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar.