Transcript
The Gemara in Shabbos says, when Hashem wanted to give the great gift of Shabbos to the Jewish People, He said, Moshe, I want you to go and let the people know this great gift. I want you to let them know about Shabbos. Says the Gemara, from here we learn that when a person gives a gift, he has to let the other person know in order to receive it with two hands, to know how valuable it is.
What’s this present? The day that took 10 crowns. Rosh Chodesh Nissan. The day the Mishkan was erected. The first day that the kohanim began their service. The first day that the daily sacrifices were instituted. Most important, the first day that from on high the fire came down and consumed the korbanos, the sacrifices.
Nissan is the month of miracles. The Sfas Emes says it was stamped into the creation a power of spring. The power to jump. A time of elevation. We’re about to get a great gift. We have to understand the essence of this day, Rosh Chodesh Nissan.
“Hachodesh Hazeh yihiyeh lachem Rosh Chodashim.“ This is Parshas Ha’Chodesh this week. This month shall be for you, the first of all the months of the year. The simple meaning is that we start counting the year from Nissan. Nissan is the first month. The deep connotation is that every single day of this month is a miniature holiday. It’s like Rosh Chodesh.
What does it mean? This month is endowed with the power of Rosh Chodesh. What is Rosh Chodesh? The power of renewal. In the first Rashi on Parshas Ha’Chodesh, it says that it was niskashe Moshe. It was difficult for Moshe. Why was this difficult for Moshe? Such a simple thing. This is the general rule. Wherever it was difficult for Moshe — we’re talking here about makifim, things that are beyond us. We want to expand our consciousness. We want to understand things that are difficult.
Hashem said, “kazeh ra’eih v’kadesh,” like this see and sanctify. He showed him the new moon. Why? Because in this mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon, is the secret of geulah, redemption, and at the same time galus, exile. Waxing and waning. Night and day. Good and bad. Lovingkindness and din.
One of the great praises of this amazing day, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, is brought in the Gemara in Megillah 10b that on the day that the Mishkan was erected, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, there was a joy in the heavens and the earth like the first day of creation.
Wait a second, what about the exodus? That was amazing. What about the splitting of the Red Sea? Wow. What about the giving of the Torah? That’s the purpose of creation. Why is this day, the day that the Tabernacle was erected, Rosh Chodesh Nissan, in the second year, the joy of creation? That’s the question.
In order to understand this, let us turn to the Me’or Einayim, one of the earliest Chassidishe sefarim. One of the closest talmidim of the Ba’al Shem Tov, the Maggid of Chernobyl. In Parshas Shmos, the holy Me’or Einayim opens up with a verse from the vision of Yechezkel, “v’hachayos ratzo vashov,” the holy angels called chayos, they run forth and they come back. “Shetzarich kol echad lipol mimadreigaso,” every person has to know that part of life is falling, and the reason is in order to raise up fallen souls, fallen sparks.
He brings a parable about a guy who is on a roof and he looks down two floors, and he sees a diamond on the floor. The only way he’s going to get that diamond is to go down, pick it up, and bring it back up. Every single person is a messenger of G-d. And therefore, part of life is knowing that there’s falls. In fact, all of life is really a fall. Our incarnation into the physical world is a big fall.
Incidentally, this is part of the secret of Nissan. “Someich Hashem l’kol hanoflim,” neis. Nun-Samech is neis. David Hamelech left out Nun. It hints to falling. Immediately, after, for Samech, he said Hashem is someich kol hanoflim. This is the idea of a neis. A neis is when there is a break in teva. Nature is the reality of the exile that we’re in, and Hashem periodically opens the window and lets a person break the chains of his nature and have an elevation.
That’s Nissan. But once again, there’s both spring and fall. Spring is the power to overcome, to renew. Fall is the flipside. That’s exile, when you go in to the lowest of the lows. TheMe’or Einayimexplains that falling is the secret of exile. When a person has da’as, he has clarity, nothing can tear him away from Hashem. This is called hishtavut. When a person doesn’t differentiate between spirituality and physicality, good days and bad days, he knows that it’s all G-d and that it’s all good. That’s called da’as. He’s never separated because he is always connected. Hence the concept of the wisdom of connection, the wisdom of unity.
When you know that it’s all one, when you know it’s all interconnected, there’s no differentiation. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a fall, or you’re in a spring. Whether you’re in galut, exile, or redemption. It’s all part of understanding what it means service of G-d. That’s da’as.
But when Hashem wants to test a person, a nisayon, the same letters Nun-Samech there’s a nefilah, He takes away his da’as and a constricted consciousness takes over. Then a person is in a test. Every single person will experience 10 trials like Avraham did. How does Hashem test a person? He literally takes away his da’as. He puts him in a state of darkness. He puts him in galus, exilebecause he doesn’t have da’as. And now, he’s in a state where he can be tested. Because if he was connected, if he had the wisdom of connection and he had the wisdom of unity, he would never be tested. How could he stumble? This whole world of free choice wouldn’t exist.
Now, we can possibly understand why the joy of Rosh Chodesh Nissan in the second year was greater than the exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea and the giving of the Torah. All three of those events occurred in the power of the lovingkindness of Hashem’s elevation in the first Nissan, where Hashem had mercy on the Jewish People. They screamed out. They couldn’t take the galus anymore, which is part of the cosmic process. When a person falls into exile, he’s supposed to feel the pain, the suffering, that’s part of the process. He’s supposed to, actually, come closer to Hashem through screaming.
When the Jewish People were in Eretz Yisrael, they became fat and complacent. They forgot Hashem. Sometimes the person can come to a greater G-d consciousness in galus. In the United Sates. A lot of people come to visit me, and they have a greater appreciation for Eretz Yisrael than me.
But the ramification of that elevation, is that it was kind of artificial. And therefore, the receiving of the Torah was not on a perfect level. It was lacking a reciprocal toil from the Jewish People, and therefore it didn’t last, and they fell. That’s the Golden Calf.
Now comes the second part of the year. Elul, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. Teshuva, issarusa d’l’tatta. When the Jewish People wake themselves up from below, after the fall, they work for it. Only then did Hashem say, you know what? Make for me a Mishkan. They toiled, they sweated, they worked hard, and then the auspicious moment came to erect the Mishkan and it didn’t work. Why? Because it wasn’t yet Rosh Chodesh Nissan. When Rosh Chodesh Nissan came around, the power of spring kicked into action. It was then the whole creation got a restart. The pristine aspect of the first day of creation was reawakened. The creation was renewed. It was like the first day.
No pollution, no polluted minds, and a fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice on the altar and everyone knew there was a G-d in the world. That’s the definition of da’as.
When the Jewish People were in Mitzrayim, the wisdom of unity was in galus. They didn’t know that there was a Creator, a Ruler, an Overseer, and they didn’t know how to serve Hashem. It was only through this cycle of exile and redemption that had to come full circle for the lights to go on.
Rosh Chodesh Nissan is a gift. Are you ready to receive it with two hands? Chazal say that in Nissan we were redeemed, and in Nissan we will be redeemed.
