We are now in the month of
Nissan. In Shemot ( 12/2)
the Torah says,
החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשו
השנה
This month is the head of all months. It’s the first
month of the year to you.
This is seemingly repetitious. If it’s the Rosh, the head, it’s obviously the first. So why the repetition?
The Shelah HaKadosh has a different way to read the pasuk.
החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים
It’s the month that has many Rosh Hodeshes in it.
How can there be more than one Rosh Hodesh in a month?
He answers that there are twelve months of the year which correspond to the
twelve Shevatim/tribes.
We do not say Tahanun/Supplications in our
prayers for the first twelve days of Nissan because those
were the days that the Nisi’im/princes
of the tribes brought their offerings at the dedication of the Mishkan
in the desert in the year 2449 when we got out of Mitzrayim.
Therefore, these twelve days became special days. Each one
of these days corresponds to another tribe, and each tribe
corresponds to a different month.
So the first twelve days of this
month are actually the beginnings of each month.
Which means that Rosh
Hodesh Nissan, the first day, was Shabbat. Sunday was Rosh Hodesh Iyar, Monday is Rosh
Hodesh Sivan. Each day is another Rosh Hodesh, because the month of Nissan is the father of all
other months. Packed into Nissan
is, so to say, the Beracha of all the months to come.
That’s why it’s called חדש
האביב Hodesh HaAviv The month of the Spring/, and in Hebrew אביב
Aviv spells, “Father of the other 12 (months)” And the children
are inside the father.
Therefore, the first twelve days of Nissan are very powerful days. What kind of
power? The power Hiddush/newness, or renewal. The power of
renewal lies in this month, because with it, the Jewish nation became renewed. Our birth
was in this month.
Rabbi Gedalia Schorr has a beautiful thought on the power of
the days, in his sefer Or Gedalyahu
on the month of
Nissan. He quotes Tehilim chapter
2, where David HaMelech says,
ה׳ אמר אלי בני אתה אני היום ילדתיך
God told me, “You are My son, I gave birth to you today.”
On what day was this?
“Everyday,” says Rabbi Schorr.
Every day in our Tefilot,
we say that God renews creation every day. That means that we aren’t
here today just because we were here yesterday. We are here today because God willed
us to be here today. My house is not here today because it was here
yesterday, but rather because God willed it to be here today. The same is true for a wife, husband, children, friends,
clothing, car and everything that we have.
It’s all here because God willed it to be here today.
That is what hadash means. It means new.
That’s what, “I gave birth to you today,“ means.
Today is your birthday, and tomorrow is your birthday and the next day is your
birthday. Because every day is new. I am
born every day because God wills me to be. That is a powerful father-son
connection. “Beni Atah- You are My son.” We are connected to God, because God takes care of us like a
father takes care of a son.
That is the force that undoes the dust and rust of creation.
As time goes on, everything gets dusty and old and mildew.
We have to constantly refresh and realize that nothing is old.
If we looked at creation this way, we would be dancing every
day. We’d be thrilled at the new world every day. And that is why David
HaMelech starts off Tehilim this way.
David HaMelech was always singing, because David HaMelech
represented renewal. When we say the blessing
on the new moon, we say, “David Melech Yisrael Chai V’Kayam.”
David HaMelech connects to the moon, which gets bigger and smaller but never
disappears. It constantly renews
itself. That’s David HaMelech and the whole power of Tehilim.
David HaMelech was always standing there at creation,
feeling new and renewed, and signing. That
is the feeling of “Beni Atah, You are my son, I gave birth to you today .”
The next pasuk says.
“Ask me and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
When a person realizes that power of renewal, and realizes the God is constantly
giving him everything, what he asks from
God, he gets, because he realizes nothing is his. Every thing he has was just
given to him by God, so there is no
difference in asking for more, because it’s the same as what he
has. He understand that what he has today was a new gift,
so, he thinks, “Why can’t God give me another gift today?”
That is power of renewal. And that is the power of the month
of Nissan.
Let us take advantage of the energy of renewal in these wonderful days,
from now until Pesach.
Have a wonderful day and a Hodesh Tov.
