NISSAN 2012

                   WANTS  IN SPRING BLOSSOM

This is the only blessing in which we praise G-d for giving us pleasure – ליהנות בהם בני אדם . After giving this some thought, we can realize that herein lies a deep message about life and its pleasures. In our blessings over bread or water, we do not mention that G-d gives us pleasure. These are basic needs for survival. We do not feel the same kind of pleasure in receiving our vital needs as we do in being given the “wants” we feel in life. The fact that there is  fruit on a tree shows us that G-d wants us to have pleasure, to enjoy His Goodness, to recognize His love for us,  and not just to get by in life with the food groups that are basic for survival. He wants us to ascend far beyond the level of existing into the much higher realm of acknowledging appreciation. The fruit trees are here in the Universe to bring color and enjoyment to life. This displays G-d’s love for us. That G-d wants us to be happy. He wants us to have our “wants”.

We might ask ourselves how it’s possible to say that having wants brings about pleasure? Are there not plenty of people in the world who have all the money they want and, even so, are living lives devoid of happiness? But this is precisely the point. The high level of happiness, the happiness that we feel when we have or we get what we want, lasts only for a few moments. After getting or seeing that we are getting our wants, the feelings and sensations of pleasure shrink to less than a minute fraction of those we experienced at the outset. In stark contrast, the blessing thanking G-d for His creations can be made only once a year, unlike many other blessings of praise that can be made every thirty days. The blessing for the trees is our expression of the happiness we have from seeing them, our first experience with fruit trees each year. How, then, is this such a great pleasure, the pleasure of getting our wants? And why is it specifically in Nissan?

The Hebrew months of the year are actually not Hebrew! In the Torah, the months are referred to through numbers: the First month (Nissan), Second month (Iyar) Third month (Sivan) …and so on. Similarly, in Hebrew, the days of the week are numbers and not names, such as Sunday and Monday… Rabbeinu Bachye (Parashat Bo) writes that the days are given numbers in relation to Shabbat,  reminding us how many days we are before or after Shabbat. The Hebrew months in the Torah, also, are counted from the first month of Nissan, the month of our Redemption from Egypt. This, as well serves  to remind ourselves each month of the Redemption. This is the reason why the Torah did not give names to the months.

When the Jewish Nation came up from Bavel to rebuild theSecondTemple, they brought along with them names for the months. Nissan, Iyar… these names are not Hebrew names. They came from Bavel and Paras/Maday. However, there is a message behind the name Nissan.

Nissan is always the month of spring. The first month (Nissan) is referred to as the חדש האביב  (month of spring) in the Torah. Spring, in Hebrew, is אביב which can be broken up into אב י’ ב’ father of 12 (months). The word ניסן  is very similar to the word in Shir Hashirim הניצנים נראו בארץ  the blossoms were seen in the land. This is the month of blossoming, and the beginning of new life – a twelve month life. All the months are lead by this month. How?

The whole winter long, a tree looks like a piece of dead wood. The appearance of a blossom tells us that there is and was life inside. It was just waiting for the proper timing to come out. This feeling of resurrection that we get from the trees each spring shows us that there is a time when a person, also, feels revival and renewal. At different times in people’s lives, they undergo change. This change is always fathered by a feeling of hope. And hope is the result of a realization that one has a choice to follow his will and grow to meet lifetime goals. That is what happened to the Jews in the month of Nissan. They were given hope and free will. That was their freedom. And that is why Nissan is the first month. That is why it is in spring.

This feeling of freedom of choice is why “wants” are just so sweet. The wants remind us of our choice. The apple on the tree is not something that we must eat for survival. It is what we want to eat. We can see and appreciate G-d through our wants and appreciate His having given us free will. And this is where all the pleasure is. It is not in the apple itself. It is not in the fancy cars and beautiful houses. After having all that, somehow the pleasure dwindles to a bare minimum. The real beauty is in the gift of choice and freedom to make it.

The Seforno says החדש הזה לכם  this month is yours means that this month you are not a “slave to time”. So many people are just that: a slave to time. They are not free to do what they wish with their time. Their time does what it wants to do with them. In Nissan, we can practice our free will to serve G-d by actively choosing to want to serve Him. At times we say that we just “cannot find the time” to do things that we purport to want to do, such as praying slowly and intently and doing chesed. But in this month, we do not have to “serve time”. The person who wants to grow can find salvation in this month. Nissan ניסן  is also from the word  ניסים , miracles. The ability to become something that we always wanted to be, the ability to attain our spiritual desires can blossom in this month. Let it.

LONG TERM MEMORY

Everybody knows at least some of the mitzvot of Passover: clearing out the chametz from one’s home, eating matzah, and reciting the haggadah are mitzvot even some of the most assimilated Jews keep on some level.  Less known, however, is the reason we perform these mitzvot: zecher leyitziat mitzrayim (remembering the miracles G-d did for our ancestors when He redeemed them fromEgypt).

The Torah provides us with mitzvot in order to “joggle our memories.”  But should we really need such assistance?  True, the exodus happened 3,324 years ago – but could any Jew ever forget such a monumental part of our history?   Apparently, especially in our high-speed generation, we need to put in effort to make this ancient memory relevant.

Are We Really Related?

Even if one has a bad memory, who could ever forget his wedding day, or the moment one of his children was born?  This is because we remember things which are personal and important to us.

For many of us, in 2012, it is difficult to relate to the emancipation of an Egyptian slave on a personal level.  The freedom our ancestors felt at that moment has been forgotten over generations of persecution and trial.  Still, we are obligated by the Torah to find a way to relate to that feeling of freedom , making it eminently relevant for us, so that it will stay emblazoned on our hearts and stay in our memory forever.

Holiday Without a Homeland

There is another factor which makes our task of feeling the redemption fromEgypteven harder.  At the moment of the exodus, we were a nation in the desert without a homeland.  It wasn’t until 40 years later that the Jewish Nation miraculously captured thelandof Canaan and drove out the drove out the seven nations who lived there.  There is no religious Jewish holiday to commemorate the miraculous victory and inheritance of thelandofIsrael, our national homeland.  On Passover, then, we are celebrating the fact that we went from being slaves to being a homeless People in the desert!  How is this supposed to elicit feelings of freedom?

Celebration of Choice

G-d created man with the ability to choose.  Although we are commanded to do good, G-d gave man the gift of freewill and choice.  Since this is part of the fabric of how we were created, people who do not have freedom of choice feel miserable.  Today, Fortune 400 business advisors suggests that employers give options to their employees instead of only giving orders, because a person thrives when given the opportunity to use this freedom of choice.  When a parent gives a child different positive options from which to choose, the child is less likely to feel animosity toward the parent.   Currently, in theMiddle East, we are seeing how people who have been denied the opportunity to exercise free will are rebelling against their governments.  Many would rather die for a belief or lifestyle which they choose than live without freedom to choose.

Festival of Freewill

Passover is a holiday of free choice. The Jews in Egyptwere denied the freedom of choice, robbing them of the ability to serve G-d.  This was the most difficult part of their servitude. On the 15^th of Nissan, each Egyptian Jew took his wife and children and left Egypt, walking into a barren desert on foot, with just one set of clothes and no plan for procuring food and water, while the burning sun beat down on him. Still, his joy knew no bounds.  Finally, he could do what he wanted to do; every Jew, deep down, wants to serve his Creator and serve his purpose in this world.  We were ready to choose and accept the Torah atMount Sinai.  On that day, we didn’t even care if we had a land to go to.  We were happy just to be ourselves, and we understood the importance of our freedom of choice.  This joy can be celebrated by a Jew, even in exile.

For the Land of the Free

It might be difficult for a citizen in Western culture to relate to concepts of slavery or dictatorship.  From the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the United States in 1776, a new era began. The success of Americawas its discovery of the power that free choice gives. Control techniques of other nations simply went out of style.  However, even in the 21^st Century, a new slavery and control technique hides behind the mask camouflaged in ‘green’. Digital addiction and cell phones fog up family time.  Our children’s potential is all tangled in web addiction and text-messaging.  We must realize this and get back our free choice, at least on the holiday of Passover. There is an Armani perfume advertisement which says, “It’s not about being noticed; it’s about being remembered.” This Passover, instead of us just “noticing” an event in ancient Jewish history, we can merit “remembering” our freedom of choice as a Jew and relive the experience. Remember that we can make a choice as to how to live, and that we are free to choose to live a life of serving G-d.

Shabbat Shalom, Yosef Farhi

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