NISSAN -VAYIKRA english

WANTS  IN SPRING BLOSSOM

In the month of Nissan, we have a beautiful blessing: the unique blessing on the blossoming of the trees. This blessing is unique not only because it comes only once a year, but because of what it is that we are praising in this blessing.שלא חיסר בעולמו כלום וברא בו בריות טובות ואילנות טובות ליהנות בהם בני אדם Blessed are You, HaShem, our G-d King of the universe, Who has left nothing missing from His Universe and has created in it good beings and good trees through which to bring pleasure to Mankind.

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 vitalneeds 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 the Second Temple, 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.

THE GOOD SIDE OF THE EVIL INCLINATION

It has become the “in thing” for many Jewish mothers to go to a hotel for Passover. Even though this was not the practice of their own mothers, going to a hotel instead of cleaning is becoming the widespread custom for many who can afford – and even for those who cannot afford – such luxury. I was in a small toy store in Jerusalem, and I heard the following comment from a religious, female employee to her friend. “I work all year long just so that I can afford the hotel and  not have to clean my house for Pesach!!”

Let us take a reality check. What, exactly, are we inspecting in “bedikat chametz”?  While reviewing the laws of checking the house for chametz, The Halachic authority mentioned that although the houseshould be cleaned before one checks, one must be careful, particularly in this stressful hour of checking for chametz, not to get angry at his spouse. The implication is that anger is to the soul what chametz is to kosher Pesah food.  In the Yehi Ratzon prayer which we recite when ridding the house of chametz, we say that our intention is also to check and cleanse our hearts for the spiritual chametz that is there. This spiritual chametz is “The evil side of the evil inclination”. And one who is free from spiritual chametz should certainly not be getting angry.

Now, let us direct our focus to an interesting Jewish law about Matza. The only Matza with which one can fulfill his obligation on Seder night is matza made from ingredients that can become Chametz. Matza that is made out of rice and “dochan” is not valid for fulfilling the mitzvah of eating matzah on the night of the Seder. We learn this from the psukkim. We need flour that can become chametz – allegorically, flour that has the possibility of becoming “evil” – it is up to us to make sure that we get only the good out of it. We are meant to find the good existing within the evil inclination. Paralleling the good and not good components of dough – the elements we catch before they have a chance to become chametz – there are elements in our personalities which must be “caught” and directed to constructive purposes. How is this to be done? The following insight was introduced to me this last week by R’ Aharon Feldman, sh’lita.

The Torah teaches that expression is a human need.  Ruach, Nefesh and Neshama are our “spokesmen”.   Ideally, the Neshama should be the source of our expression, as the Neshama strives only toward good. (Ruach is the root of the ego- how one perceives himself; Nefesh is the internal drive for earthly needs and wants.  In simple terms: The Neshama wants to do what is purely good. The Ruach wants to do what looks good. And the Nefesh wants to do what feels good.)  Within Ruach and Nefesh, there are, as it were, “ulterior motives” – goals that are self-serving, goals that pull us down.  Ruach, the ego, can be healthy self esteem, or – in its chametz aspect – a drive to make an impression on others by flaunting wealth or intelligence.  Nefesh, relating to material needs, is healthy when taking care of necessities: its negative side is pursuing luxury and excesses.

When the negative side of these soul components takes over, the Neshama is clouded.  Positive expressions stem from the Neshama.  Expressions of Ruach and Nefesh must ideally be filtered through the Neshama, which is “an integral part of our Creator, on high”  חלק אלוקה ממעל .  Thus, sifting through the expressions of Ruach and Nefesh empower the Neshama to shine forth.  Just by negating and discrediting the irrational thoughts of running after honor and fame, or pleasures and dreams, we help the desire of the Neshama to express itself.אלקי- נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא  “HaShem!  The soul which You have given me is pure….” The purity of good will is lucid and even powerful .

Let us examine the filtering process in regard to self esteem. There are two ways to tap into the healthy self esteem within us. One is by reinforcing it: recognizing the areas in life in which we were and are successful.  The second possibility is to recognize the senselessness of the irrational, self-defeating thoughts that make us look at ourselves as failures.  Positive, healthy self esteem that we all have in us, even without reconstructing it, is one of the aspects of our Neshama and Ruach. We can see that when we remove the evil from the yetzer hara, from our Ruach and Nefesh, from the expression of negative actions and behaviors, there remains a positive essence.

How does all this affect our relationship with G-d?

We are commanded to love G-d and fear Him. How can we understand being commanded to have a particular emotion? We either have the emotion, or we do not – we naturally feel a certain way, or we don’t.

The answer is that deep down we all have a place in us where we love G-d. This feeling and expression is that of the Neshama, coming through the Nefesh. The reason why sometimes we do not feel our love for Him  is because of our irrational thoughts and expectations. Or our passion for worldly things that clouds the feeling of love toward G-d . When we remove these worldly passions and desires, our love for and belief in Him are revealed. This happens at special, memorable moments in everyone’s life. It is simply the Neshama expressing itself through the Nefesh. It happens even in the lives of people who seem to be the most distant from spirituality.

R’ Yehuda Tzadka, zt”l, related a story about a close friend of his to his students. The friend had wanted to increase merit for Jewish neighbors who did not have a mezuzah by offering them to write and put up a mezuzah on their door – all costs covered . At one of the doors that he knocked on, a woman opened, and, hearing his request, declined the offer.  She said, “Thank you, Rabbi, but I am a non – believer”.

Just at that moment, her daughter popped out of one of the bedrooms and said to her mother- “Mom – do not lie. Last week when I had a 39-degree fever, you said a prayer to G-d. The G-d who you prayed to when you needed Him is the same one who asked you to put a mezuzah on the door.” And she did.

Deep down, we are all believers. All we must do is to clear away the fog. To get rid of the chametz.

A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE

ויקרא אל משה וידבר ה’ אליו מאהל מועד לאמר- And (Hashem) called out to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him from the ohel mo’ed, saying…(Vayikra 1:1)  The Midrash Rabbah (1:15) learns from this pasuk that even a dead animal is better than a Talmid Chacham who lacks da’at. This is implied from that which Moshe waited for Hashem to invite him to enter the Mishkan. Although Moshe built the entire Mishkan, he nevertheless held himself back from entering until invited.

It is definitely inappropriate to enter someone’s home uninvited, but how could doing so have rendered someone of Moshe’s caliber guilty of lacking the fundamental quality of da’at? Also, what does the Midrash mean to tell us when it states that a Talmid Chacham who doesn’t act with da’at is on a lower level than a dead animal?

Whenever we speak about knowledge, we find three words used to describe it: Chachma, Bina and Da’at. Chachma refers to knowing information, and Bina is the ability to construct concepts off of previous knowledge. Da’at, however, has not been achieved until one internalizes the information in a way that its applicable .Rav Avigdor Miller teaches that this is a level of clarity to the senses that is so live and vivid that it can’t be forgotten.

For example, a parent can tell a small child that he should not play with fire because it can burn them. The child has gained a piece of information (chachma). Then the parent can teach the child how to distinguish between something hot and something that isn’t (bina). But until the child actually makes the mistake of touching something hot – and experiences the pain of a burn first-hand, he will not gain a true understanding of what it means to touch something hot. Only after this happens will the child develop an instinct to run away from fire because he now has it internalized (Da’at).

If a Talmid Chacham doesn’t internalize information in a way that he will act upon his information refining his beliefs, principles and proper habits, than his knowledge and efforts are for naught. He is more useless than an animal carcass; at least a carcass has bones that can still serve a purpose. Without Da’at, one’s knowledge is unrealized potential, because it has not been internalized in a usable fashion. (For this reason, the Rambam in his Mishna Torah calls the section on middot “Hilchot De’ot”).

Some people live life without ever thinking about what their principles and beliefs are. They act on the spur of the moment. When one lives this way, life can get very confusing. It becomes full of contradictions and sometimes one sees how others perceive him, and he is shocked. One finds himself wondering, “I don’t think this way, so why did I act this way?”

Take out time to jot down what your principles, beliefs and life-values are. Then weigh them out against each other, and review it periodically, asking yourself, “Is this the way I behave?” There is no better way to see your true reflection.