Month of Nisan reminds us to do some ‘spring cleaning’

Friday, March 23, 2001 | by

Vayakhel-Pekudei

Exodus 35:1-40:38, 12:1-20

Ezekiel 45:16-46:18

I Samuel 20: 18,42

by Rabbi Amy Eilberg

Some months of the year have their own ta'am, or unique fragrance and flavor. On Sunday we enter the month of Nisan, the month that exemplifies spring. In our beautiful home here in Northern California, as in Eretz Yisrael, everywhere we turn we find tulips, flowering fruit trees and people smiling at the warmth of spring. And of course, Nisan is the month of redemption.

The special maftir reading for this Shabbat HaChodesh majestically announces the coming of the month of Nisan ("This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you" (Exodus 12:2). This grand announcement in synagogue on the Shabbat preceding Rosh Chodesh Nisan marks the beginning of the physical countdown till Pesach. (Where will I be for the two sedarim? Is my invitation list complete? When will I begin my housecleaning and chametz removal and, of course, the cooking?) But it also alerts us to the spiritual reality that characterizes the month of Nisan.

The rabbis said, "In Nisan redemption came; in Nisan redemption will come again in the future." Not only, say the rabbis, was Nisan the month in which our people were liberated from bondage in Egypt, but also Nisan is surely the month in which the ultimate liberation of the future will happen. That is to say, it was no accident of history that the Israelites left Egypt in Nisan. Rather, this time of year is somehow essentially linked to the dynamics of redemption.

Through this teaching, I believe that the rabbis ask us to recognize the nexus between the cosmic, historical and personal dynamics of liberation that come together in this chodesh ha'aviv, the month of spring. In our celebration of Pesach, we place the greatest emphasis on the historical plane—the Exodus from Egypt, our people's birth as a nation devoted to God, holiness, and justice. But the rabbis point out that this historical event is integrally linked to the birthing, blossoming and awakening that happens in nature in the spring. So, too, this month—whose essence is redemption—calls to us to explore our inner work of liberation and release, both to make our experience of the seder more real and because this time of year has redemptive potential that we must not squander.

If we are to take this challenge seriously, then, we might make ourselves a Nisan checklist for our spirits, alongside the cleaning schedules and grocery lists for our kitchens. The checklist might look something like this:

As we clean our homes of chametz, what clutters our living space that may actually impede our sense of ease and spaciousness? What possessions are we holding onto that we do not need that for others would be a necessity? What do we carry within ourselves that is extra, puffed up, an embellishment of the simple truths of our lives, that may mask the clarity of our vision and the wisdom of our decision making from day to day?

How does the Exodus story live in us this year? What internal tyrants still hold us in bondage? In what ways have we inched toward greater freedom since last Pesach, and where are we still enslaved?

In our relationships—from the superficial ones to the intimate ones, do we act to bring more redemption, more goodness, more respect and clarity into the world? How often do we act out of our own places of woundedness and enslavement, thus creating more suffering rather than more ease in the world?

In what concrete ways do we respond to the Torah's call to us to identify with the oppressed—with the stranger, the orphan and the widow of our own day? Do we participate in moving the world incrementally from hatred, racism and war toward understanding, compassion and mutual respect? Do we stand with the Earth herself, enslaved by a new tyranny that threatens to destroy her?

One commentator calls our attention to the syntax of our verse, "This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months…" Rabbi Tsvi of Zoloshitz takes this to mean, "The month of redemption is given to you—dependent on you, on your good deeds—not on someone else." (Itturei Torah vol. 3, p. 91) This month we must ask ourselves whether we are part of the solution to the realities of enslavement, tyranny and hate in our world, or whether we are part of the problem.

May this month of redemption bring the world and our lives a step closer to freedom.