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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier
In Chapter 40:2 it states, “On the first day of the first month you shall erect the Tabernacle…”
The construction of the משכן, Tabernacle had been completed some time before; according to many it was on כ”ה כסלו, more than three months prior. Why did Hashem wait until ראש חודש ניסן, to “rest His Divine Presence” on the Tabernacle.
The Medrash answers that יעקב אבינו, our Patriarch Yaakov, was born in Nissan. Now we ask; why not in the month (Tishrei) when אברהם אבינו and יצחק אבינו, the other Patriarchs were born?
The “Shem M’shmuel” explains: The Talmud, Tractate Shabbos 89b relates that in the future Hashem will say to אברהם אבינו, Patriarch Avraham, “Your children have sinned against Me.”
Avraham will say, “Let them be ‘erased’ in order to sanctify Your Name.” יעקב אבינו, our Patriach Yaakov, though he had the pain of raising a family, will concur with Avraham Avinu.
Yitzchok Avinu, our Patriarch Isaac, will say, “Are they my children and not yours? Didn’t you call them ‘my son, my firstborn son, Israel’…And if you say I must bear (as their ancestor) all their sins, I sacrificed my soul before You and due to this merit forgive them!”
The Alshich HaKadosh asks; Yitzchak Avinu represents מדת הדין, the dynamic of living where every action, thought, and word is scrutinized for the slightest deviation from what is correct. It should be logically improbable for him to be the defender of those who sinned?
He answers, “there is a unique aspect to the birth of Yitzchak. Normally, just as there is physical genetics, so too one passes to one’s descendants one’s spiritual or non-spiritual genes which are a consequence of one’s life’s actions. Hashem, therefore created Avraham and Sarah with the inability to produce offspring, thereby nullifying the natural transmission of the genes of their ancestors who were idol worshippers. Miraculously, at their respective age of 99 and 89, they were suddenly gifted with the ability to have progeny. Yitzchok, consequently, was born with no prior conditions; a representative of one presented with the ability to forge ahead with no prior encumbrance, He therefore could contend that Klal Yisroel, even those who had sinned, could be accorded the gift of a fresh beginning without having to be ”cleansed” for their sins and the impact their sins had on them. That which their previous actions needed atonement for; Yitzchak argued that his self-sacrifice was sufficient for Hashem to benevolently forgive them.
The Medrash Tanchuma equates the day of creation with the day Hashem placed His Divine Presence in the Tabernacle. Just as the creation of the world was a new phenomena with no previous substance, so too Hashem’s “appearance” in this world was a totally new dynamic.
Yitzchak Avinu, who represents the idea of חידוש, freshness and novelty, merited that in his month of birth, Hashem would suffuse the Mishkan with His presence. It was in effect the same cause for exhilaration; the concept that was inculcated through these happenings. Klal Yisroel should never despair; they had sinned with the Golden Calf, but there is always the metaphysical dynamic that one can continue in life with a new beginning.
How did Klal Yisroel merit the presence of Hashem? How did Klal Yisroel merit to leave Egypt, after all they were steeped in idolatry and immoral behavior?
Chazal teach us that Hashem says to us, “Open me a pinhole and I will open the door of a palace.” Quite a difference! We are gifted by Hashem with that if one with acuity, honesty, and selfless dedication wants to embark on a journey of following Hashem’s dictates, Hashem facilitates its actualization. If one sincerely desires to be in His Presence, it happens.
In Egypt, Hashem instructed us with two mitzvos; circumcision and the Pesach sacrifice. The תרגום יונתן explains with the blood of circumcision I will have pity on you (bond with you) and with the blood of the Pesach laws I will redeem you (you having earned freedom). We merited to be granted the greatest gift of all, the Torah, due to initiating a path to accept Hashem’s dictate!
Nissan is a time that contains a metaphysical dynamic endemic to it; if one wants to selflessly subordinate their will to Hashem, it will happen due to Hashem’s benefaction. This idea is represented with the advent of springtime; all that seemed “dead” in the winter comes to life!
