ROSH CHODESH NISSAN – THE TIME WHEN KINGS BECOME NULLIFIED TO THE CREATOR
Rosh Chodesh Nissan is called the “Rosh HaShanah” for kings of the Jewish people, as explained in the Gemara.
There is a well-known question: There is a mitzvah in the Torah to appoint a king, yet when Shaul became the first king of the Jewish people, the generation was held accountable for a lack of faith in the Creator for requesting a king. There is a well-known answer to this that it is only improper when a king anoints himself, but the ideal Jewish king is anointed for the purpose of nullifying himself to the Creator, which reveals how only Hashem is the true King. [Hence, this perspective was missing in the people when they anointed Shaul as king, so the generation is criticized for requesting a king].
Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the time when a Jewish is king is anointed, is therefore a day of bittul, of becoming nullified to the Creator. When a new Jewish king is appointed, his royalty is really an expression of the royalty of Hashem, Who is the only true King.
On the eighth day of the Mishkan, the Mishkan remained assembled and was no longer disassembled. The depth of this is because there was no longer a need for bittul (nullification) after the eighth day, for the Mishkan that Moshe made had already ceased – it had been disassembled. It was like how a Jewish king is nullified to the Creator, which reveals the Kingship of Hashem.
The Mishkan which Moshe made was not destroyed – instead, it became concealed. Had Moshe built the Beis HaMikdash, it would have been eternal, as the Sages state. The depth of this is because Moshe built the Mishkan from the perspective that he will stop serving as Kohen Gadol on the eighth day – revealing how the actions of the Mishkan were not being done through Moshe [but through the Creator alone].
