The second Torah scroll which is read this Shabbat tells us the law ‘This month should be for you the head of the months’.
At the very beginning of his commentary on the Torah, Rashi refers to this passage and says that since this is the first command in the Torah, and the Torah is a book of laws, it should really have been the opening passage in the Torah. He asks, why instead is the account of Creation the beginning of the Torah? So that if the Jewish people are accused of stealing the Land of Israel from its previous inhabitants, they can answer: G-d created the world; He first gave the Land to the Canaanites, and then He took it away from them, and gave it to us.
It is well known that ‘a question asked in the Torah, is also Torah’. Indeed, the Rebbe Rashab stated that this passage about the New Moon is the real beginning of the Torah. However, this is when one considers the Torah from its inner, hidden aspect. If one looks at the outer, revealed aspect, then the account of Creation is the beginning.
This links with the question discussed in the Talmud as to when the world was created. Rabbi Eliezer says it was created at the time of Tishrei (25 Elul, to be exact, the first of Tishrei, our Rosh Hashanah, being when Adam was created, on the sixth day). But Rabbi Joshua says it was created at the time of Nisan (25 Adar). The Rashab explains that in actual fact, the creation was in Tishrei. But the Thought to create the world – was in Nisan.
It is known that Thought is the inwardness, the intention and the meaning, of the action which follows the thought. Hence while the outer aspect of the Torah is that it begins with the Creation, and that the world is created in Tishrei, the inner dimension is that it begins with the law of the New Moon, which means the New Moon of Nisan.
One of the differences between Tishrei and Nisan is that divine flow which is manifest on Tishrei comes about from an arousal from below, the repentance of the Jewish people; but the divine flow manifest in Nisan comes as an arousal from Above, independent of the actions of the Jewish people. [Thus G-d redeemed the Jewish people from Egypt, even though they had sunk to a very low level.]
Another difference is that the divine life-force which flows on Tishrei is finite and limited, giving life to the finite universe, and the source of Nature. But the life-force of Nisan, which flows to all the New Moons of the months of the entire year – is a boundless flow, without limits. This is why at Tishrei the finite world was created, within the laws of Nature, while at Nisan there was the Exodus, going beyond the laws of Nature [as in the miracles of the Ten Plagues], because of the revelation of a radiance which is higher than the created worlds.
But if this is the case, we can ask why was the Thought of creation on Nisan? Nisan represents boundlessness, but Creation is finite?
Now the argument between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua also concerns the future Redemption. Rabbi Eliezer thinks that while the first Redemption (from Egypt) was in Nisan, the future Redemption (with Moshiach) will be in Tishrei. But Rabbi Joshua thinks, just as the first Redemption was in Nisan, so too the final Redemption will be in Nisan.
The Tzemach Tzedek explains that this disagreement relates to how they each conceive the future Redemption. Rabbi Eliezer thinks the Redemption depends on the Repentance of the Jewish people. If they Repent, they will be redeemed; but if they don’t repent, they won’t be redeemed. Hence he thinks the future Redemption will be in Tishrei, when Repentance is particularly accepted by G-d [as we see, that Tishrei is the time of the Ten days of Penitence, and of Yom Kippur]. According to rabbi Eliezer, the Redemption in Nisan was simply from a revelation from above, independent of the state of the Jewish people. But the future Redemption will be through the Repentance of the Jewish people, hence it will be in Tishrei. But Rabbi Joshua holds that the Redemption does not depend on the actions of the Jewish people; they will be redeemed even if they do not repent. Hence, according to him, the Redemption will be in Nisan.
An important difference between the first Redemption from Egypt and the final Redemption by Moshiach, is that the Redemption from Egypt was followed by a cycle of exile and redemption; but the future Redemption will be permanent. One way of explaining this difference, is because the first Redemption was from Above, hence it did not have a permanent effect. According to Rabbi Eliezer, the final Redemption will be on account of the Repentance of the Jewish people, in Tishrei, and hence it will, be permanent.
Rabbi Joshua agrees that the first Redemption did not have a permanent effect, because it simply came from above. But in his view, the final Redemption will also be from Above – but the radiance will be from an infinitely higher level. This exalted radiance will lead to a Redemption which will be permanent.
So far we have considered the discussion in the Talmud, as illuminated by Chassidic teaching. But what is the view of later Sages? According to the Rambam, the Redemption will follow the view of Rabbi Eliezer: ‘the Jewish people will only be redeemed through Teshuvah’. This view is generally accepted. But as regards the time of the Redemption, many Chassidic discourses follow the view of Rabbi Joshua, that this will take place in Nisan. How do these two different views combine? Because the way the Jewish people will repent at the end of their Exile will be in such a way that it will draw down the [unlimited] revelation from above, and that will have the quality of Nisan – and at the same time it will bring about a permanent Redemption, which will not be followed by Exile.
How can the Teshuvah of the Jewish people at the end of their Exile have this power?
The discourse explains that there are different ways of serving G-d. One’s service might come from one’s exalted spirituality, which has different levels, higher and higher. Or it might be a product of one’s total abnegation before G-d, in which one does not feel one has any positive qualities.
The kind of Repentance which will be expressed at the end of the Exile will be of this latter kind: total bitul, selflessness. And hence it will trigger the exalted revelation of the month of Nisan leading to a true and permanent Geulah.
The attainment of this sense of bitul, selflessness is the special product of Exile. It is in that sense that the Redemption comes as a response to the service of the Jewish people: through their utter bitul. And this bitul reaches the Essence of the Divine, above the downchaining of the worlds.
Hence there will be the combining of the two key aspects, Nisan and Tishrei: Nisan expressing the revelation from above, independent of man’s actions, and Tishrei emphasising the effort from below. When that effort discloses transcendence of one’s own self and spiritual qualities, total bitul, one reaches the Essence and the ultimate Redemption.
