Chodesh Nissan

In Parshas Bo we have the mitzvah of kiddush hachodesh. The Torah writes, “rishon hu lachem lochodshei hashana,” “it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.” The month which we call Nissan is supposed to be the first month of the year. What is the idea? What is the message? The Ramban (12:1) explains the following idea. The counting of the months should be a remembrance, a zecher, for the great miracle of leaving Mitzrayim. There are no names for the months in the Torah. Rather, we say, “in the first month, in the second month, in the third month.” When a person says, “it is the eighth day of the fourth month,” he will think to himself, “fourth month” from when? And he will remember it is the fourth month from the first month. And why is that the first month? Because we left Mitzrayim in that month. So every time a person mentions the month of the year he is remembering Yetzias Mitzrayim.[i]

The Ramban says that we have a similar idea regarding Shabbos and the days of the week. In the Torah there are no names for the days of the week. The message is that we should remember Shabbos every day of the week, and every time we mention a day of the week it is a reminder of Shabbos.

When we daven Shacharis each morning, at the end of the davening we say the shir shel yom. We introduce the shir shel yom by saying, “hayom yom rishon b’Shabbos,” “today is the first day of the week to Shabbos.” Based on this Ramban, when we recite that introductory sentence, we are fulfilling a mitzvas aseh d’Oraisa of remembering Shabbos.

            The Torah says in the Aseres Hadibros, “zachor es yom haShabbos likadsho,” “remember Shabbos and sanctify it.” This posuk is the source for saying Kiddush Friday night. The Ramban maintains that this posuk is also the source for a daily mitzvah to remember Shabbos. Remember Shabbos everyday of the week when you mention the day of the week and you say “it is the first day, second day, third day until Shabbos.” That idea is also being expressed in this posuk.

The lesson for us in this Ramban is overwhelming. The Ramban here is saying that we should try to sanctify every aspect of our lives. Even something as “neutral” as the name of the day of the week, or the name of the month, even something like that must be suffused with kedusha. When you are talking to your friend and you casually mention the day of the week, you can and should be involved in avodas Hashem.

A classic example of this is the bracha of asher yatzar, the bracha you recite after using the bathroom. This is a very deep idea. This is an activity that is something we have in common with animals. At first glance, it does not seem like an activity that can be injected with avodas Hashem. And yet, we recite the bracha of asher yatzar, and we use this activity as a springboard for hoda’ah, thanksgiving, to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The sefarim point out that it is striking that the only bracha that the Shulchan Aruch (Siman 6) translates for us is the bracha of asher yatzar. This reflects the importance of this bracha.

We should try to bring kedusha into every aspect of our lives and we should try to say the bracha of asher yatzar with more kavanah. This is one message of the famous Ramban regarding Chodesh Nissan.

Chag Kasher v’Sameach,

B. Ginsburg

[i]There is an obvious difficulty with this p’shat. We know that we do have names for the months: Nissan, Iyar, etc. How does this fit with the Ramban’s explanation? The Ramban addresses this question and offers the following p’shat. Our names of the months are Persian. Am Yisrael brought these names back from Bavel after Galus Bavel ended. So the Ramban explains that the Persian names are supposed to remind us that we were once in Galus in Bavel, and Hashem redeemed us. Just like there was a geulah from Mitzrayim, there was a geulah from Bavel. And just like the numbers of the months are supposed to remind us of Yetzias Mitzrayim, so too the names of the months are supposed to remind us of the geulah from Bavel. So instead of the Persian names creating a difficulty with the Ramban’s approach, they are actually another application of the Ramban’s yesod. We use the date to remember the chasdei Hashem.