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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

There are three types of people in the world: 1) People who know how to count and 2) Those who don’t …

MIRACLE MONTH

This Shabbos something unusual will take place in shuls all over the world. Sefardim, Ashkenazim, Chassidim, Litvish, all will take out three Sifrei Torah and will read: 1) Parshas Tazria; 2) the reading for Rosh Chodesh; 3) Parshas HaChodesh.

Taking out three Sifrei Torah is not at all common in the Jewish calendar. It happens (in a regular year) just once, on Simchas Torah! What is the spiritual message and lesson that we can learn from how it comes out this year, mainly about the coming of Moshiach and the Geula?

We learn the inner meaning of taking out a Sefer Torah from the prayer said at the time. When the aron is opened, everyone stands up and says (Bamidbar 10:35) , “And Moshe said: Arise Hashem and disperse Your enemies, and those who hate you will flee from you.” That means, that taking out the Torah is a bit like the traveling of the aron in the desert and is meant to arouse us:

1-Arise Hashem – to arise and awaken from the slumber and spiritual sleep we are in and add in all areas of (avodas) Hashem with chayus and joy. And …

2-Disperse Your enemies … those who hate you – canceling, negating all undesirable things that can interfere with a Jew’s service of His Maker. Simply put, taking out even one Torah is a tremendous aid in the avoda of every one of us; all the more so when we take out three Sifrei Torah. We know that three times is a chazaka. Any event or happening that repeats itself three times generates the power and strength that it will continue in that way forever. Removing three Sifrei Torah gives us infinite strength both in “doing good” and in “veering from evil,” contending with and overcoming every obstacle in our way on the way to the true and complete Geula!

But that can’t be all, because we take out three Sifrei Torah on Simchas Torah so what are we getting excited about? That is something that happens every year. What is special about this year and today?

The Rebbe notes an interesting and significant difference between the three Sifrei Torah on Simchas Torah and Rosh Chodesh Nissan that falls on Shabbos. Furthermore, the Rebbe even explains that this difference lies in the reading in the third Sefer.

What do we read in the third Torah on Simchas Torah? What is read in the third Sefer on Shabbos? What important difference is there?

On Simchas Torah we read Parshas Bereishis, the parsha that tells about the creation of the world which is associated primarily with nature. This Shabbos, on the other hand, we will read Parshas HaChodesh which tells us about the month of Nissan, the month which represents miracles, G-d’s miraculous interactions with the world, which includes the miracles of the Exodus and the desert.

According to this, it turns out that while taking out the Sifrei Torah on Simchas Torah every year represents the chazaka of natural conduct, infusing empowerment into the ordinary life that a Jew lives every day, every hour, providing energy to continue with our usual service of G-d, on Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Nissan we receive something altogether different. Nissan represents the chazaka of miraculous conduct. It’s a day and a reading that gives us the strength to do what we thought we can’t. It infuses us with energy we didn’t think we had. It gives us wings to fly and reach places we never imagined we’d get to because with the unlimited power of the Creator, with the three-fold chazaka of this Shabbos, we can do anything and everything! All the details and verses of Parshas HaChodesh symbolize an atmosphere of rising above nature and bears with it the “scent” of Geula.

ALL MIRACLES ALL THE TIME

On the first verse, “This month is to you,” the Medrash (Shemos Raba 15:11) says, “When G-d chose His world, He established in it heads of months and years; when He chose Yaakov and his children, He established in it Rosh Chodesh of Geula.” That is Rosh Chodesh Nissan!

The rest of the parsha is about the Korban Pesach which represents skipping, jumping, beyond nature. Then, Parshas HaChodesh ends with the pronouncement, “In all your dwellings eat matzos,” which symbolizes the utter nullification of the mythological chometz; chometz which, in the Chassidic lexicon, represent the evil inclination, sins and all undesirable things which we want to erase, get rid of, nullify. Not only that the chometz be eradicated here and there; “in all your dwellings,” everywhere, every corner of the world only justice, truth and G-dly good prevail because “I will remove the spirit of impurity from the earth” with the complete Geula!

This all fits nicely with the nature of the month we are beginning. The name of the month is “Nissan,” which alludes to miracles. The double letter nun represents (not just one miracle but) many miracles! Furthermore, every yeshiva kid knows that the tefilla of “Ashrei” is in the order of the alef-beis but it’s missing one letter. Which one? The nun. Why? The Gemara explains that the nun represents the fall of Yisrael in exile, based on the verse (Amos 5:2), “The maiden of Israel has fallen and will not continue to rise,” something negative which we don’t want to mention.

The name Nissan though, which starts with a nun and represents miracles, and not just miracles but “miracles of miracles,” the miracles of the true and complete Geula, is precisely a fitting answer to that exile “fall.” This is the month of change, a month of elevation, a month of going from exile oppression to its transformation into the light of the Geula forever!

The connection between taking out three Sifrei Torah and the Geula is now clear. On this Shabbos we receive inside of ourselves a new G-dly energy, a supernatural spiritual power that helps us behave altogether differently. This Shabbos we have the ability to live “Geula,” to live with the supernatural, miraculous conduct of the Creator and to continue to live in this way every day. Throughout the month of Nissan and afterward as well, it is this three-fold chazaka which helps us continue and extend the divine miraculous conduct further, in every day and every hour.

Sounds good and convincing but how do we do it? How do we live with the Geula and miraculous every day and every moment?

We have an answer from the Rebbe in that sicha (quoting the Alter Rebbe in Likutei Torah, parshas Vayikra) “To know that Hashem is the life of all life and there is nothing but Him as it says, see now that I, I am He.” This is a verse said about the revelations of the Future but in light of what the (Alter Rebbe and) Rebbe says, every single person has the ability today to live this way. This is by revealing within himself the aspect of “Moshe Rabeinu” which is within us. In plain language, if we start to live with hiskashrus to the “Moshe Rabeinu” of the generation, if we align our way of life with his instructions, guidance, teachings and conduct, then we will have no problem living the Geula, living the month of Nissan and the three Sifrei Torah every day of the year.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

The Rebbe mentions in a sicha that taking out three Sifrei Torah on Shabbos also symbolizes a special blessing for parnassa and therefore, we will end with a story that highlights G-d’s miraculous conduct with each of us when it comes to our daily parnassa.

Rabbi Zushe of Anipoli had a custom that every morning, after davening, he did not ask someone to bring his food. He would say, as though to himself, “Master of the universe, Zushe is very hungry. Please bring him something to eat.”

When his assistant would hear this, he would bring in food. One time, the assistant decided that unless R’ Zushe asked him directly for food, he would not bring his food.

That day it poured in Anipoli and all the roads were full of mud. Boards were placed on the streets for people to walk on.

R’ Zushe went to the mikva in the morning to immerse before davening. As he walked, someone he did not know was walking toward him, a guest who was staying in an inn. The guest pushed R’ Zushe off the board and R’ Zushe landed in the mud. The man went to the inn where he was staying and laughingly told about what he had done, as he described the man he had pushed.

The innkeeper shrieked, “What did you do? That was R’ Zushe!”

The shocked guest said, “How can I appease the Rebbe for disgracing him?”

The innkeeper said, “R’ Zushe is a tzaddik and a humble man. I am sure that when you ask his forgiveness, he will forgive you wholeheartedly. But I advise you not to go empty-handed. After the davening, R’ Zushe eats something. Take some food and drink and wait until he finishes davening. Then go to his house and ask his forgiveness and give him the refreshments.”

The man did as he was advised. R’ Zushe was sitting at the table and he said, as he always did, “Master of the universe, Zushe is very hungry.”

The assistant did nothing. R’ Zushe called out again and that is when the door opened and in walked the man with food and drink which he placed before R’ Zushe. The man asked to be forgiven and R’ Zushe did so with all his heart.

The assistant, seeing his master with food and drink before him, realized that his parnassa was truly from heaven!

Good Shabbos!

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