Nissan:
Preparing for Dramatic Instantaneous Change
that will bring the World from Galus to Geula!
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This week’s parsha of Shemini begins on the eighth day of the inauguration of the Mishkon with Aaron and his sons beginning their service. A fire came from Hashem to consume their offerings and the Shechina, the divine presence came to dwell in the Mishkon. How does this parsha relate to each one of us today?
As we prepare for Pesach and the month of Nissan, a month of geula and miracles we have in mind that everything can change in a second. One second we can be in Mitzrayim and the next on our way out. In one moment a person can be a Levi and in the next a Kohen Gadol. In one moment we can have a heart of stone and in the next a heart of flesh as it says in the haftarah: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). On the eighth day an everlasting Kedusha came to the Mishkon, a kedusha that we had experienced at Matan Torah but had lost at the sin of the golden calf. In just one moment we got it back.
We should not be surprised by the idea of instantaneous change. We just look around and see a world transforming around us. Old world orders and old governments topple and new one’s arise overnight. Information travels in an instant and as a result the global attitude changes in an instant. Stock exchanges and market shares rise and fall in minutes. New technologies appear and change the way we live forever. We see from this week’s parsha that this is even more so when it comes to our relationship with Hashem. We can change everything in dramatic ways, but for that to happen we have to do our part. The Baal Shem Tov teaches that a neshama comes down into this world for a purpose. It may be just to do one favor for someone else. We all have a shlichus and we have been given all that we need to get there. With Yud Aleph Nissan approaching we are reminded that we have the koach hamishaleiach, the Rebbe’s influence to constantly draw upon. The question is do we realize what we have? Do we realize what the possibilities are? Do we accept that what we do DOES make a big difference?
As we enter this coming month with anticipation and an expectation be part of the miracles and a witness to the possibility of an instant change we create that possibility with our participation. Though everyone’s participation and all of the preparations for Pesach may we merit the full and complete revelation of Moshiach now!
A Good Shabbos A Good Chodesh