Nissan Minhag Explanation

A Midrash about Today

This midrash was written at least 400 years prior to the beginning of the Moslem Religion. Listen closely and learn about true Laughter and Certainty. This midrash needs to be published to every person since this is what will redeem the spiritual people. NOT JUST JEWISH PEOPLE.

When the Land of Israel (note it does not state the modern government of Israel) is returned to the Jewish people there will be a religious house of prayer (chanoch adds: Moslems) at the location where the Jewish people wish to rebuild the Temple. The Jews will go to the Children of Ishmael and request them to take down their house of prayer. The Children of Ishmael will say no to this request. Since the Jews have the control of this location having conquered it they will threaten to tear down the house of prayer anyway. The Moslems essentially given no choice will suggest a solution to avoid the tear down and avoid war.

The Moslems will suggest that just as in the days of old with Elisha and the Prophets of Baal, they each build an altar and go a sacrifice to HaShem/Allah. Whichever sacrifice is accepted will control the location of the Temple. The Moslems agree that if the Jewish sacrifice is accepted then they will follow the Torah and become Benai Noach. If their sacrifice is accepted then the Jews will convert to become Moslems. After all HaShem / Allah is in control. Let Him decide.

After much debate and discussions on all sides EVERYONE AGREES. Two altars will be built - one for each side. In the words of Pharaoh, Let it be written; let it be done.

The midrash continues to tell us that the two altars are built and the two sacrifices are prepared and the two sacrifices are performed. The fire does come down from Heaven and burns the Moslem Sacrifice.

The Moslem celebrate and go to the Jewish Nations Government and said we have a deal - convert. Many Jewish People refuse and disappear into the Judean desert and wage guerrilla warfare until they are victorious and that is how the Temple will come to be built.

This midrash is about Certainty and Amalek. This midrash is about what it means to follow a spiritual path. After all, if you see the fire come down from Heaven and accept the Moslem sacrifice what will you do?

Now we can discuss the Nissan Minhag and the meaning of Pesach.

Do you believe what your eyes show you in the physical illusion or do you follow your heart and knowledge of your personal experience of the Creator and the Plan of Creation?

Nissan Minhag Explanation

In July of 1991 I started learning Kabbalah. At that time my teacher made two statements to me: 1. Paraphrasing the Sefer Yitzirah, he said, “The Hebrew Letters are the building block of creation and HaShem gave them to us so they can be used as a tool to control creation.” 2. Don’t believe a word I (my teacher or anyone else) say. Please, do try what is recommended to do and see for your self if it helps you in your life.

As a trained graduate engineer I had lived my life as if I was from Missouri, which meant if I could see it I would believe it. Since that time I have never believed a word my teacher or any other MeKubal has said. I have tried their recommendations in my life and KNOW that they work for me. What is written below is for your benefit – Please, read it, try it, and prove it to yourself. By the way, at any step in the process feel free to ask questions! Address any inquiries to yeshshem@hotmail.com.

Kabbalistic Minhag for Nissan

We all know that Kabbalah is a term used to represent the level of Sod – Secrets in the Torah. We know also that Kabbalah means “to receive” in Hebrew. Many of us believe if not now that HaShem created the worlds in order to share His beneficence with His creations and his beneficence is only “Good.”

With the above in mind, the ARI (Rabbi Isaac Luria Z’al) brings two related teachings. One teaching is that control of the Hebrew month is available to us on the Rosh Chodesh of each Hebrew Month. The second teaching is that there is a Keter (seed level) connection between the first days of Nissan and the Rosh Chodeshim of the Hebrew months of the year.

What this means is that there is a direct correspondence between the first days of Nissan and each of the Hebrew months of the year. Therefore, Taurus is controlled by our actions on the second day of Nissan; Sivan by the actions we do on the third day of Nissan; and so forth.

I have personally tested this method of control by doing this ritual for a number of years. The Minhag ritual works for me. I suggest you test this for yourself

My Test

What I did was to record which day related to which month and which day I was able to do the action suggested by the Minhag. I was not able to do the actions in all of the days in Nissan. Then during that year at the end of each Hebrew month I reviewed the month and I was able to see a connection between the months that I did the action in Nissan and the months I did not. I suggest you do something similar.

Here is a deeper discussion of the ritual which includes one interpretation of how the Tribes relate to the Sefirot.

For the first 12 days of this month of Nissan, we are joining the tribal Princes in daily dedicating the Sanctuary, the Chanuka Habayit for the Mikdash or Tabernacle. This reading we most recently read on the 8 days of Hanukah, We will read it again when we reach Parshat Naso on June 3 2023.

What is the relationship between Nissan and the Holiday of Chanukah?

On the holiday of Chanukah we reveal the light referred to as the Ohr Ganuz - Hidden or Concealed Light. This is the light that is revealed as the first step in Creation. This is the light that the midrash tells us was concealed until the full Tikune or Gmar Tikune - the complete correction of all of humanity and all of the earth. This concealment is one of the effects of the Sin of Adam and Chavah.

This light is revealed three times during every calendar year. Why this light is revealed 3 times relates to the 3 columns of the Tree of Life. These 3 times are the Holiday of Chanuka representing the right column, in my opinion, The month of Nissan leading up to the Holiday of Pesach representing the left column, in my opinion, and the Holiday of Shavuot - the Gift of the Torah as the central column, in my opinion.

Therefore Each day for the next thirteen days, leading up to the Burning of Chametz on the 14th day of Nissan, [*note change of date in the year 5781]we shall participate in the dedication of the Mishkan again just as we did in the desert during the second year in the desert in the month of Nissan. This is to connect to the light that was and is revealed every year at this time. This is an aspect of HaShem's mercy.

Since no one knows to which Tribe their own soul it/they belongs. Then we utilize the kavenah from the reading of the Torah and a midrash relating the kavenah of each Nasi - Princes of the Tribe to intend as if we were part of the tribe that is making the offering.

The Gurey HaAri notes the following correlations of the tribes and the Kabbalistic Sefirot mentioned in the prayers below: This is only one description of these relationships by various sages.

Reuben = Chesed - Right arm

Shimon = Gevurah - Left arm

Levi = Tiferet - Torso

Yissachar = Netzah - Right leg

Zevulon = Hod - Left leg

Naftali/Asher = Lower face and heel of the Netzah

Dan/Gad = Lower face and heel of the Hod

Yehudah = Malchut - Mouth

Binyamin = Yesod - Genital region

Yosef = Yesod of Zeir Anpin - Genital region

Menasheh/Efraim = the aspects of their father Yosef the Tzaddik.

Every day from Rosh Hodesh Nissan (evening of April 22 to day of April 23 2023) through the 13th of Nissan the sections of the seventh reading of the Parasha of Naso which is Chapter 7 of Bamidbar / Numbers is read. These readings which are described in the links for each day available below, describe the offering brought by the Nasi - prince on that day (see Ba'eri Heitev, Orah Hayyim629:6), followed by the mystical prayer, "Yehi Ratzon May it be Your will..." In it we say, "If I your servant am of the tribe of (name of the tribe of that day), the Torah section of the Nasi I have recited today, then may all of the holy sparks and all the holy lights which are contained in this tribe shine upon me."

Vedibarta Bam asks how is it possible that this Yehi Ratzon is said every day, even by a Kohen or Levi or one who can trace his genealogy to a particular tribe?

Additionally, when we look at the words of the Yehi Ratzon, we are asking about very high lofty levels that “all the holy lights and holy sparks of the sanctity of this tribe should enable me to understand Your Torah and fear You all the days of my life, my children’s and children’s children’s lives, for now and forever, Amen.” How can we ask for so much by just reading a parsha section every day? We can only be from from one tribe, not from all twelve. If so, eleven times we are asking for something that is not directly related to us.

The answer: the uniqueness of a Jewish person is his Neshamah - soul, which is truly a part of HaShem above (see TanyaChapter 2). HaShem sent down 600,000 souls to this world (TanyaChapter 37) and each has a mission to accomplish. Until the soul totally accomplishes its task, sparks of the soul are reincarnated in newly born people. Moreover, in addition to a gilgul - transmigration in which the soul is attached to a body and dominated by it there is also ibur neshamot impregnation of souls in which a spark of the soul of a tzaddik is "impregnated" by another soul and serves as the additional spiritual charge for the soul of the recipient. (TanyaChapter 14). Consequently, though the soul originated in a person who was a member of a particular tribe, it is possible that now this soul is in a person of another tribe, or has the soul of another person "impregnated" in it. Hence this prayer, provided below for each day, which is on the behalf of the soul of the Jew - can be said by any person even a Kohen or Levi or one who otherwise knows his tribal affiliation.

Why is it so important to read each Prince’s offering, even though it occurred thousands of years ago? The Lubavitcher Rebbe [seeLikutei SichotVol. 32] explained that the dedication of the Mishkan started a new era. The era of a “dira b’tachtonim” that HaShem would rest among us which is the foundation of the mission of Klal Yisrael throughout all generations for on whatever level a Jew is he or she has the mandate to make the world a dwelling place for HaShem. Even though the dedication occurred only once, thousands of years ago, its effects are everlasting. All the holiness of that tribe would be drawn down to each and every one of us to fulfill our mission and make the world a dwelling place for HaShem. This is our dedication during these days, our Hanukah in Nissan. We need this revelation of the Ohr Ganuz during the build up to both Pesach and Shavuot as will be explained in our preparation classes.

We have provided below the translations of the more expanded “Yehi Ratzon” prayers found in Sefardi prayer books. The Ramchal writes that one should intend to receive the power from the letters of the daily tribe with the letters of your [unknown] tribe and to concentrate each day on the particular permutation of the twelve permutations of Shem Havaya [ה'יהו]. This special permutation, which should not be pronounced, is found in each “Yehi Ratzon” translated below. Say these prayers with meaning, and see what images resonate within you. Keep the special permutation before you all day as a waking meditation and you will be amazed at the wonders revealed on your ascent to the leaving of your own personal Egypt come Pesach on evening of April 5 to day of April 6 2023.

Here is the Yehi Ratzon English Translation

May it be Your will, HaShem [Insert the appropriate permutation of the 4 letter Name of HaShem], our G-d, G-d of our forefathers, that it be considered and desired our reading of the Torah the order of the offering of [Insert the Name of the Nasi associated with the tribe for this day], the seal of the [appropriate Sefirot from above], his offering which he brought for the dedication of Your holy altar. And may it be considered upon us, as if we have comprehended all the secrets and all the holy Names which come from the initial letters and the final letters from this Holy Scripture, (as it is stated) “May we compensate for the bull offerings [with] our lips.” Please enlighten us, and all of Israel our brethren, all the holy sparks and all the holy lights, which are included in the holiness of this tribe, and which are vested in the holiness of this tribe, to understand and to discern Your Torah and fear You the awe of G‑d's grandeur, to do Your Will as You desire all the days of our lives, we and our children and our children’s children.

And just as in this month You redeemed Your nation, the tribes of Your inheritance from the iron furnace from Egypt, and You recalled with love the beginning for the Name and the beauty to the names of the ancestor’s tribes, for the miracles, the deliverance, the mighty feats, the acts of rescue that You have performed for them, so too HaShem [ה'יהו], our Gd, Gd of our forefathers , Your flock in mercy consider, and remember for us the original love of the tribes of Gd, in this exile which has befallen, the tribe of Yehudah in pressure and pain. And just as they gave thanks to HaShem for His kindness during the exile from Egypt in the merit of Yehudah, so too do we thank You HaShem, our Gd, Gd of our forefathers, for the redemption and for the saving of our souls, in the merit of Yehudah king of our brethren. “For the sceptre will not depart from Yehudah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet.” His descendants will be eternal, and his throne like the sun be before You. O King in His beauty may our eyes witness and our hearts rejoice. May You rule, O HaShem our Gd, speedily over all your creations, upon Mount Zion, the dwelling place of Your glory, and in Yerushalayim the city of Your temple. As it is written in Your holy words, “HaShem shall reignforever, our G-d, for each and every generation, O Zion, Praise G-d!” And it was said, “For dominion is HaShem’s, and He rules over the nations.” ”And deliverers shall ascend Mount Zion to me to out justice on [those of] Mount Esav, and [then] the Kingdom will be HaShem’s.” "HaShem will [then] be King over the entire world; on that day HaShem will be One and His Name [will be] One.” “May they find favor in the utterances of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart before You, HaShem, ַקֵבּל. וּ ְשַׁמע ַצֲעָקֵתנוּ. יוֵדַע ַתֲּעלוּמות “ - Transliteration: Kaybel UShema TzaAkaytnu. Yowayda TaAlumot - my Rock and my Redeemer Accept ַשׁוְָעֵתנוּ Transliteration: Shavaaitnu our cry and hear our wail [You] Who knows all that is hidden.

List of dates and Meditations to use in the ritual.