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Sunday began Rosh Chodesh Nisan / רֹאשׁ חוֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן -- the first day of the month of Nisan. The day began at Sundown Saturday, 13 March 2021 and ended at nightfall on Sunday, 14 March 2021.
Nisan is the first month. "This month shall be the head month to you. It shall be the first month of the year." Sh'mot / Exodus 12:2. In ancient times Rosh Chodesh was determined by the beit din / Sanhedrin (Jewish court and governing body) once two credible witnesses testified that they had seen the new moon. In 359 CE the head of this court, Hillel II, decided to publish the calendar and have it distributed to all the communities due to Roman oppression making it difficult for the Sanhedrin to send out witnesses. Jews celebrate each new month. In times when a Temple exists “one baby goat, in addition to the [daily] tamid / תָמִיד (‘continual offering’)” was brought -- Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:15. The tamid was offered twice every day of the year (once in the morning and again in the late afternoon), together with its attendant mincḥah (flour-and-oil-offering) and nĕsĕch (wine-libation), specified in Bamidbar / Numbers 28:1-8. Without a Temple we still observe Rosh Chodesh. We insert a prayer into the three daily prayer sessions. We recite the Hallel, which is comprised of T'hillim / Psalms 113–118. We read Bamidbar / Numbers verses from the Torah (which correspond to parts of chapter 28). We recite T'hillim / Psalm 104 after Shir Shel Yom / שִׁיר שֶׁל יוֹם -- the psalm of the day and then recite T'hillim / Psalm 119 after which additional prayers are recited on Rosh Chodesh called Musaf / מוּסָף. During Rosh Chodesh Musaf we bless the new moon, mourn the loss of the Temple and desire for it to be restore, then we recite Bamidbar / Numbers 28:11 and ask that the new month be a good one. This is every month. But Nisan is special. Nisan is the first month. It is the month of our redemption from slavery in Egypt. It is considered even greater than the month of Tishrei, the month the universe came to be... The names of the months are Babylonian -- yet Nisan has a connection to Hebrew. In Hebrew ניצן / nitzan means "bud" -- as in Spring. "I went down to the nut garden to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine had blossomed, the pomegranates were in bloom." Shir HaSharim / Song of Songs 6:11. When we were in the desert, after our escape from Mitzrayin (Egypt) we built the Mishkahn -- the portable Temple (Tabernacle). On the first of Nisan -- nearly one year after our escape -- Moses inaugurated the Mishkahn. "On the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkahn, he anointed it and sanctified it along with all its furniture. He [also] anointed the altar and all its utensils and thus sanctified them." Bamidbar / Numbers 7:1. For 440 years the Mishkahn existed -- traveling with us in the desert and (Z'vachim 118a) moved within Israel from Gilgal (14 years), Shiloh (369 years) and at Nov and Givon, (57 years). When Solomon built the first Temple it was not destroyed -- it was kept in tact under the Temple itself as it was holy. Much, much later the first of Nisan was the day the first Jews began to return to the land of Israel after the exile to Babylon. Of course Nisan is also month of Passover -- the Festival of Matzo -- an eight-day holiday observed from the 15th through the 22nd of Nisan. During this special month -- this month of Spring, of a reaffirmation of the Jewish peoples special bond with HaShem, a month to remember our freedom from Egypt, from Babylon -- and of course the holy Mishkahn we say a special prayer for the blossoming of fruit trees. Link. So as we begin this special, special month I wish you all the joy of Springtime as we again turn our hearts and thoughts to He who has given us so much...
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