"This month shall be for you the head of the months." So we are commanded to honor Nissan - when history began anew for us with our liberation - as the first month in the calendar. But what does "for you" mean?
We'll get there. But first, let's examine one of the thorniest problems in the Pesach story: the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. If Pharaoh did not have free will to make an independent decision, if he was forced to obstinately keep the Jews in slavery, then why should he be punished?
There are two classic responses to this issue.
Resh Lakish says that Pharaoh had numerous opportunities to repent, but rejected them all. So, at some point, HaShem said, 'You were stubborn and hardened your heart; now you must pay for your sin.' Note that after each of the first five plagues, the text says Pharaoh hardened his own heart or "Pharaoh's heart hardened." Only after the fifth plague does the Torah say that HaShem was the one who hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Sforno has another, very different approach. Had G-d not hardened Pharaoh's heart, he surely would have let the Jews go. Not from a sense of remorse or recognition of HaShem, but because of financial, societal or physical pressure. That is not teshuva! So, G-d hardened his heart to make him impervious to extraneous considerations and do what he felt he should do, thus keeping open for him the gates of repentance. The hardening of his heart thus actually becomes a vehicle to ensure free will, not prevent it.
The Sforno is telling us that G-d allows and assists us to go in the direction we truly want to go.
That is the operative idea of "this month is for you...." Whatever path we choose to take on Pesach - indeed, in all of Nissan - HaShem will give us the strength and skill to get there. We can do anything, even miracles, as Nissan (nes) implies; we just have to want it, to seek it, to pursue it. No goal is out of reach, just as the freedom from slavery - an impossible goal never before achieved under Pharaoh's rule - became a reality in Nissan.
That is why Geulah is destined to occur in Nissan, a time when all the doors, all the possibilities, are open before us. When we open the door for Eliyahu, we demonstrate that concept literally and figuratively: Start opening doors; Moshiach may just walk right on in!
We'll get there. But first, let's examine one of the thorniest problems in the Pesach story: the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. If Pharaoh did not have free will to make an independent decision, if he was forced to obstinately keep the Jews in slavery, then why should he be punished?
There are two classic responses to this issue.
Resh Lakish says that Pharaoh had numerous opportunities to repent, but rejected them all. So, at some point, HaShem said, 'You were stubborn and hardened your heart; now you must pay for your sin.' Note that after each of the first five plagues, the text says Pharaoh hardened his own heart or "Pharaoh's heart hardened." Only after the fifth plague does the Torah say that HaShem was the one who hardened Pharaoh's heart.
Sforno has another, very different approach. Had G-d not hardened Pharaoh's heart, he surely would have let the Jews go. Not from a sense of remorse or recognition of HaShem, but because of financial, societal or physical pressure. That is not teshuva! So, G-d hardened his heart to make him impervious to extraneous considerations and do what he felt he should do, thus keeping open for him the gates of repentance. The hardening of his heart thus actually becomes a vehicle to ensure free will, not prevent it.
The Sforno is telling us that G-d allows and assists us to go in the direction we truly want to go.
That is the operative idea of "this month is for you...." Whatever path we choose to take on Pesach - indeed, in all of Nissan - HaShem will give us the strength and skill to get there. We can do anything, even miracles, as Nissan (nes) implies; we just have to want it, to seek it, to pursue it. No goal is out of reach, just as the freedom from slavery - an impossible goal never before achieved under Pharaoh's rule - became a reality in Nissan.
That is why Geulah is destined to occur in Nissan, a time when all the doors, all the possibilities, are open before us. When we open the door for Eliyahu, we demonstrate that concept literally and figuratively: Start opening doors; Moshiach may just walk right on in!