From my archives....
Picture the scene. You are sitting with your family on the first night of Pesach in Miami Beach or the King David in Jerusalem or in Cancun, Mexico or if you are really lucky - in a special kosher for Pesach hotel in EGYPT. You are reading through "magid" because that is a prerequisite for getting to the true redemption - the meal. We say [in a classical talmudic sing-song] "יכול מראש חודש" - I might think that we should already fulfill the mitzva of remembering the exodus from Rosh Chodesh Nissan.... The hagada then quotes a pasuk to disabuse us from this notion and we conclude that only on Pesach night is there a mitzva.
The question that occupied the commentators for many generations is - Why would I think that two weeks before pesach there is already a mitzva to remember yetzias mitzraim?? Maybe I should already fulfill the mitzva from chanuka??
One answer: Rebbe Tzadok Ha-kohen in his Pri Tzadik teaches that all of the spiritual energy of the month is centralized in Rosh Chodesh. Everything that happens throughout the month is drawn from Rosh Chodesh. It is not called תחילת החודש but ראש חודש. It is the head of the month. Just as everything our body does emanates from signals given by the brain in the head - so the whole month is guided by and rooted in Rosh Chodesh. This explains the notion that the mitzva of relating the Exodus from Egypt may already be fulfilled on Rosh Chodesh. It is only by dint of Rosh Chodesh that we had an Exodus and are on vacation till this very day [with breaks for work in between holidays so that we can afford vacations].
This symbolizes the theme of the seder. The focus is on passing the mesorah down to the children. All of the miracles in Egypt occurred in order to tell children the wonders of Hashem - למען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים - we experienced miracles in order to relate them to our children. The Torah says למען ידעו דורותיכם - so that your children will know [about yetzias mitzraim]. The Pnei Menachem [the Gerrer Rebbe ztz"l] pointed out that the first letters spell - ילד. Yetzias Mitzraim was primarily for the Kinderlach! Just as Rosh Chodesh is the root of the month, so do the parents plant the seeds for their children's future. The way we speak and comport ourselves, the activities we engage in during our free time, the amount of lashon hara we say about the shul and school rabbis, if aa mother cares more about her chesed than her shaitel, if a father is careful never to miss a minyan or a set shiur, the places we send our children for school and camp, how we relate to our spouse ["You are so stupid! You have the sense of direction of a broken GPS!"], will all leave an indelible mark on our children. Children have remarkable powers of perception and pick up on the most subtle things.
Many thousands in the Jewish world are finishing Maseches Succah in Daf Yomi this week. The gemara concludes with a tragic story about a Jewish girl who was intermarried to a Greek and came into the Beis Hamikdash and spoke in a defaming way about the korbanos. The gemara relates that her entire family was punished because when a child speaks it is generally what he or she hears from his or her parents. They, too, bore the guilt of her violation of what is sancrosanct.
Today, a child hears LOADS of things from sources other than his parents. All a parent can do is try to ensure that the home is a safe haven from the corrupting influences of the outside world. As one who has dealt with kids for over two decades, I can tell you that things are getting .... worse. As parents we have the power to educate our children as to what is right and what is wrong and then to daven our hearts out that they follow the path that is holy and pure. There are countless victims of the immorality and spiritual indifference of our society. The only way to escape it is to build a little island deep in the middle of Atlantic Ocean - underwater.
If we provide our kids with a positive message and show them the beauty and depth of our Torah they will be much less likely to take the bait of what the Satan and his tireless workers have to offer.
May we absorb into our neshamos on this Rosh Chodesh all of the אורות of this month and see ניסן [gematria ניסים] and finally finally welcome moshiach and experience the redemption of the world and gilui kvod malchuso - Amen!:-)
Bi-ahava Rabba,
Me:-)
