Vayakhel-Pekudei 5783 - Was the World Created Twice? - Rabbi Asher Perkash

00:00 It is told of the chossid Reb Aizik of Homil, one of the great chassidim and among the early chassidim of the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe. After the passing of the Mitteler Rebbe, there was a period when the Tzemach Tzedek did not want to accept the leadership. During that time, Reb Aizik of Homil traveled to visit the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin. He stayed there for some time, and several things happened during his stay. He became close to the Rebbe of Ruzhin, who held him in very high regard. Reb Aizik was one of the great chassidim of the Alter Rebbe and the Mitteler Rebbe. Chassidim tell many stories about his stay there, the connection between them, and various things that happened on that trip. As I understand it, he traveled to the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin several times, for various reasons. Reb Aizik later related an interesting incident that took place on one of those visits. He said that the custom there was that when people came in to greet the Rebbe—what they called “praven zich”—and brought him their kvitlech, an attendant would stand there and convey to the chassidim what the Rebbe wished to tell them. A gabbai stood there as people came to greet the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin and hand him their notes, their kvitlech. While Reb Aizik of Homil was staying there, two chassidim arrived among the visitors. One was among the leading rabbis in Bukovina at the time. He was an outstanding Torah scholar and one of the Rebbe of Ruzhin’s most devoted followers. He brought a volume of original Torah insights and asked the tzaddik to give it an approbation. Another chossid was there as well, a simpler man by comparison. He had written a book collecting stories of tzaddikim and chassidim, and he too brought his book to ask the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin for an approbation. They stood there as the tzaddik received chassidim and spoke with them. The two

03:08 authors, the scholarly rabbi and the chossid, stood beside the table, each holding his book. When the tzaddik asked the gabbai to read a passage from the books aloud, the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin sat there and began speaking with gestures of his hands, adding a Torah insight about the volume of Torah insights and commenting on some of the stories in the book of stories about tzaddikim. After the passage was read, the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin began speaking in praise of stories of tzaddikim: of the great impression they make Above, of the G-d of Israel and the tzaddikim in Gan Eden, and of the great virtue and blessing in telling such stories. Then the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin also began speaking about the Torah insights, displaying great familiarity with what the rabbi had written. Afterward, the tzaddik sat down and wrote approbations. First he wrote one for the book of stories, and then he wrote a warm approbation for the volume of Torah insights as well. Reb Aizik watched all this and observed how he conducted himself. He found the entire episode fascinating and astonishing, including the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin’s conduct, the Torah insights he shared, and what he said. But the order of things troubled him: Why had the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin given priority to the book of stories over the volume of Torah insights? He had spoken about it first and written its approbation first. He had shown it special regard, and he

05:17 had given the book of stories precedence and importance over the volume of Torah insights. The question stayed on his mind, but he said nothing about it. A few days passed, and Rosh Chodesh arrived. A Rosh Chodesh meal was held, and Reb Aizik was invited to attend. During the meal, the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin said, among other things: “The Lithuanian gaon”—that was how he referred to Reb Aizik, who came from the Lithuanian towns, as is well known—“is puzzled that the stories of tzaddikim were given precedence over the volume of Torah insights. He finds it difficult to understand: How can that be? Why did we speak about the stories first? Why did we write an approbation for them first, rather than dealing with Torah matters first and only afterward with stories?” The holy Rebbe of Ruzhin said that this was indeed a great and ancient question. Rashi, the great teacher of the world, already asks it about the Torah’s first verse, “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth.” There Rashi asks: “Rabbi Yitzchak said: The Torah should have begun only with ‘This month shall be for you.’” The Torah should have begun with that verse.

06:55 “This month shall be for you” is the first mitzvah, the first mitzvah in the Torah. “Why, then, did it begin with Bereishis?” Why did the Torah begin with Bereishis? That is Rashi’s question in the name of Rabbi Yitzchak. And Rashi answers: “He declared the power of His works to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations.” The holy Rebbe of Ruzhin explained that “the power of His works” means the Divine power within the creation of the world, present in it at every moment. “My grandfather,” the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin said, “the Maggid of Mezritch, received from the holy Baal Shem Tov the ability to see the Divine power, the word of Hashem, present in every detail of creation.” And we follow the order of the holy Torah: first comes the story of the world’s creation, “In the beginning, G-d created.” Stories of tzaddikim belong to “In the beginning, G-d created”: they reveal the Divine power and the greatness of Hakadosh Boruch Hu in the creation of the world. “With whom did He consult? With the souls of the tzaddikim,” as the Midrash says: before creating the world, Hakadosh Boruch Hu consulted the souls of the tzaddikim. So “In the beginning, G-d created” is connected to the deeds of the tzaddikim, and that is why stories of tzaddikim come first. Only afterward comes the passage of “This month shall be for you,” the passage where the subject of Torah begins. With that, the holy Rebbe of Ruzhin concluded and said: Here, both chassidim can be men of stature; the two works that—

08:30 they are great and important works. The Torah insights show the Torah scholar’s learning and the new insights he develops. Stories of tzaddikim reveal the new things Hakadosh Boruch Hu brings about in creation, as He renews the world at every moment. That is why I placed the new things in creation found in stories of tzaddikim before the Torah insights written by a rabbi and Torah scholar. This is the meaning of “He declared the power of His works to His people, to give them the inheritance of the nations.” What we will discuss is that this week, Shabbos Parshas Hachodesh also falls on 25 Adar. The Gemara says in tractate Rosh Hashanah, page 11, that there are two opinions about when the world was created: Was it created in Tishrei or in Nissan? According to Rabbi Yehoshua’s view that the world was created in Nissan, “In the beginning, G-d created” took place on 25 Adar. So we will discuss the creation of the world on 25 Adar. Everyone knows that the main approach to the world’s creation is as the Gemara says in tractate Rosh Hashanah: “In accordance with whom do we pray today?” On Rosh Hashanah we say, “This day is the beginning of Your works,” because we rule according to Rabbi Eliezer, who associates the creation of the world with Tishrei. But there is also Rabbi Yehoshua’s view that the world was created in Nissan. And according to Rabbi Yehoshua, 25 Adar was

10:07 the day of “In the beginning, G-d created.” Incidentally, when it comes to our prayers and to Rosh Hashanah—with all its details, such as the shofar and its blasts, the verses of kingship, and all these things—we follow Rabbi Eliezer’s view. Nevertheless, it is well known that “both these and those are the words of the living G-d.” In other words, we also accept Rabbi Yehoshua’s view as true Torah: “Both these and those are the words of the living G-d.” So much so that the Gemara even says that, for matters of sanctifying the new month and calculating the seasons, we follow the month of Nissan—the molad [unclear] and so forth, as is known. In other words, the calculation begins with the month of Nissan in these matters too. So there must be something special about 25 Adar in relation to the world’s creation in Nissan. The question is: What does that have to do with us? What do we learn from it? And what is special about it this year, when Shabbos Parshas Hachodesh—when we read “This month shall be for you,” which is connected to Rosh Chodesh Nissan—also falls on 25 Adar, the day associated with the creation of the world and “In the beginning, G-d created”? In other words, something interesting happens this Shabbos: the two themes meet—both “In the beginning, G-d created” on 25 Adar, and the theme of, of

11:39 “This month shall be for you”—the significance of Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Parshas Hachodesh. And both fall on the same Shabbos. There is a special lesson in this that the Rebbe spoke about several times, a special lesson for our avodah, particularly concerning the month of Nissan. For Nissan is a month of Geulah. The point of Nissan is that when we enter the Shabbos of Parshas Hachodesh, we enter a time of Geulah. And as Chassidus explains, Geulah is connected to each person’s inner life: when Shabbos Parshas Hachodesh arrives, and throughout Nissan, every Jew needs to be in a state of Geulah, to leave his inner exile. Through this, we will also merit to leave the exile of the Jewish people as a whole, for the Gemara in tractate Rosh Hashanah says: “In Nissan they were redeemed; in Nissan they are destined to be redeemed.” Yes, the true and complete Geulah through Moshiach Tzidkeinu is also connected specifically to Nissan. And we need to understand this. This is the well-known question that a number of commentators ask. The works of Kabbalah and Chassidus ask: What is going on here? How can we understand this? How can we say that the world was created both in Nissan and in Tishrei? How can there be a dispute about a fact—was the world created in Nissan or in Tishrei? And when we say, “Both these and those are the words of the living G-d,” how can that apply to a fact? The world was created either in Nissan or in Tishrei. If it was created in Tishrei, it was not created in Nissan. The Gemara in tractate Rosh Hashanah even says that there are several things indicating that this world was created in Tishrei. But there are also several things, calculated and measured, that indicate the world was created in Nissan. How can we accept both sides and say it was both in Nissan and in Tishrei? What is the idea here? The Rebbe explains this, and it is also discussed in the works of Kabbalah.

13:26 Yes, he discusses it at length in his sichos on Chassidus. The works of Kabbalah cite the great Kabbalists, including the Rashash, the Kabbalist Rabbi Shalom Sharabi, who was among the great Kabbalists of Jerusalem and discusses this at length in his book. Later, drawing also on the writings of the Arizal, [unclear], Chassidus gives a full explanation of the subject. The central point is that the creation of the world has two aspects and two levels: the creation of the world in thought and the creation of the world in speech. Where do we see this? “From my flesh I perceive G-d”: where do we find it in the human soul? When a person does something, he first thinks about it. He thinks, plans, and considers what he wants to do; that is the thought of the matter. Only afterward does it descend into speech, and through speech it descends into action, until it is actually carried out. So too Above, there is the creation of the world in thought: the creation of the world arose in thought. That phrase, “the creation of the world arose in thought,” appears in several teachings of our Sages and in several places. “All the worlds were created with a single thought.” In other words, the creation of the world exists in the realm of thought. That is its first level, and only afterward comes the creation of the world through speech.

15:24 “The world was created with ten utterances”—through speech. Yes, this is the meaning of “By the word of Hashem the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts.” What is the difference between the creation of the world in thought and its creation in speech? Chassidus explains that we can understand it from the human soul. When something is in thought, a person’s thought is a spiritual garment. The garment of thought is a garment attached to the soul. In other words, when something remains in the power of intellect, in the power of thought, it does not become an entity in its own right. It is completely united with and attached to the person’s soul. That is precisely why it does not come out; it stays within. Speech, by contrast, becomes separate. A person says something; his words leave him and reach another person. Once those words have gone out and reached someone else, he cannot take them back. Speech becomes separate from the person. The same distinction applies to creation. When creation is, so to speak, in the Creator’s thought, it is in a state of complete bittul, complete attachment, and complete unity. This is the world in its state of bittul, as it exists in Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s thought. And Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s thought—“He and His wisdom are one,” as the Alter Rebbe quotes in Tanya. “He and His wisdom are one”; He and His thought are one. Hakadosh Boruch Hu and His thought are, so to speak, one. Therefore, when creation is in Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s thought, the entire world is attachment, unity, and bittul. The world has not yet emerged as an entity; there is only the Divine power, and that is [unclear].

17:08 Creation exists in thought. The creation of the world that came forth through speech is different. Speech goes out beyond oneself; it is something separate. Creation came into being from it, and this is the world itself; it is no longer within the Divine power. Although in truth, even from the perspective of speech, as the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya, [unclear]. Yes, as we discussed earlier concerning the Baal Shem Tov’s teaching, the Divine power brings creation into being, gives it life, and sustains it, but all this is concealed. It is like speech: when speech leaves a person, it becomes something distinct. Similarly, so to speak, Above, when the world comes into being and emerges through speech, the world is created from it. At least in its physical perception, the world feels itself to be a separate entity. And this is the distinction between the creation associated with Nissan and the creation associated with Tishrei. Both these and those are the words of the living G-d. In Nissan, the world was created in thought. In Tishrei, the world was created through speech. In Nissan, the creation of the world took place in Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s thought; consequently, the world as it was created then, in Nissan, was the spiritual dimension of the world. There was indeed a coming into being—it is not that nothing came into being. It was a real creation, but one that took place on a higher plane, in a state of bittul, within the inner power. It was the inner dimension of creation that came into being in Nissan. By contrast, the reality of creation as it is clothed in the natural order,

18:41 in physical form—that came about in actual fact in Tishrei. This is precisely why we see that in Tishrei, we do things in actual practice: the drawing down of blessings and the prayers, “This day is the beginning of Your works,” and all the intensity of the days of Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei. In Nissan, by contrast, there are no particular practices in halachah connected with that aspect of creation. This follows from the nature of the matter itself. Since the creation of the world in Nissan is creation in thought, and thought is spiritual, the renewal of creation in Nissan likewise concerns spiritual matters. In Tishrei, by contrast, the world came into being in actuality and through speech, so the observances of Rosh Hashanah also find expression in practice, in speech and action—all the matters of blowing the shofar, and so on. Of course, this is the place to note, in passing, that Tosafos has the opposite version. Tosafos says the reverse: in Nissan creation took place through speech, in actuality, and in Tishrei it took place in thought. Yes, there are different approaches, but the approach of Kabbalah and Chassidus—and there is also such a version among the Rishonim and in Tosafos in several places—so what we learn in Chassidus is as we have just discussed: the creation associated with Nissan is in thought, and the creation associated with Tishrei is through speech. What does this mean for the dispute between Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer?

20:15 That is, in simple terms, what are they disagreeing about? They disagree over what is primary in creation. Rabbi Yehoshua’s approach is, in other words, [unclear], that there are two aspects to the creation of the world. On the one hand, Hakadosh Boruch Hu wanted to create a world that would specifically be a tangible, separate entity in its own right, a physical world. That was the Divine intent in creating the world: to bring into being a world that is not openly in a state of bittul to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Why did Hakadosh Boruch Hu want to create specifically a world in a state of concealment, of selfhood, of separateness? The reason, as explained in several places, is to make free choice possible. As our chapter says: “The world was created with ten utterances. Could it not have been created with one utterance? Rather, this was in order to exact punishment from the wicked and give a good reward to the righteous.” For there to be reward and punishment, there must be choice, and there must be righteous and wicked people. If the world were in a state of bittul, attachment, and unity with G-dliness, there could be no choice between good and evil. For there to be free choice, for a person to serve Hashem of his own initiative and with his own strength, for there to be “two paths before you: life and good, and death and evil,” there must be a sense of independent existence, a world. That is why a world was created through speech, separate, in a state of concealment and selfhood. Earlier [unclear], but,

21:41 That is the reality of the world. But what is the inner intent? The inner intent of the world’s creation is that, through our avodah, we elevate the world and reveal its inner nature: that the world is, in essence, one with G-dliness. For this purpose, Hakadosh Boruch Hu brought the souls of the Jewish people down into the world and gave them Torah and mitzvos. As Rashi says on the first verse of Bereishis, “Bereishis” means for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of the Jewish people. [unclear] That is the outer aspect of creation: “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth.” But what is the inner intent of creation? The inner intent is “Bereishis”—for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of the Jewish people. Through Torah and mitzvos, through their avodah, Jews reveal the world’s inner purpose within it: its bittul and its unity with G-dliness. And this raises the question: What is primary in the creation of the world? Rabbi Yehoshua says, “The world was created in Nissan.” Rabbi Yehoshua holds that what is primary in creation is its inner intent, its G-dliness. Rabbi Eliezer says that creation is the reality of the world, [unclear], that there should be a world with its own reality, and that G-dliness should be drawn into that reality as it stands [unclear], with physical things and a physical nature. Therefore Rabbi Eliezer says, “The world was created in Tishrei,” while Rabbi Yehoshua says, “The world was created in Nissan.” All this fits into a broader approach of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, when we come

23:10 to a number of matters: how each of them views the way our avodah in the world should be carried out. Should our avodah in the world be an avodah [unclear], an avodah within nature, where [unclear] the purpose of the world is its reality, and G-dliness is drawn into the world as it stands in that reality? That is Rabbi Eliezer’s approach, and therefore he holds that the world was created in Tishrei. Or, on the contrary, should it be to reveal G-dliness in the world, to elevate the world beyond itself, [unclear] bittul, the revelation of G-dliness that transcends the world? And since we are now [unclear], on Shabbos Mevarchim Nissan, Shabbos Parshas Hachodesh, “This month shall be for you the first of the months,” it follows that in Nissan the main emphasis is on Rabbi Yehoshua’s view that “the world was created in Nissan,” and consequently [unclear] the world was created. In other words, what is Nissan about? “This month shall be for you”—the avodah of drawing G-dliness into the world. Based on this, we can readily understand how the avodah we are preparing for [unclear] in these days relates to the avodah we prepare for in Tishrei. After all, we see that our calendar, the Jewish calendar, has two beginnings of the year. There is Rosh Hashanah in Tishrei, yes, which is Rosh Hashanah in the straightforward sense. And there is the first of the months of the year, “This month shall be for you the first of the months of the year,” which is

24:43 Nissan. There are two [unclear] two beginnings, yes, both of them [unclear] two beginnings. These two beginnings correspond to those two aspects. In Tishrei, since Tishrei [unclear], Tishrei is connected with [unclear] the parameters of nature and reality. Therefore the main avodah in Tishrei is a person’s own avodah: preparing for the year, taking stock of oneself, and making requests of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Yes, as is known, as it says in [unclear], the main avodah of Rosh Hashanah is to draw down blessings, and on it there is judgment concerning the material matters of the entire year. For then [unclear] all the inhabitants of the world, and “all of a person’s sustenance is allotted to him from Rosh Hashanah to Rosh Hashanah.” The aim is that the flow of blessings, material matters, and matters of nature should be as they ought to be; that it should be a good and blessed year in every respect, materially and spiritually. That is the main avodah of Tishrei. And so the avodah of Tishrei is also an orderly avodah, as explained in Chassidus: the avodah of taking stock of oneself, the avodah of teshuvah. There is preparation for Tishrei throughout the thirty days of Elul, yes, which is, broadly speaking, an avodah from below upward, as explained in the maamarim of Chassidus—the idea of “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” By contrast, when we come to Nissan, the G-dly light that transcends the world is revealed. Nissan is a month of Geulah, the month of Nissan.

26:13 Then the purpose will be revealed: the Jewish people together with the Torah, as they are in the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, the world exists beyond nature, beyond limitations, beyond the chainlike progression of the spiritual worlds. The world exists in a higher state of unity with and bittul to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. In particular, the unique quality of the Jewish people is then revealed, for the inner purpose of the world’s creation is for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of the Jewish people. As the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya, chapter 2, the Jewish people arose in His thought. In other words, Jews—their souls and their entire existence—are in thought. The Jewish soul is literally a part of G-d above. That is the difference between the soul and the rest of the world. The soul is thought, and it remained in thought. Its essential nature is thought; that is what a soul is: “They arose in His thought.” And since a Jew’s existence arose in His thought, this means that, for him, the world exists as it does in the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu: on a level beyond nature, beyond ordinary reality, a world utterly nullified to G-dliness. So what lesson do we take from this Shabbos, when we read “This month shall be for you,” this year? This Shabbos of Parshas Hachodesh, when we read in the Torah, “This month shall be for you the first of the months”—what is the special quality of “This month shall be for you,” the special quality of Nissan, a month of Geulah? This is the day of 25 Adar, when “In the beginning, G-d created” took place according to Rabbi Yehoshua’s view, and it brings the two aspects together.

27:41 Even in matters of nature, even in matters of the world, in “In the beginning, G-d created”—what does a Jew see in “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth”? What does a Jew see in the world? He sees thought in the world; he sees its inner dimension; he sees that the inner purpose of the entire world is solely for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of the Jewish people. And that shines openly for him. Consequently, he goes beyond all bounds and limitations, all concealments, all worries and distractions. This is what the Rebbe says several times at farbrengens for Parshas Hachodesh, especially when Parshas Hachodesh fell on that Shabbos: a Jew knows that he is above the world not only when he is occupied with Torah, with serving Hashem, and with lofty spiritual levels. Even when he turns to worldly matters, when he is in the world itself—when he attends to his business, walks down the street, is involved with eating and drinking, with his actions, gifts, and outings, as the Rambam writes—within nature, within the world, the world has its own reality. There, it is “In the beginning, G-d created”: Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the world, and the world is a reality. But from Shabbos Parshas Hachodesh a Jew knows—and this Shabbos awakens and reveals for him Rabbi Yehoshua’s view—that the primary thing is this: the beginning of the year, that the Jewish people arose first in His thought. In other words, what is the world’s true reality? The world’s true reality is that it exists in the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A Jew needs to see the world’s true reality: that it exists in the thought of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Jew reveals within the world that the world is not, in essence, merely on the level of speech.

29:33 The world is intrinsically connected with thought and is one with that thought. Consequently, the world is one with G-dliness. When the world is one with G-dliness, no force of nature can prevent him from living as a Jew, fulfilling mitzvos, and serving Hashem. And so he will go on his way with confidence. This awakens in him the recognition that serving Hashem must be such that he goes beyond bounds and limitations and rises above the world not only when he studies Torah. It is not only when a person serves Hakadosh Boruch Hu that he stands in a place where the world is of no consequence. That is the beginning of the avodah. But here we go deeper. This is what it means to say that the creation of the world is in thought: when a Jew knows “In the beginning, G-d created” and learns from “This month shall be for you,” which joins the two aspects together, that even within “In the beginning, G-d created” there is “This month shall be for you.” The two aspects come together and become one. Thus, even when he stands within “In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth,” engaged in worldly matters, he sees their inner dimension. The inner dimension of the world is “This month shall be for you”—the word of Hashem, the fulfillment of mitzvos, greatness. This shows that the world is connected with greatness. And since the world is connected with greatness, he is, in essence, above the world. This is the meaning of a month of Geulah. The true meaning of a month of Geulah is that when we enter Nissan, we say that we need to bring ourselves into a month of Geulah. We need to stand on a higher plane, in a state of Geulah. What does a state of Geulah mean? That we leave behind the concealments and limitations of our personal exile. How do we leave our personal exile?

31:27 When a person contemplates the world, as long as he sees it through external eyes, he looks at it through the eyes of Elokim—through the lens of externality, of the mundane. Elokim has the same numerical value as hateva, “nature.” He looks at the world with external eyes: this is the natural world, and this is the world he takes to be his reality. Then he may be affected by it: there are things in the world that confuse him, things that get in his way, concealments and obscurities. And each person knows, in his own life, all the everyday worries and preoccupations—matters of livelihood, the work of refinement, and things he goes through that cause all kinds of confusion and disturb his peace of mind and physical rest. All this is because he looks at the world as an olam, a word related to he’elem, concealment. The month of Nissan demands that a Jew know that his reality is thought. The Jewish people arose in thought. And since the Jewish people arose in thought, a Jew’s world is the world of thought. Wherever he stands in the world, he stands above the world. Wherever he stands in the world, he is in a state of complete self-nullification. When we grasp that the world’s true reality is not “In the beginning Elokim created,” but “This month shall be for you,” that is the one thing that matters. With this, a Jew can remain unaffected by anything, because it takes him out of all the concealment and obscurity of the darkness of exile. And when a Jew enters a month of Geulah, may it indeed be a month of Geulah. So when, on this Shabbos, we read both Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei and Parshas Hachodesh, and in addition there is the theme of Nissan—all of these express how a Jew, while in the world,

33:13 stands above the world. A Jew, while within nature, stands above nature. A Jew’s very being is G-dliness. So when a Jew is in this state, he will not be affected by the world. On the contrary, he will serve Hashem with joy and gladness of heart. And when a Jew leaves his inner exile, may Hashem help us so that, by leaving our inner exile, we will indeed merit to leave physical and external exile as well. This is what Rabbi Yehoshua says, consistent with his approach: “In Nissan they were redeemed; in Nissan they will be redeemed in the future.” For according to his approach, the true meaning of redemption is the redemption of Nissan, a redemption that reveals G-dliness openly in the world. “Hashem will be King over all the earth; on that day Hashem will be one and His name one.” May we indeed merit, in the month of Nissan, the true and complete Geulah through our righteous Moshiach, and may we indeed have a kosher and joyous Pesach.