Dvar Torah for Nisan and Pesach

Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the month of) Nisan was Thursday of the week of Parshat Tazria (6 April). The month of Nisan is special for a number of reasons, among them:

1. Nisan is 'rosh chadashimÓ (literally, the 'headÓ of all the months) because Nisan was the first month to be sanctified (Exodus 12:2).
2. It is the anniversary of the Creation of the world (Rosh Hashanah 11a).
3. The Mishkan (Tabernacle) was consecrated in Nisan (Leviticus 9:1, Rashi).
4. The exodus from Egypt took place in Nisan (Exodus 12:42, 51).
5. The future exodus from this exile will take place in Nisan (Rosh Hashanah, ibid.).

The first excerpt, about the month of Nisan, is from Likutey Tefilot II, Prayer #5. The second excerpt is from The 50th Gate, (volume 1, Prayer #20) Avraham Greenbaum's translation of Likutey Tefilot.

(From Likutey Tefilot, II, Prayer #5)

Help us to draw the holiness of Nisan, rosh chadashim, upon ourselves and all Jews. Just as You took the Jewish people out of the Egyptian exile–the capital of sexual immorality, the ruination of the Covenant–so You should use Your tremendous mercy to save and redeem every single Jewish soul, in each generation, every year.

Use the holiness of this month, the rosh chadashim, the redemption and salvation of Israel, to save all of us, so that we all may merit a genuine redemption of the soul, so that our souls may soon be freed from the pit of Hell and the quicksand of desire.

Save our pitiful souls from the sin of masturbation. May neither we nor our children nor any Jew ever commit this sin; not intentionally and not unintentionally, not willingly and not willingly.*

Our Father! Our King! Show us compassion.
Our Father! Our King! Have pity on us.
Our Father! Our King! Have compassion on our children.

Help us to draw the holiness and the joy of Nisan into the entire year. May we always be upbeat. May we bring laughter, happiness, strength and joy to the holy angels. May they have strength and joy the whole year as they do in Nisan. Let our happiness constantly bring strength and power to the angels. May they keep the demons from contaminating our physical beneficence with negative spirituality, so that all our food and drink will be spiritually refined, allowing us to always be pure and holy.

(From Likutey Tefilot, I, Prayer #20)

God, You took our ancestors out of exile, physical and spiritual, in Egypt. You released them from the Fifty Gates of Impurity, and from the immorality and corrupt mentality that were the essence of the exile in Egypt. You brought them to the Fifty Gates of Holiness, helping them come to full observance of the Covenant and to spiritual awareness and wisdom. You gave them Your holy Torah and brought them into the Land of Israel.

In the same way, do great and awesome miracles and wonders for us. Release us from this bitter physical and spiritual exile, this exile of body and soul. Quickly remove us from all the Fifty Gates of Impurity. Redeem us and save us from every kind of immorality and every corrupt idea and attitude, and bring us quickly to all the Fifty Gates of Holiness. Loving God: help us come to full observance of the Covenant and to achieve genuine spiritual awareness and insight as befits the holy Jewish People. Fulfill in us the verse: 'As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt I will show you wondersÓ (Micah 7:15).

Help me celebrate the holy festival of Pesach with extreme holiness, joy and delight. Let me carry out the mitzvah of drinking the four cups of wine on Pesach in all its details and with the utmost holiness and purity. Open up to me the light of Godly awareness and inspire me with the holy light of the Supreme Wisdom, so that I will able to experience all the levels of spiritual insight and awareness that radiate on Pesach, 'expanded consciousnessÓ and 'restricted consciousness.Ó

Help me conduct the Pesach Seder properly and with great holiness. Help me recite the Hagadah in a loud voice with intense concentration,extreme joy and delight, fervor and passion, holiness and purity, until my voice will arouse my powers of concentration and I will come to observe the Covenant perfectly, achieve genuine spiritual awareness and insight, and be able to develop authentic and original Torah ideas.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!

*After some hitbodedut I included this part of the prayer. There were two main reasons. [1] Reb Noson included it. [2] It is instructive. When speaking privately to God one has to feel comfortable enough to speak about even delicate topics. One also needs to be sufficiently aware of and concerned about the human condition so as to include others in his prayers.