Nisan is the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, and marks the beginning of spring. It is the month when trees and flowers begin blooming after a cold winter, and is the month of the "barley ripening". But Nisan counts as the first month of the Jewish ecclesiastical year, and is the month used to count the reigning years of Israel's rulers in olden times.
Passover is the most important holiday of the month of Nisan, and, to a certain extent, of the Jewish calendar. It is our commemoration of our story of salvation from slavery and harm; when we were slaves in a nation that wasn't ours. We saw the great hands of HaShem at work, saving the people with whom He has a Covenant with. And from Egypt, we were led back to the Promised Land, our home.
For many centuries, Jews have celebrated Pesach from the diaspora, far from the land they were promised by HaShem. But the yearning to celebrate Pesach one day in the homeland has never ceased, and for the past 74 years, a great number of Jews are now celebrating Pesach in Israel, in the home HaShem gave to us.
As we live through this beautiful month of Nisan, let us embody the freshness, hope, and strength that it represents.
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