On the Shabbat on or before the month of Nisan begins–this year, that Shabbat is April 6–we mark what is known as Shabbat HaChodesh, in which the special Torah reading highlights the preparations made for the very first Passover.
Each month, the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh is called Shabbat Mevarchim HaChodesh, the Shabbat of Blessing the (New Month). And each Shabbat before (or on) Rosh Chodesh, a blessing is offered which relates to yesterday’s kavannah. Each month, echoing the blessings of Rosh HaShanah, we offer a blessing for the new month which prays for renewal, for possibility, for fullness and satisfaction. We might then ask, what makes this month different from all other months? Why does the Shabbat before Nisan begins get a special name, a special reading?
Once again pairing the Torah reading (this time from Exodus) with a haftarah from Ezekiel, Shabbat HaChodesh, we are confronted with the visions of Passovers past and future. And, that, perhaps, is an invitation to consider Passover present. Are we in a narrow place? The wilderness? The promised land? Where do we need to feel more free, where do we need to feel more boundaried?
Rabbi Jennifer Schlosberg writes the following, and I invite you to consider it as the countdown to Passover begins:
If the commandment to see ourselves as if we personally left Egypt is an invitation to internalize what our own personal Exodus might be, then perhaps “Next year, in Jersualem” is a metaphor for our future redemptive lives. Why not — in the spirit of Ezekiel’s prophecy — also share, explore, wonder, or dream about what a future freedom looks like in our own lives?
The journey we take as we go from the beginning to the end of the haggadah is not only a journey that encourages us to re-experience freedom from Egypt. It is also an opportunity to imagine what the future might hold for our redemptive self. It is our dream for the future that completes our Exodus from Egypt. And it is that hope for living in the metaphorical Jerusalem, homeland of our lives, that grounds us, motivates us and gives us reason to continue the journey of our personal Exodus as we wander through this wilderness of life.
–Rabbi Sari Laufer