Rosh Chodesh Nissan Kavanot

We derive the appellation for God’s Name, used in the Rosh Chodesh Mussaf – Additional Prayer – for Rosh Chodesh Nissan from the combination of letters and vowels of the following verse: “Yismichu Hashamayim V’tagail ha’aretz,” “The heavens will be glad and the earth shall rejoice.” (Psalms 96:11, Chronicles I 16:31)

I. Zohar

When Israel says to God, “Bring me close so that I can run after You and serve You with joy,” the heavens and earth, which were created for human beings, rejoice that they are serving their purpose.”

When God reached out to us to redeem us, and we followed Him into the desert, we ran after Him with joy, the heavens and earth were filled with joy that they served their purpose.

We pray that we can experience God bringing us close to Him during this month of Redemption on a national and personal level, so that we can “run after Him,” use everything we do as a way to become closer to Him, thereby causing all of creation to experience a sense of joy that they have fulfilled their purpose by allowing us to fulfill our own.

II. Vayichal Moshe

The heavens refers to the angels who are already are filled with gladness over their closeness to God. “The earth shall rejoice,” refers to physical beings that cannot maintain the consistent joy and closeness of the angels. They are like a bell ringing on and off. We pray that our souls should be able to achieve the consistent gladness of the angels, and that our physical existence, which usually fluctuates, should be able to achieve a constant state of rejoicing.

God paid careful attention to both our physical and spiritual existence during the exodus. The Children of Israel experienced such constant and consistent attention to their physical needs that they experienced and equally consistent and constant state of joy, allowing them to rise each day to a higher level of sanctity.

We pray that we can use the Divine Influence of this month of redemption to achieve an awareness of God’s constant care and concern so that we too, can experience constant joy even in our physical lives.