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| "When Israel went out of Egypt" (Psalm 114:1) occurred under the sign of Aries," states the caption to an illustration in a 1769 Haggadah manuscript from Amsterdam, scribed by Yehoshua ben Mordechai of Wolentz. . In the painting, a lamb can be seen floating in the sky; connecting Aries to the Pesach sacrifice. |
CHODESH NISSAN:
FIRST THE PLAGUES, THEN THE REDEMPTION
Chodesh Nisan
5780 (March 26 – April 24, 2020)
Why is this
Chodesh Nissan different from all others which have gone before it? It’s the
first time since the original Chodesh Nissan during which the Israelites
experienced the Ten Plagues from the safety of their dwellings that we’ve
huddled indoors, either alone or with our families, praying that the Angel of
Death will pass over us.
The celestial
cycles have spoken: the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of January 12 kicked off these
traumatic times. April 4th will see the first of 2020’s three
Jupiter-Pluto conjunctions triggering larger and larger waves of powerful
paranoia, doubt and fear. Government crackdowns on personal freedoms during
times of great global pandemics may trigger rebellious reactions by those whose
trust in our societal structures and institutions have already been eroded by
the untrustworthy actions of those institutions themselves.
Nissan is the
month in which we remember and reenact the deliverance which seemed impossible by
human standards, and yet came anyway. The Full Libra “Super” Moon of Erev
Pesach April 8 brings hope as we recall how the burden of Egyptian slavery was
rolled away in a single night – the night we hid ourselves indoors.
The Last
Quarter Moon in Capricorn with the Sun square Pluto April 14 on the eve of the
seventh day of Pesach reveals the impotence of top-down structural solutions to
a crisis which can only be addressed from the bottom up. Individual
responsibility rather than governmental caretaking or corporate culpability
turns out to be the defining difference between life and death.
The Sun/Saturn
square April 20 reveals the uselessness of an “us vs. them” mentality. The
decisions you make today determine your own future as well as those you’ve
never met. The virus of contagious collective fear must be battled by
individual faith. Choose wisely and choose life while you still can!
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