The Parshat Beshalaj do not report only one episode central to the Exodus. Presents a structural principle of the thought of the bible and rabbinic: the redemption does not happen at any time. Occurs when the same time it opens up to allow it.
This analysis covers a continuous line that connects Torah, Kabbalah, Hebrew calendar, Passover, and one of the events most traumatic of jewish history: the rebellion of Bar Kochba.
The axis is a need to: the month of Aviv (Nisan) as the time of redemption is active, and the risk historical that involves confuse an opening temporary consummation final.
The time in the Torah and the Kabbalah
In the Torah, the time is not linear or neutral. Does not function as a simple container of facts, but rather as a qualitative structurewith moments of open and others closed to certain actions.
Kabbalah elaborates this view teaches that the time is a emanation spiritualwith cycles that are reactivated year after year.
Therefore, when the Torah says: “This month shall be unto you the first of the months”, does not establish a convention chronological. Redefines the relationship of Israel with the story. With Nisan, in the village comes not only from the physical bondage, but the time for another empireby going at your own pace redeemer.
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The four beginnings of the year in judaism
Oral tradition maintains that there is not a single New Year, but four beginning of the year, each associated with a specific domain:
- Nisan: beginning of the year for redemption, the kings and historical identity.
- Tishrei: beginning of the calendar year and of the last judgement.
- Elul: start of the economic cycle of the livestock and livelihoods.
- 'shevat: beginning of the year for the trees, the symbol of growth hidden.
This architecture of the time explains why Nisan occupies a unique place. Tishrei organizes the world; Nisan releases. To confuse these planes has generated, historically, errors of serious consequences.
Passover as a text trigger
The Haggadah of Passover this is not a text memorial. Requires each generation to see as if it were coming out of Egypt in that same instant. Their expressions are not symbolic, but performative: rewire the perception of the present.
Celebrate Passover in a context of oppression cannot be neutral. The language of the Haggadah active profound questions about the legitimacy of slavery, the sense of expectation and the limit of the patience historical.
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The Seder of Rabbi Akiva and the historical hypothesis
The Haggadah retains a unique episode: the Seder of Passover in Bene Berak, where Rabbi Akiva and other sages recount the exodus from Egypt all nightuntil the dawn, forces them to stop.
The text does not record the content of their words. This silence is significant. In the Oral Torah, which is not explicit is usually what you should not normativizarse.
From this episode onwards, the roman setting of the second century, and the subsequent support of Rabbi Akiva to Bar Kochba, there arises a hypothesis studied —not official—: the legitimation ideological the rebellion could have been developed in a Seder of Passover. Not as a military plot, but as reading time: Nisan had been reopened.
The rebellion of Bar Kochba and the catastrophe
The rebellion (132-135 CE) culminated in one of the greatest tragedies of the jewish people. Judea was devastated, Jerusalem transformed into a pagan city, the study of the Torah prohibited and thousands of wise men killed. It was the collapse of the final hope of national restoration immediately.
There was No consensus rabbinical around Bar Kochba as the Messiah. The tradition preserved a stern warning of Rabbi Yohanan ben Cake to Rabbi Akiva:
“To grow grass on your cheeks and the son of David still will not come” (Jerusalem Talmud, Ta'anit 4:5).
After Bar Kochba, judaism developed a fear of structural discourse messianic public. The hope was not abandoned, but it is understood that force the redemption can destroy the redeemed.
Passover after Bar Kochba
Significantly, judaism not censored Passover. The Haggadah remained intact and its most radical expressions were not anti-aliased. The tradition understood that the problem was not in the text, but in the reading time.
Passover continues to proclaim freedom, but history taught that redemption requires discernment, consensus and maturity historical. Nisan opens a window; not obliged to cross it.
Conclusion
The Parshat Beshalaj teaches that out of Egypt is only the beginning. The sea opens, but the desert begins. The time of redemption exists, it returns every year and has a real power. That power, however, is ambivalent: it can release or destroy.
Rabbi Akiva did not erred in understanding the strength of Nisan, or the message of Passover. Erred, perhaps in such a tragic way, to believe that such a force could be completed fully in his generation.
The final teaching is clear:
Passover is not ordered to rebel; it prohibits naturalize slavery.
Remember that redemption is possible, that time can be opened, but that pass through it without discernment has a historical cost immense.
That's why we continue to celebrate Passover. Because the story is still not finished. And because the real challenge is not to want redemption, but know when and how to receive it.
