Concerning Rosh Chodesh Nissan, we find in the Torah two ענינים. One thing is that the Rosh Chodesh Nissan before the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, Hashem spoke to Moshe and Aharon and he said to them החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה. That this חודש is ראש חדשים, it's the first to all the months of the year. And then Hashem continued to tell them all about יציאת מצרים and about the קרבן פסח. Then, a year later, which was already the second year from when the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan the משכן was put up. As the פסוק says in פרשת פקודי, קפיטל מ' פסוק י\"ז: ויהי בחודש הראשון בשנה השנית באחד לחודש הוקם המשכן. It was the first month, which is Nissan, the second year from יציאת מצרים, the first day of the month, which is Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the משכן was put up. And every year, when Rosh Chodesh Nissan comes around, we mention these two ענינים again. Concerning פרשת החודש, that was said on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, so every year if Rosh Chodesh Nissan comes out on Shabbos, or if it comes out in the weekdays and it's the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh, we have the special קריאה in the Torah which is called פרשת החודש, where we read the פרשה of החודש הזה לכם. Concerning the second ענין, that the משכן was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, so we also see that it's mentioned every year, as it says in Shulchan Aruch, in the Tur Orach Chaim סימן תכ\"ט, and the Beit Yosef explains it there, also brought down in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alte Rebbe in this סימן תכ\"ט סעיף ט', it's all taken from the Masechet Soferim פרק כ\"א הלכה ב', that on in the month of ניסן אין מתענין, you are not allowed to fast. And the reason is because of the korbanot of the nesi'im that were brought from Rosh Chodesh Nisan on, as the חנוכת המזבח, as the dedication of the מזבח, every day from Rosh Chodesh Nisan on for the next 12 days a different nasi of a different שבט brought his korbanot as the חנוכת המזבח. And because of that, we don't say Tachanun all those days of Nisan. So we see that even now we celebrate the fact that the Mishkan was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nisan and was dedicated for the next days. And also the minhag is, as it's brought down in Shulchan Aruch and other places, that every day from Rosh Chodesh Nisan on, we say the parasha in the Torah of the korban of that nasi that brought the korban on that day. So we see again how we celebrate and we mention this inyan that the Mishkan was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nisan every year. These two ענינים לכאורה are two separate inyanim. This that Hashem said החודש הזה לכם on Rosh Chodesh Nisan the year of Yetziat Mitzrayim, and this that the Mishkan was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nisan a year later, lekha'orah are two separate inyanim. On the other hand, being that they both happened on the same day, there must be a connection between the two. Because we know that everything in the world is hashgacha pratit, so it has to be exact. Certainly when it comes to inyanim of Torah and mitzvot and Yiddishkeit, certainly it's exact. So the fact that on the same day these two things happened, there must be a connection between these two things, which is be'emet hinted what the Gemara says מגלגלין זכות ליום זכאי, that a zechut, a merit, is always brought on a day of merit, that shows that if something happened on a day there must be a connection between that and other things that happened on that day. So in our case, there must be a connection between the fact that the Mishkan was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nisan to this that Hashem said החודש הזה לכם on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, where He told the Yidden about יציאת מצרים and about the קרבן פסח. Especially we see it, that concerning the day that the Mishkan was put up, the Gemara says in Shabbos דף פ\"ז עמוד ב', and it says in the Torat Kohanim in the beginning of פרשת שמיני, and Rashi brings it in the beginning of פרשת שמיני, Rashi also brings it in פרשת נשא קפיטל ז' פסוק י\"ב, that אותו יום נטל עשר עטרות, that that day, the day when the Mishkan was put up, took 10 crowns, which means פשוט פשט that there were 10 things that happened on that day. That day was special in 10 inyanim. So the 10th one, the last one as it's mentioned in the Gemara, and the last one is always very important because we know הכל הולך אחר החיתום, everything follows the end, as the Gemara says in Berachos דף י\"ב עמוד א'. So the last thing, the last specialty that the Gemara mentions that was on that day is that this was ראשון לחדשים. It was the first of the months, which means that this was the day concerning which it says החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה. Because there the Gemara mentions different things, it was ראשון למעשה בראשית, that's the first of the 10, the first day of the week of the creation, which means it was on Sunday, and then different things that happened, and the last thing is that this was the beginning of the month of Nisan, which is the first month of the months, as the pasuk says החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה. So we see that the Gemara makes a point of mentioning the connection between the fact that the Mishkan was put up to the fact that this day was החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה. And the Gemara doesn't just mention this as one of the specialties of that day, but the last one, which, as we said before, is the most important one. So here we see how the Gemara itself shows us the connection between these two inyanim. Lichorah, what is the connection between these two inyanim, the fact that the Mishkan was put up on that day, and the fact that that day was החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה, that the parsha of Hachodesh was said on that day?

In order to understand that, let's first see what is the inyan of the הקמת המשכן? What is the concept of putting up the Mishkan? So we know what the pasuk says, that Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu, that it says in Terumah, קפיטל כ\"ה, פסוק ח', ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם. You shall make for me a Mikdash and I will dwell within them. Which means Hashem said that when you make a Mishkan, a Mikdash, then the Shechinah dwells amongst the Bnei Yisrael, it dwells in the Mishkan. And as it says in the Midrash Tanchuma, נשא ט\"ז, and also in Bamidbar Rabbah, פרשה י\"ב ו', פרשה י\"ג ב', that what happened at that time when they put up the Mishkan, that Hashem made himself a dirah batachtonim. He made himself a dwelling place in this physical world. Which means that the inyan of putting up the Mishkan was the concept of Hashem, from the highest levels of above, came down and connected himself to this physical world, which is the lowest of the lowest. As the expression in the Midrash is that this world is תחתונים, which is low, and this became a dirah, a dwelling place, a house so to speak, for Hashem. And in truth, this is the real meaning behind the expression of the Gemara that אותו היום נטל עשר עטרות, that that day took ten crowns.

As the Kli Yakar explains in the beginning of Parshas Shemini, that what this means is that on this day shined the level, the spiritual level which is called עשר עטרות, which is called ten crowns. Because as the Gemara says in Arakhin דף י\"ג עמוד ב', that the kinor of Olam Haba is going to be של עשרה נימין. The harp of Olam Haba is going to be of ten strings. The kinor of the Beis Hamikdash, the harp of the Beis Hamikdash was made of seven strings. The כינור של ימות המשיח, the harp that's going to be at the time when Mashiach will come, is going to be של שמונה נימין, of eight strings. And the כינור של עולם הבא, the harp that's going to be later, which is after תחיית המתים, is going to be of ten strings. Because the number ten refers to a very high spiritual level, the level that's going to shine at the time of Olam Haba, because the number ten בכלל is שלמות המספר, that's the completion of numbers. As the Ibn Ezra says in פרשת Shemos קפיטל ג' פסוק ט\"ו, also brought down in the Pardes, שער ב'. So this number ten refers to a very high level, and that is the reason why the כינור of olam haba is going to have ten strings. And this is what the Kli Yakar says happened on the day of הקמת המשכן. On that day shined this very high spiritual madrega, which is called עשר, and that's why the Gemara says that אותו היום נטל עשר עטרות, that day took ten crowns. Which is really the same inyan as we said before, that at the time of הקמת המשכן השם made himself the דירה בתחתונים, a dwelling place in this low world, which means that in this low world dwelt the most highest spiritual levels of Hashem. And to explain this a little bit in more detail, the expression in the Gemara that that day took עשר עטרות, ten crowns, why mention the word crown? Because a crown that a king, for instance, wears is on top of his head. Which means that the concept of a crown is even higher than the head of the person. So when we apply the mashal of a crown to Hashem, using the terms in the ruchniyusdike sense, by מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא, by Hashem as king, and using the concept of a crown by Hashem, it means that this refers to the highest levels of godliness. Because there are, there is the concept of ten also by Hashem, which is known in Kabbalah as the עשר ספירות of the higher worlds, and the crown, this is the level which is beyond it, which is known in the expressions of Kabbalah the madrega of כתר, which is beyond all the other עשר ספירות. When we say there are ten crowns, that means that we're using the number ten, which, as we said before, is the שלמות המספר, which is the completion, and we're saying that this number ten is in the crown, that means it's within the כתר itself, it's the highest level. And this is the peshat: אותו היום נטל עשר עטרות, that day, ראש חודש ניסן, the day took took this high level of עשר עטרות, which means the level that shined on that day was the level of עשר עטרות. And the expression of the Gemara is that that day took it, which means that there is a combination between the concept of day with this level of עשר עטרות, which means the inyan of day bichlal represents זמן, time. Time represents the בריאה, the creation. This low, physical world is made up of two ענינים, time and space. Now, time really could be represented in other words, saying week, saying חודש, month, it's all the concept of time. But nevertheless, day represents time even more, as the Gemara says in נזיר דף ז עמוד א, יומי מפסקי אהדדי, days are separated one from another. So the real concept of time is expressed in the concept of day. So the inyan of יום, of day, represents this עולם התחתון, this low world. And the truth is, the inyan of זמן, of time, represents more תחתון, even lower, than the inyan of place. Even though place, space and time go together and both together make up the creation, make up this עולם הזה התחתון, this low world, but within the two, time is even lower than space. Because time is the concept of שינוי, of changes. What is the inyan of time? That things change, it constantly changes, that's time. Space is also limited and therefore there was also the concept of the creation, but nevertheless, it's only limited to the fact that it's here, not someplace else, each space is a place for itself. But it doesn't represent the concept of constant changes, which זמן does. And therefore, the inyan of זמן represents the creation even more than מקום. So when we say אותו יום נטל עשר עטרות, that day, and day represents time, and time represents this creation even more than מקום, the space. So what we're saying here is that in this time, which means in this creation, in this limited creation of this world, what shined there, shined this level called עשר עטרות, the ten crowns which is the highest level of אלוקות, of godliness. So this shows the combination between of the two, that the highest levels of Hashem came down into this low, physical world, which is the general concept of the Mishkan. As we said before, the Mishkan was a place for ושכנתי בתוכם, where in this physical world there should be the dwelling of the שכינה, there should be a דירה לו יתברך בתחתונים, a house for Him, for Hashem Himself, or the highest for Hashem the way He is in the highest level, He should come down בתחתונים in this low world. That itself expresses itself also in this concept of אותו יום נטל עשר עטרות, that that day, which means the concept of day, which is the concept of this עולם הזה התחתון, this low world, took this high level of עשר עטרות, this high, spiritual, godly level called עשר עטרות. So it comes out, in essence, that the inyan of the הקמת המשכן that took place on ראש חודש ניסן, which expresses itself in the inyan of אותו יום נטל עשר עטרות, is the idea of the revelation of אלוקות, of godliness within this physical world.

Now really, this started even earlier at the time of מתן תורה. Because on מתן תורה it says וירד ה׳ על הר סיני, Hashem came down to הר סיני. So there was this coming down of Hashem into this physical world. But the difference is at the time of מתן תורה, it did not stay באופן קבוע, it was not established, wasn't permanent. That's why it says that במשך היובל המה יעלו בהר, when they blew the shofar, people were allowed to go on the mountain. First, it was forbidden to go on top of the mountain, and the pasuk says מפני אשר ירד עליו ה׳, because Hashem came down to the mountain, but later Hashem left. So to speak, this inyan of the revelation of godliness in this world was only there temporarily. At the time of הקמת המשכן, it became permanent, because in the Mishkan always Hashem stayed there, and later on in the Beit HaMikdash, etc., etc. In truth, this did not only start from the time of Matan Torah, it started even before, it started from the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Because by Yetzias Mitzrayim it says, what happened? נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא וגאלם. There was this niglah, this revelation of מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא, of Hashem, and as it says, בכבודו ובעצמו, השם Himself, which means the highest level, the way Hashem is in the highest worlds, in the highest level, He revealed Himself down here. So that also wasn't in a permanent way, only in a temporary way, but nevertheless, the beginning of such a concept started with Yetzias Mitzrayim. פרשת החודש that was said on Rosh Chodesh Nisan was the beginning of Yetzias Mitzrayim. That's when Hashem said that they're going to go out of Mitzrayim, that's when Hashem said there's going to be מכת בכורות, that's when Hashem told them about the mitzvah of the קרבן פסח that they should eat right before they leave, about the mitzvah of eating matzah before they leave. So really, החודש הזה לכם that was said on Rosh Chodesh Nisan is the beginning of Yetzias Mitzrayim. Now, since Yetzias Mitzrayim is the beginning of this revelation of which finished itself off, came to its completion at the time of the הקמת המשכן, that's the connection between these two inyanim. As we said before, that since at Rosh Chodesh Nisan two things happened: the parashah of החודש הזה לכם was said, and later on the Mishkan was put up. And every year we so to speak celebrate both inyanim as we said before. So there must be a connection between the two. The connection is that they both are the same inyan. החודש הזה לכם is the beginning of Yetzias Mitzrayim, which is the beginning of the revelation of Hashem within this world, and the second thing that happened at Rosh Chodesh Nisan, which is הקמת המשכן, is so to speak the end, the completion, the climax of this inyan of the revelation of Hashem in this world. And therefore, every year when Rosh Chodesh Nisan comes around again, and we know הימים האלה נזכרים ונעשים, every year the same thing happens over again, so both inyanim happen over again.

Especially if Rosh Chodesh Nissan comes out on Shabbos, so then this concept of Hashem coming down into this world, the combination of Godliness within this physical world is even stronger, because Shabbos itself also represents the same inyan. Because we know Shabbos is מאיר, shines the highest levels of kedushah of Hashem. We know that Shabbos is מעין עולם הבא. It is like it's going to be in עולם הבא which, as we said before, was the same inyan as נטלו עשר עטרות, the עשר, the ten which is the כינור of ימות of עולם הבא which is going to be of עשר נימין. So Shabbos is also the same madregah generally, because Shabbos is also מעין עולם הבא. And at the same time, this level of עולם הבא which shines on Shabbos expresses itself in the physical inyanim. You have to eat and drink, you have to enjoy שבת באכילה ושתיה which is the most physical thing, and within that enjoyment of the physical thing, a Yid is able to feel מעין עולם הבא, the highest levels of Godliness. So Shabbos itself represents that inyan. So when it comes out Rosh Chodesh Nissan on Shabbos, which Rosh Chodesh Nissan in itself is the same inyan because that's what happened at the time when החודש הזה לכם was said, and that's what happened at the time of הקמת המשכן, so if it gets combined with Shabbos, so this madregah is even stronger, and therefore that's the day when a Yid is able to reach the highest madregot and bring it down within this low physical world.