Rosh Chodesh Tribe - 003 Sivan | Shevet Reuven

The Month of Sivan Corresponds To The Tribe of Reuven

We are now entering, with siyata d’shmaya, the month of Sivan (may it came upon us for a blessing).

When the Jewish people left Egypt, Hashem gave them the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh. We have 12 months in the year. The Sages teach that everything which exists in time also exists in the soul.[1] If there are 12 times of the year known as Rosh Chodesh, where do we find 12 souls who correspond to these 12 months? Those were the 12 sons of Yaakov Avinu (the 12 tribes). Each month corresponds to a different tribe. The month of Sivan, according to our teacher the Gra, corresponds to tribe of Reuven.[2]

What is the connection between the tribe of Reuven and the month of Sivan?

Kayin, Reuven, and Yisro

Leah named her firstborn son “Reuven” because when he was born, she said, “Reu, bni”, “See that I have a son”, which affirmed that she deserved to be the wife of Yaakov Avinu, for now she had borne the first of the 12 tribes. Another reason, Rashi says, is because she said, “Reu bein bni, l’bein chami,” “See the difference between my firstborn son and the firstborn son of my father-in-law (Yitzchok), who is Esav.”[3] Leah knew that her firstborn son Reuven would be righteous, in contrast with the wicked firstborn Esav.

The Zohar[4] says a different reason for Reuven’s name: The word “Reuven” is from the words ohr ben, a “spiritual light that is a son”. This meant that Reuven’s role was to bring spiritual light to the world and thereby fix the “darkness” that came to the world through the first child of the world, Kayin. When Kayin sinned, he brought darkness upon the world. In contrast, Reuven was charged with the task of fixing the damage of Kayin, which would bring “light” to the world and thereby dispel the darkness brought by Kayin.

Elsewhere, Chazal revealed that Reuven was a soul reincarnation of Kayin. Yaakov Avinu said about Reuven (in the blessings) that Reuven bears the trait of yeser se’ais, “foremost in rank”,[5] and this is a hint that Reuven’s deeper soul mission was to attain the trait of se’ais (forgiveness) which Kayin did not attain, for Hashem had told Kayin, “If you improve yourself, you will be forgiven”.[6]Unfortunately, when Kayin’s soul was reincarnated in Reuven, Kayin’s damage continued and Reuven failed in his mission to fix the damage caused by Kayin.

Later in history, Kayin was reincarnated as Yisro, who was called keini, which hints to the word “Kayin”.[7]

Reuven’s Spiritual Light – The Power To “See” The Sounds At Har Sinai

From the words of the Zohar, we can see that Reuven’s name is rooted in the word ohr (light). The Gra says that the term ohr is connected with the month of Sivan, because in the month of Sivan the entire Jewish nation at the mountain “saw” all of the thunderous sounds and they were also able to “hear” the visions at Har Sinai.

The Sages take note of the fact that this was miraculous, because sounds are normally heard, not seen, and visions are normally seen, not heard. But at Har Sinai, the miracle was that the people could “see” the sounds and “hear” the visions. What gave them the power to “see” the sounds at Har Sinai? It came from the spiritual power of Reuven, which offered them the spiritual vision to “see” the sounds.

The Original Level of Light Was The Light Mixed Together With Darkness

The Sages also draw a parallel between the Ten Expressions which Hashem created the world, with the Ten Commandments of the Torah that were said at Har Sinai. The first expression that Hashem used to create the world was, “Yehi Ohr”, “Let there be light”, and this corresponds to the first of the Ten Commandments, which was “Anochi Hashem”, “I am Hashem”. Thus, the Torah’s first commandment, “I am Hashem”, is rooted in the first of Hashem’s expressions to create the world, which was “Let there be light.”

What is the connection? The words “Let there be light” was really the very root of the Torah, because the Torah is the “light” of Creation, for Torah is called Torah ohr, “Torah of light”, and furthermore, Hashem used the Torah to create the world with it.[8] After Hashem created the “light” of Creation (which is really the Torah), Hashem testified about it that “It was good”. And we also find that the Torah is called “good”, as it says in the verse, “For I have given you a good purchase, my Torah, do not abandon it.”[9] Hence, the Torah is the “good light” that Hashem created the world with.

On the first day, light and darkness were originally mixed together, and then Hashem separated them, assigning the light to the daytime and the dark to the nighttime [and at that point there was no sun and moon yet, because the luminaries were only created on the fourth day. On the first day, day/light and night/dark existed without the sun and moon]. When Hashem gave the Torah, the first commandment of “I am Hashem” originated in the first expression that Hashem used to create the world, which was, “Let there be light.”

Which light was the source of the first commandment of the Torah? Was it from the light that Hashem created on the first day, which Hashem separated from the darkness, or was it from the original state of light when it was originally mixed with darkness? It came from the light of ohr haganuz, the “hidden light”, the light that is hidden away for the tzaddikim. This light came from the original mixture of light and darkness, of which Hashem said it was “good”. That is also why it is called the “hidden” light, because it existed as part of darkness, so it was a more hidden level of light. [And when Hashem separated the light from the darkness, He hid away the original light that was part of the darkness, and He stored it away for tzaddikim, and this light became the ohr haganuz, the hidden light].

Hence, the depth of the spiritual light revealed at the giving of the Torah – the first commandment of “I am Hashem, your G-d”, which was an outcome of “Let there be light” - was that this was really the original level of light, when light was mixed  together with darkness at the beginning of Creation.

The Original Mixture of Light and Darkness Returned At The Giving of the Torah

How can we see this that there was light and darkness together at the giving of the Torah? On one hand, there was fire on the mountain, which gave off light, and at the same time, there were also thick clouds of darkness covering the sky. So there was light and darkness at once, at the time when the Torah was being given.

Bringing out this concept even stronger, the giving of the Torah was during the day (light). There is also an aspect of “darkness” at the giving of the Torah, because the Jewish people were forced to accept the Torah, when Hashem suspended the mountain over them and said, “If you accept the Torah, good, and if not, you will be buried under this mountain.” Later, they said Naaseh V’Nishmah, “We will do and we will hear.”[10] When they were forced to receive the Torah, it was like “darkness” to them, in contrast to when they received it willingly, where they accepted it with clarity, which was “light” to them.

The Connection Between The Months of Nissan, Iyar and Sivan

There are 50 days between the festivals of Pesach and Shavuos, which concludes in the month of Sivan. This 50-day period combines together the months of Nissan, Iyar, and Sivan and unifies them. The 50 days of Sefiras HaOmer, from Pesach until Shavuos, is not simply a count that happens to overlap the months of Nissan, Iyar, and Sivan. Rather, all of these months are connected together through the circuit that begins with Pesach, leading into the days of the Omer, and ending with Shavuos.

Usually a festival will take up only one month. Pesach is in Nissan, Shavuos is in Sivan, Rosh HaShanah is in Tishrei, and Purim is in Adar. Chanukah is the only festival which overlaps two months, Kislev and Teves. The Ramban says that just like Succos has seven days followed by an eighth day, Shemini Atzeres, when we celebrate Simchas Torah, so does the seven-day festival of Pesach have an “eighth day” that completes it, which is Shavuos. The festival of the Shavuos is the “Shemini Atzeres” of Pesach, because Shavuos is a celebration of Simchas Torah. Thus, Pesach begins in Nissan and ends in Sivan.

The first letters of the words “Nissan”, “Iyar” and “Sivan” spell the word “anas”, which means to be “forced”, a hint to when the people were forced to accept the Torah at Sinai. Through the counting of the Omer, the months of Nissan, Iyar, and Sivan become connected under one unit.

The people were forced to accept the Torah. Was this a form of “darkness”, or was it “light”? Naaseh V’Nishma was said with clarity, and clarity symbolizes light (just as the light makes things clear). But when the people were forced to accept the Torah, it was not done out of clarity, so this was the concept of “darkness”.

At first there was a mixture of light and dark in Creation, before Hashem separated them. Before the separation, however, when Hashem made the light and the dark, He declared that it was “good.” The original darkness was called “good”, it was a perfect creation. Only on the fourth day of Creation did Hashem declare darkness as not being good, when He made the moon smaller than the sun, because the moon complained that “Two kings cannot share one crown.”[11] Ever since the moon became minimized, the nighttime and the dark fell into a state of ruination.  

Reuven’s Light

As mentioned, Reuven’s name is from the words “ohr ben”, a son who brought spiritual light to the world. What was the nature of this light? [We will know after the following introduction.]

The original light at the beginning of Creation was called “good”. On the fourth day of Creation, though, there was another kind of light that was created, which came from the two luminaries that were placed in the sky above the earth: the sun and moon. The light that came from these luminaries was meant to become perfected, but it became ruined, due to the moon’s request to be made bigger than the sun. [Soon we shall more explain more about this].

Yaakov Avinu was tricked into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. Reuven was conceived from Yaakov and Leah on the night of their wedding, and when Yaakov awoke in the morning, he discovered that he had not married Rachel, but Leah. It follows, then, that Reuven’s entire birth came about through a situation where Yaakov had been “forced” into marrying Leah instead. Although Yaakov was not completely forced, for he had willingly married Leah, it was not his plan to marry Leah first, and therefore on some level it was considered as if he was forced into marrying her. Thus, Reuven comes from being forced.

(Leah named her first son Reuven because she said Reu bni, “See that I have a son”. Why was he called Reuven, then, and not Reubni, as his mother Leah expressed at his birth? It was because Reuven should have really come from Rachel, because Yaakov had intended that Rachel become his first wife. His firstborn son, Reuven, should have come from Rachel. Instead, he married Leah first, and therefore Leah could not name him Reubni, which would mean “My son”, for in a sense, he was really supposed to be Rachel’s son. So instead, she named him Reuven.)

How did Reuven fail in fixing the sin of Kayin? Had Reuven accessed the original light of Creation which was good, Reuven would not have sinned. Instead [by being impulsive and too quick to act], Reuven only accessed the “lower” level of light, the light that was created on the fourth day of Creation, which had become ruined, ever since the moon complained on that day when it said that “Two kings cannot share one crown.”

The Gemara says that when the people said Naaseh V’Nishma at Har Sinai, they each received two crowns.[12] Because the moon said it cannot share the crown with the sun, the people should have only received one crown. With the sin of the golden calf, the two crowns were taken away. Had they only received one crown, it would not have been taken away from them, because someone has to bear the crown. But because they received two crowns, both ended up being taken away from them after the sin with the calf. When they were forced to accept the Torah at Har Sinai, this was darkness. This was a hint that they would later fall from that level of standing at Sinai and they would lose their crowns. Had they been at the complete level when they stood at Sinai, they couldn’t have sinned with the calf.

Moshe’s Role Was To Reveal The “Light” of Torah Upon The World

The Sages said that when Moshe was born, the whole house was filled with light.[13] He was the only one who could give the Torah to the Jewish people, because his role was to fix the darkness that entered Creation [ever since the first sin] and to reveal the “light” of the world, the Torah. If the Torah could not be given though Moshe, no one would be able to give it, because only the one who filled the house with light could be the one to give the Torah to the world - and fill the world with light.

The Danger In The Month of Sivan

In these days of the month of Sivan, we will soon be in the three days of preparing for the Torah. The word “Torah” is from the word “ohr”, spiritual light, and the Torah itself is called ohr, as in the verse, “Ner mitzvah v’Torah ohr”, “The flame of a commandment, and the Torah is light.”[14] There is also a verse, “The wisdom of man illuminates his face”[15]. Every year at this time [in the days preceding the festival of Shavuos, when the nation was preparing to receive the Torah], a great spiritual light comes down to the world. But how many people make use of it?

The month of Sivan corresponds to Reuven, whose spiritual light became tarnished [due to his impulsiveness in the act of moving his father Yaakov’s bed from Bilhah’s tent into his mother Leah’s tent, an act which was criticized by Yaakov Avinu and which caused Reuven to lose his blessing]. If we use the light of Reuven in the month of Sivan which became tarnished, then we will fall again into the state of the sin with the calf, which took place in the month of Tamuz, the month that follows Sivan.

Reuven acted too quickly and impulsively, and in doing so he resembled the impulsiveness of Kayin, thus he failed in fixing the damage that Kayin brought. Since Reuven failed in using his light correctly, we cannot take his path if we are to succeed. It would only lead us into sin, which led to the tragedies and destruction that took place in the months of Tamuz and Av, which came as a result of the sin with the golden calf.

“Reuven, My Firstborn” – Utilizing The Light of Reuven In The Month of Sivan

What is the possibility for us to make use of Reuven’s light, so that we will not be wearing “two crowns” (which leads to ruination), but “one crown”?

At the giving of the Torah, the entire people were “like one man, with one heart.”[16] This was how they prepared for the Torah. What did this mean? It means that the way to prepare for the Torah is when two people can share one crown!

Chazal teach that the word Anochi is an acronym for aryeh (lion), nesher (eagle), kaf (which stands for keruv/cherub), and the letter yud stands for Yaakov. The prophet Yechezkel saw in his vision of the Merkavah (the Heavenly chariot) that the Heavenly chariot consists of an eagle in the middle, a lion to the right, the face of a man in the back, and an ox in the left. Where was the keruv (the cherub) in his vision? Chazal explain that at the giving of the Torah there was the commandments of “I am Hashem your G-d” and “You shall not have any other gods”, and after the sin with the golden calf, the image of the keruv/cherub on the Merkavah changed to the image of an ox, because the people had now sinned with an ox (a calf). Thus, with the sin of serving the golden calf, they damaged the level of “keruv” that was in the Heavenly Merkavah.

In the Aron Kodesh (the Holy Ark), the keruvim (cherubim)faced each other, and this resembled the state of the Jewish people when they all had one heart at the giving of the Torah. But this was not the case anymore after the sin with the calf. The first two commandments (“I am Hashem”, and “You shall not have any other gods before Me”) were two commandments that were essentially one commandment (the concept of belief in G-d), and it corresponded to the concept of two people sharing one crown. After the sin with the calf, the Jewish people fell from their exalted level, of two being one, down to the level where they are all “two”, where each person is separated from the other, where they do not all have one united heart, where they are each wearing two crowns and they are not all sharing one crown.

Had the people not sinned, the image of the keruv in the Maaseh Merkavah would have remained. What was the significance of the image of the keruv in the Maaseh Merkavah? The word keruv contains the same letters as the word bechor (firstborn), hinting to the primary bechor, Reuven. This was the original spiritual power contained in the month of Sivan, which is the month of Reuven – the power that was represented by the keruv, the ability to be united.

Because of Reuven’s sin, the status of the bechirah (firstborn)was lost from Reuven and transferred to Yosef. Yet, even after Reuven lost his blessing, Yaakov still called him “Reuven, bechori”, “Reuven, my firstborn.”[17] This means that on some level, Reuven’s power to the bechor remains intact.

After the sin with the golden calf, the people fell from the exalted level of keruv, and now the image of the keruv on the Merkavah changed to the image of anox. The hint of this was that they had fallen from their level of oneness, represented by the keruvim who were like one, and now they had fallen to the level of oxen, which gore and attack one another.  

(Although the “ox” represents a fallen state, as implied by the sin with the golden calf which corresponds to the ox (the calf was a baby cow, and a cow is an ox), even the level of the “ox” can be repaired. This was the role of Yosef, who received the firstborn status from Reuven. Yosef’s role was to repair the level of the “ox”. Yosef is referred to as an “ox” in the blessing of Yaakov. This was a hint that Yosef was the “ox” on the side of holiness, and his role was to fix the “ox” on the side of evil, which is called the shor muad, a “wild ox”, which an owner pays full damage. Yaakov was called ish tam, a wholesome man, and Yosef continued Yaakov’s role of ish tam, by remaining pure in Egypt. He became like shor tam, the “tame ox”, and in doing so he repaired the “ox” on the side of evil.)

Sivan Is The Month of “Twins” – The Level of Brotherhood

The inner level of the month of Sivan is also represented by its mazal, which is called te’umim, “twins”, similar to the twin pair of keruvim.  At Har Sinai, the entire people had one heart. They resembled the faces of the keruvim when they were facing each other, two that are one. The Sages state that the keruvim were either like two children facing each other, or like a chosson and kallah greeting each other. This was the level of standing at Sinai: resembling the unity of twins, which were like the keruvim facing each other.

The true spiritual light of Reuven which must be revealed in the month of Sivan is the concept that Reuven is the bechor who represented the level of the keruvim when they face each other.

At the sin with the golden calf, the Jewish people fell from their unified state and now they were like an ox which gores. Instead of being one man with one heart, each of them were now commanded to kill their own brothers (those who sinned with serving the golden calf).

When two people cannot become disconnected from each other, they are called achim, brothers, from the word achvah, unity. Shimon and Levi were called achim, because Yaakov saw that they cannot become separated from each other. However, Shimon and Levi used their brotherhood to sin by banding together to wage war on Shechem, and Yaakov cursed their actions, because it was not the true use of achvah, since it was done through weapons and violence. Only the bechor, who was Reuven, who came before his brothers Shimon and Levi, could reveal the true level of brotherhood.

The Two Spiritual Lights Available In Sivan

The month of Sivan therefore contains two different levels of spiritual light that can be revealed: a lower level of light, and a higher level of light. The lower level of spiritual light in Sivan is the power to become forced to accept the Torah, and this corresponds to the level of the two crowns that everyone received, which were eventually taken away from us. The higher level of spiritual light in Sivan is the very light of the Torah itself.

There is an amazing introduction of the Ramban in his commentary on the Torah. The Ramban said that the Torah preceded the world by 2,000 years, and this was a kind of Torah which was not divided into any letters yet. This original, undivided level Torah was contained in the first two commandments which were said together at Har Sinai: “I am Hashem, and You shall not have any other gods.” This level of Torah, which preceded the world, is the hidden level of Torah which does not become divided into any letters.

At the first two commandments, when we heard such a level of Torah, we did not hear two different things. Rather, we heard two commandments that were one, and we heard it as one. When we merit accessing the light of the original level of Torah which does not divide into any letters, that is how we access the inner spiritual light.

The 600,000 souls of the Jewish people, who all stood at Sinai “with one heart” were only able to united together only through the level of Torah that preceded the world, which was not divided into any letters. Only the undivided level of Torah could unify everyone together. The 600,000 souls of the Jewish people, who correspond to the 600,000 letters of the Torah, cannot be connected together through the level of Torah that we have now, which divides into many different letters. They could only be connected together through the original, undivided level of the Torah which preceded our world.

“Had We Just Been Drawn Close To Har Sinai….It Would Have Been Enough”

This is the depth of what we say in the Hagaddah by Dayeinu, “Had we just been drawn close to Har Sinai and we would not have received the Torah, it would have been enough.” How could just standing at Sinai have been enough, without receiving the Torah?! The secret of this is because all 600,000 souls of the Jewish people were only able to stand together Har Sinai due to the light of the Torah which preceded the world, the level of Torah which did not divided into any letters, which was the level of Torah that unites the entire Jewish people together.

It would have been enough for us to stand at Sinai without receiving the Torah we have now, which divides into 600,000 letters, because the hidden, original level of the Torah was what enabled us to get there in the first place. This hidden level of Torah, which does not divide into the 600,000 letters of the Torah that we have now, would have been enough for us [because it was all-inclusive of the entire Torah, since it consisted entirely of the first two commandments, “I am Hashem” and “You shall not have any other gods”, which form the basis of the entire Torah].

In Conclusion

It is our blessing now that every one of the Jewish people with the help of Hashem should merit to return to this inner light and to connect to all 600,000 souls of the Jewish people and to all 600,000 letters of the Torah, as well as to the Creator of the world, in the level of complete unity. Amen, and Amen.