BeNissan (not the car)
"R' Yoshusa says 'beNissan nigalu ubeNissan athidin lehigael" [Rosh Hashana 11b) In the month of Nissan they [the Israelites] were redeemed and in Nissan they are destined to be redeemed, and the proof offered is that the date of Pesach is called "leyl shemurim," the night that is watched or anticipated, so it is also anticipated as the time of redemption for the future.
I looked this up as I was thinking about having been born in Nissan myself. It's not a great time for a birthday given all the Pesach bustle that falls out then, overshadowing mere birthday recognition. (BTW for observation on birthdays -- not mine -- see http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-defense-of-birthdays.html)
But I am certain my mother would have been very relieved that I was a girl so that she did not have the prospect of an erev Pesach bris. (Worst case bris scenario I've heard of was on that fell out within the 3 day Yom tov of Pesach, requiring one to host quite a number of guest for the sedarim and many meals in order for them to also be present at the bris -- someone in Passaic had that situation.
To come to the point, though, I thought of the fact that Yitzchak was said to have been born on or just before Pesach. Yitzchak is clearly linked to saving his offspring in the debate he has with the Almighty in Shabbos 89b. In that case, it sounds like a situation after the redemption from Egypt. Perhaps it is from the spiritual power imbued in the month of Nissan that both the original redemption and the future one spring, and this power is also manifest in the traits of Yitzchak. That is something to consider.
But another question came to my mind from the previous page of the Gemara in Rosh Hashana. There is the debate on lengths of gestations. It also goes on to say that Sarah -- like Chana -- nifkeda on Rosh Hashana. Then Yitzchak would have been born in Nissan -- which would allow just 6 or 6 1/2 months for the gestation, assuming the pikadon signifies conception, as I would assume, for Sarah's return to a state of fertile youth already occurred months earlier -- Pesach time -- when the angels appeared to give Avraham the news. But if that was a leap year with 2 Adars -- which would have allowed for a 7 or 71/2 month gestation period.
I looked this up as I was thinking about having been born in Nissan myself. It's not a great time for a birthday given all the Pesach bustle that falls out then, overshadowing mere birthday recognition. (BTW for observation on birthdays -- not mine -- see http://divreichaim.blogspot.com/2008/04/in-defense-of-birthdays.html)
But I am certain my mother would have been very relieved that I was a girl so that she did not have the prospect of an erev Pesach bris. (Worst case bris scenario I've heard of was on that fell out within the 3 day Yom tov of Pesach, requiring one to host quite a number of guest for the sedarim and many meals in order for them to also be present at the bris -- someone in Passaic had that situation.
To come to the point, though, I thought of the fact that Yitzchak was said to have been born on or just before Pesach. Yitzchak is clearly linked to saving his offspring in the debate he has with the Almighty in Shabbos 89b. In that case, it sounds like a situation after the redemption from Egypt. Perhaps it is from the spiritual power imbued in the month of Nissan that both the original redemption and the future one spring, and this power is also manifest in the traits of Yitzchak. That is something to consider.
But another question came to my mind from the previous page of the Gemara in Rosh Hashana. There is the debate on lengths of gestations. It also goes on to say that Sarah -- like Chana -- nifkeda on Rosh Hashana. Then Yitzchak would have been born in Nissan -- which would allow just 6 or 6 1/2 months for the gestation, assuming the pikadon signifies conception, as I would assume, for Sarah's return to a state of fertile youth already occurred months earlier -- Pesach time -- when the angels appeared to give Avraham the news. But if that was a leap year with 2 Adars -- which would have allowed for a 7 or 71/2 month gestation period.
Comments
(I believe Mizrachi al haTorah has a discussion about this sugya as well, as Rashi on chumash seems to interpret that the malachim came on Pesach.)