Shabbat Forshpeis
A Taste of Torah in Honor of Shabbat
ROSH CHODESH AS THE
PARADIGMATIC MITZVAH
PARSHAT BO
JANUARY 10-11, 2003/ 8 SHEVAT 5763
This week's portion records the first commandment
given by God to the Jewish people. "This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." (Exodus 12:2) What makes this mitzvah important enough to be the first legislated?
Perhaps it teaches the importance of time. As we became a people, we were reminded that life is fleeting, and that we all have just so long to live. No wonder this commandment is given soon after we leave Egypt. Slaves have no control over time; free people do. It is our choice either to squander time or to control and sanctify it.
Time, of course, has past and future dimensions. Ramban connects the first commandment to our responsibility to remember the past. He suggests that considering that it was during the month of Nissan that the Jews were freed, God instructs us that "this month" would be "the first month" of the Jewish calendar year. All months would be counted from Nissan as a way of constantly recalling the seminal event-the exodus from Egypt-wherein we became a nation. Indeed, Ramban points out that in the Bible the months have no names. They're called the first, second or third month, and so on, with the number referring to how many months from the moment when we were established as a people. Hence, the mitzvah anchors us to our past, reminding us always of our roots.
It is also possible that the first commandment relates to the hope of a renewed future. God is commanding that every month the new moon be dedicated, and that Rosh Chodesh (the new month) be celebrated. Rosh Chodesh is nothing less than a day in which we reevaluate and renew ourselves. It is a monthly, quasi Rosh Hashanah experience. Certainly the message of personal reflection and reevaluation is an important enough idea to become the first commandment.
In fact, the Zohar teaches that the just as the moon diminishes in size and ultimately disappears, so too do we often face obstacles and insurmountable challenges. But the message of the moon is that one should never be overcome by despair, but always, like the moon, be alive to the message of hope and rebirth. At the same time, in good times, realizing that, although we hope it will be different in messianic time, life will not always be smooth and perfect. Life, like the moon, waxes and wanes.
A story is told of a skeptical young girl who challenged her believing friend to prove that God exists. "My dolls hand is broken," the believing child said. "Ill place it beneath my pillow and pray to God. No doubt, He will listen to my prayers and repair the doll." Upon rising and seeing the dolls hand still broken, the skeptic said, "I told you God wouldnt listen to your prayers." "On the contrary," responded the believer. "God did listen, but his answer was no.
But for every "no", there are countless "yesses." For like the moon, there are moments of struggle followed by moments of renewal.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Avi Weiss
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