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Did you ever wonder why, according to the Jewish calendar, a Jewish “day” begins at night time? (That’s why the weekly Sabbath and every Jewish holiday begins at night, not the next morning) Why is that, unlike the non-Jewish nations, our day begins with the coming of the moon and not the coming of the sun? Hopefully, by the end of this essay we’ll understand why.

This week, the Torah describes the last three (of the ten) plagues, and the process of the actual exit from Egypt. The parshah also includes a few commandments that God imparted upon Moshe to tell the Jewish people.

The first of these commandments was the requirement of establishing the new month. This law basically required a Jewish court, every 30 days more or less, to proclaim the start of the coming month.

In fact, this was the first law that was ever instructed upon the Jewish people as a nation! (*see footnote*)

One  might have imagined that the commandment of observing Shabbos (Sabbath) or keeping kosher should come first! What’s so special about establishing the new month that it merited to be the first thing the Jews were ever commanded!?

Furthermore, immediately after this commandment, the Torah goes on to detail the special Passover sacrifice we were required to offer upon leaving Egypt. What’s the relationship between these two subjects!? Is there any inherent connection between the commandments of Monthly renewal and the Passover sacrifice?

In the Hebrew language, the word for “month” is Chodesh, which is directly linked to the Hebrew word Chadash, which means “new”. This highlights that the idea behind establishing the new month is that of renewal. This doesn’t only mean that every month marks a renewal of a 30 day cycle. Rather, the beginning of a new month is primarily meant to be a calling to the individual to renew one’s self.

It is also interesting to note that at the oncoming of a new month, one would expect to see a full moon in the night sky. However, it’s just the opposite: The “incomplete” moon at the start of each month is there for us to realize that we ourselves are incomplete, and that there’s so much of our potential waiting to be fulfilled. But even more so, it represents a message of hope; that although we may have “shrunk” to such a low level, there always remains a chance to start over.

This was extremely important for the Jews to realize upon leaving Egypt, and God found it necessary to relate this concept to them before anything else. The Jews had undergone slavery for hundreds of years, not just physical back-breaking labor, but mental and spiritual enslavement as well. The Rabbis tell us that they were at the lowest level of impurity before leaving Egypt and, ultimately, escaping from its culture that had tortured them for so long. Just imagine what went through their minds: “After sinking to lowest depths of spiritual contamination, how could I ever truly return to God!? How can I ever truly return to myself!?”

No matter how low one has sunken, there is always a chance to pick oneself up. This was the message God wanted to convey, not only to the Jews leaving Egypt, but to us as well. So as the moon revolves around the earth, our daily lives and thoughts revolve around the moon and the message it represents.

But how do we do it? For those of us who feel that our moral and spiritual stature has diminished, what must we do in order to pick ourselves up!?

The answer to this question lies in the meaning behind the juxtaposition of the two commandments: establishment of the new month and the Passover sacrifice.

God willing, this will be the topic of next week’s essay.

Good Shabbos

NZL

*On the very first verse in the Torah (Genesis: 1: 1), Rashi poses the question of why the Torah had to start off at the creation of the world? If one were to assume that the Torah is just a book of laws for the Jewish people, then why go through the whole “story-telling” aspect and not just cut to the case and begin with the commandments? Within the framework of this question, Rashi asks why the Torah didn’t start at the commandment of Monthly Renewal; the very commandment we are discussing! These words of Rashi therefore show us that this commandment is truly viewed as the first one ever imparted upon the Jewish people.

There is much to be said on Rashi’s question, however these ideas lie beyond the scope of this essay. If you are interested, please feel free to email me (natelight@gmail.com) and I will be more than happy to expand the topic for you