"Torah Lights"
 
Video Insights on the Parsha
 
 by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel – “The renewal of the moon [the first glimmer of the new moon] shall be unto you the festival of the Beginning of the Month, it shall be unto you the first of the months of the year.” (Exodus 12: 2)

This week’s portion of Bo includes the very first commandment (quoted above) given to the Jewish people as a people. The vast majority of translators of the above verse present us with a literal translation: “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months.” However, the translation of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh takes into account other factors, broadening our understanding of the first commandment. Not only are we to consider that the entire calendar year begins with the first month of Nisan, the month of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, but his translation also stresses the renewal of the moon every month, and all that which ‘renewal’ implies in terms of a special day that functions as a semi-holiday.

The Hebrew word hodesh means both ‘month’ as well as ‘renewal.’ The Sages of the Talmud explain that the Almighty actually showed Moses the precise appearance of the new moon in the heavens; the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah explains that the Israelites would scan the skies looking for that first glimmer of the new moon. Those who caught a glimpse of this renewal in the skies would then be expected to go up to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and testify to the expert members of the Sanhedrin what they had seen with their eyes. The Sanhedrin would then declare, “The Month is sanctified, the month is sanctified,” and that day would be declared the first of the new month. The significance of the calculation of the new moon and the ceremony surrounding its announcement can be seen from the fact that the witnesses were even allowed to desecrate the Sabbath in order to make their way as quickly as possible to the Sanhedrin.

What we have to examine is why this commandment of the new moon was considered so important that it is merited to be the first of the 613 commandments given the Jewish people as a nation? [The three commandments in the book of Genesis, procreation, circumcision, and the prohibition of eating the meat of the thigh sinew, were given to individuals.] Why, for example, should this commandment take precedence even over the sanctity of the Sabbath? After all, the renewal of the moon is a phenomenon of nature which repeats itself every month. Why make such a big ‘tzimmes’ over it?

The S’forno (Italian Biblical commentary of the 16th century) maintains that it is precisely this natural phenomenon of the new moon which symbolizes the great gift of freedom, one of the fundamental values Judaism is about to teach the world by means of the entire drama of  the miraculous exodus of the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery.  As we know, the Hebrews marked time chiefly by means of the lunar calendar. Time is of very little importance to a slave whose life – and therefore his time – is owned not by him but rather by his master. Only for an individual who is free does time have significant value. Hence, as a symbol of this newfound freedom in the wake of the Exodus, the Hebrews are commanded to mark time, to celebrate every new month, and never to take for granted the freedom of our ability to do with time whatever we choose.

Secondly, there is an essential difference between a lunar calendar and a solar calendar. The sun appears to be unchanging; “…there is nothing new under the sun” declares the author of Ecclesiastes. The moon changes: it waxes, it wanes, it disappears altogether and then emerges again from the depths of the darkness. Symbolically, the moon represents change, expressing the capacity of nature and human nature to change and become renewed. Indeed, the sacred Zohar declares that the Jewish people is compared to the moon: there may be historical periods wherein we as a nation will decrease in number and influence and appear to have disappeared from the world stage altogether. Nevertheless, we eventually emerge from history’s obscurity to shed great light once again upon a darkened world. Ultimately it is our prayer that the moon shall become as large and as constant as the sun and Israel will shine forth as the teachers of humanity in this period of universal redemption. This is the significance of the prayer we recite on the Saturday night following Rosh Chodesh, our Sanctification of the Moon, and it is a prayer which deserves study in the context of this commentary.

Essentially, the basic historical lesson that emerges from the story of Exodus is the theme of optimism. Our G-d is a G-d of light and redemption, Who will always insure our ability to survive and prevail.  This is the most profound and lasting lesson of the Egyptian experience.  One may very well ask why Amram and Yocheved were worthy of such children as Moses, Aaron and Miriam? The Bible tells us very little about the parents but hints volumes about the grandparents. Imagine the despondent and tragic atmosphere surrounding the birth of a baby boy during the 210 years of Egyptian slavery when Pharaoh’s edict required his people to cast all newborn male children into the Nile.

During that period two individuals from the house of Levi gave their newborn son the name Amram, literally “exalted nation”. Exalted nation? But aren’t the Hebrews on the lowest level of the Egyptian totem pole?   Around the same time another couple from the House of Levi had a daughter they named Yocheved, literally “praise to the Lord”. Praise to the Lord of the Egyptian subjugation?

But these two couples possessed the tradition of the Covenant between the Pieces, a divine vision which foresaw the emergence of Abraham’s descendants from slavery with great wealth, poised to receive G-d’s redeeming revelation. Two sets of grandparents believed in the message of the renewal of the moon, the light of Israel emerging from the darkness.  It is because of their optimistic faith that they merited such grandchildren as Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

Shabbat Shalom