going home ... to yerushalayim: Reb Neuberger: Preparing for Rosh HaShanah

16 September 2025

Reb Neuberger: Preparing for Rosh HaShanah - Part Three

Following is a way to understand the cataclysmic collision between Bnai Yishmoel (the Moslem Nations) and Bnai Esav (Western Culture) which, according to the Malbim, will usher in the Age of Moshiach.

On the Fourth Day of Creation, “G-d said, Let there be luminaries in the firmament of heaven to separate between the day and night. They shall serve as signs and for festivals and for days and years. And they shall serve as luminaries … to shine upon the earth…. And G-d made … two great luminaries, the greater luminary to dominate the day and the lesser luminary to dominate the night ….”

Following this monumental act of creation, something amazing happened: the moon became envious of the sun. According to the Gemara in Chullin, “The moon said before Hakadosh Baruch Hu …….. ‘Master of the Universe, is it possible for two kings to utilize the same crown?’ Hashem then said to the moon: ‘Indeed, go and diminish yourself.’”

Without trying to understand the intricacies of this remarkable episode, I want to focus on one overriding aspect, namely that, at the very beginning of history, jealousy was introduced into the world, at which time it was made clear that jealousy is the enemy of peace. And jealousy is what is motivating our enemies right now.

Those who are jealous are doomed to be diminished as the moon was diminished.

Let’s try to apply this to the current world: Esav and Yishmoel, the two primordial enemies of Israel, resemble the sun and moon.

Esav resembles the sun. The Western Nations live in a world of work, laboring 9 to 5 “tachas ha shemesh … under the sun.” This is the World of Rome, the descendant of Esav, the builders of the material world. Look around and you will see that the material structure of this world –the roads, the cars, the bridges, the skyscrapers, the great highways, the instruments of war, ships and planes – all these are the work of the civilization originating from Rome, engaging in commerce, “conquering the earth” under the sun.

Yishmoel resembles the moon. The Arabs are night people, wandering the shifting paths of the desert, where the glint of a knife reflects the light of the moon. During the night, certain items belonging to others may disappear, as the Children of Yishmoel move furtively in the shadows. Even their national symbol is a crescent moon! While Esav builds, Yishmoel destroys. Yishmoel is “a wild ass of a man, whose hand is against everyone and everyone’s hand against him…. “ (Beraishis 16:12)

The two nations differ in the most fundamental ways, inevitably creating friction between them. The most notorious contemporary example is the destruction of the Twin Towers, which was an opening battle in Milchemes Gog Umagog, the war in which (the Malbim says, as we mentioned last week) these two superpowers will destroy each other. The earth has been a battleground between Yishmoel and Esav for millennia, resembling the celestial battle between sun and moon. The war is not over.

The Roman calendar is based on the sun, 365 days per year, with one day added every four years to coincide with the exact duration of the earth’s orbit around the sun. Everything is fixed: spring, summer, autumn, winter; the year never deviates from its fixed seasons.

On the contrary, the Moslem calendar is based on the moon, shifting, turning, with no stable time periods. The Moslem months wander throughout the year with no anchor, no stability, just as the Arab nomads wander through the trackless desert.

The Jewish Calendar, lehavdil, is unique, combining the stability of the sun with the ever-renewing moon. The calendar of Israel brings peace between sun and moon.

The phases of the moon meld with the stability of the sun to create harmony and fruitfullness in the world. By anchoring the year to the Season of Spring, our calendar brings blessing to the world, blessings of rain and dew, blessings of life and growth, blessings of peace. The calendar of Israel brings blessings and the people of Israel bring blessings.

This tells us that we, the Jewish People, bring harmony into this world. We reconcile the conflicts; we resolve the state of jealousy between sun and moon.

We say in Kiddush Levana, “V’hi ratzon …. May it be Your will, Hashem, my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, to fill the flaw of the moon so that there should be no diminution in it. May the light of the moon be like the light of the sun and the light of the seven days of creation, as it was before it was diminished …. And may there be fulfilled upon us the verse that is written: ‘They shall seek Hashem their G-d and Dovid their king. Amen!’” (Kiddush Levana)

May we see the Salvation of Hashem soon in our days!

Ksiva v’chassima tova, a gut gebentched Yor! “Tichle Shana …. Let the (old) year and its curses conclude! Let the (new) year and its brachas begin!”