Commemorating Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the Month of Miracles, Yom HaMishi L'Parshas ViyikrA
As posted from Parashas Vayakhel-Pekudei by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ztz'l
Part I. The Nation of the Moon
Shabbos HaChodesh
On Shabbos HaChodesh we read maftir from Parshas Bo (12:1); the Bnei Yisroel are going to be leaving Mitzrayim very soon, and Hashem is speaking to Moshe and Aharon. He’s telling them the first dinim, the first Torah laws, that the people are going to be commanded to keep as a new nation; about Rosh Chodesh Nissan and the various dinim for preparing the korban Pesach.
Now, Rashi at the very beginning of the Chumash, in Bereishis, says the Torah could have begun right here: with these pessukim in Parshas Bo. After all, the nation was being born right now, and they were being commanded for the first time by their Creator. Rashi explains a certain reason why it’s not that way, but actually it’s right here in Parshas HaChodesh where the Torah begins.
A New Beginning
And so, it pays therefore to take especial note of what’s written here, what the Torah ‘starts’ with: הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם לְחָדְשֵׁי הַשָּׁנָה – Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us that from now on the first month of our calendar, of counting months, will always be the month of Nissan.
From now on, all the years that we find in the Tanach are calculated according to the Exodus of Mitzrayim. When Hashem wants to tell us that Shavuos falls out on a certain date, He says “in the third month” — it means the third month from Nissan. When He wants tell us that Rosh Hashanah is the first day of a certain month, He says “on the first day of the seventh month” — the seventh month from Nissan. So you see that even Rosh Hashanah is not called the first month. The Torah doesn’t count from the creation of the world; all the calculations of the years are from the Yetzias Mitzrayim.
And why is that? What’s Nissan more than Tishrei when the world was created? Because this month, that’s the beginning of time. Bereishis, that’s when the history of the world began, but for the Am Yisroel, it was right now. “You’re becoming a nation now,” Hashem says. “You’re going to leave Egypt to serve Me and therefore, הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה – This month, when you went out to freedom, לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים – that’s the beginning of your history (ibid.).” The creation of שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ, the entire universe, that’s important but it’s nothing compared to the creation of a people to serve Hashem.
The Mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh
But it wasn’t only the lesson of Chodesh Nissan that the Am Yisroel was being taught now. It’s much more than that because at this time הֶרְאָהוּ לְבָנָה בְּחִדּוּשָׁהּ – Hashem showed Moshe the moon in its renewal, וְאָמַר לוֹ כְּשֶׁהַיָּרֵחַ מִתְחַדֵּשׁ יִהְיֶה לְךָ רֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ – and He told him, “When the moon renews itself like this, that will be the beginning of the month for the Am Yisroel” (ibid. Rashi).
It means that the entire principle of Rosh Chodesh, of the Am Yisroel counting according to the moon, was being taught to them now. Yes, the principle of Nissan being the first month, that’s true, but also Rosh Chodesh in general. A new idea, a new mitzvah, for the Am Yisroel: Your months are calculated according to the moon.
The nations of the world don’t make any fuss about the new moon because they follow the sun in their calculations. January, February, March, April, they’re all sun months. The truth is that even the gentile word ‘month’ from the word moon is just a borrowed term from us. The Gentiles don’t have a moon month; it’s a sun month.
The Jewish Calendar
Whereas for the Am Yisroel, our month is a lunar month. That’s why every year, our year, the moon year, falls eleven days behind the sun year. Every once in a while, by a certain arrangement, there’s a leap year, an extra month to make up for that. But our calendar is moon-based; the moon is our criterion of time.
That’s what we say in Barchi Nafshi, עָשָׂה יָרֵחַ לְמוֹעֲדִים – Hashem made the moon for the festivals (Tehillim 104:19). Moadim means אֵלֶּה מוֹעֲדֵי ה׳. A remarkable statement! עָשָׂה יָרֵחַ – Why did Hashem make a moon? לְמוֹעֲדִים – So that the Am Yisroel should utilize it to know when Rosh Chodesh is and calculate our yomim tovim according to that. And so the moon is like a Jewish calendar hanging in the sky.
The Jewish Moon
Imagine that you would see a great calendar suspended in space with pages of light — inscribed with stars instead of letters — and telling you when Pesach will fall out, when Shavuos and Sukkos will fall out. That’s the moon — it’s there for the Am Yisroel.
Now that may seem very chauvinistic or parochial, very narrow-minded. Here is a little nation down below, looking up at the moon. “It’s our moon,” they say. “It’s a Jewish moon.”
The whole world would laugh at such a thing. The New York Times will have a cartoon about that. It’ll show a Yid’l in the velt’l pointing to the moon, “It’s my moon.” They’ll put a yarmulkah on the moon and ridicule us. “Ha! A Jewish moon! The Jews want to own everything for themselves. Ha! Ha! Ha!” A big guffaw.
So they can laugh but that’s the plain truth; it’s our moon. I’ll tell you more, it’s our sun too. All the stars are ours. The universe is ours. Everything is for the Am Yisroel. But the moon is especially ours — it’s our calendar. There’s a luach hanging in the sky for us.
The Moon Nation
But we’re going to say something now, an additional point. Not only is the moon for the Am Yisroel but we are also compared to the moon. We find that reiterated in a number of ways in the seforim. That’s why when we go outside once a month to thank Hakadosh Baruch Hu for renewing the moon, so when we make the bracha we say as follows: וְלַלְּבָנָה אָמַר – Hashem spoke to the moon; it means He gave the command, שֶׁתִּתְחַדֵּשׁ – that the moon should go through phases. The sun doesn’t wax and wane; the sun is a sun all the time. But the moon becomes smaller and then it disappears. עֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת לַעֲמוּסֵי בָטֶן – And it does that as a crown of glory for those who are carried from the belly. ‘Those carried from the belly’ means the Am Yisroel, like the possuk says about us: הָעֲמוּסִים מִנִּי בֶטֶן – The ones carried by Hakadosh Baruch Hu from our inception; from the beginning of our history, the moon symbolizes us.
And so not only do we count according to the moon, but we are also symbolized by the moon. And we have to study that analogy and gain the information that it wishes to provide us; what it means that we are like the moon not like the sun.
Interpreting the Allegory
You know, the sun is most obvious in the world; the entire world is bathed in the light of the sun. Whereas the moon is many times overlooked, it gives off only a little light, and sometimes it disappears entirely. And so Rosh Chodesh signifies an important principle. It’s a symbol that the Am Yisroel was especially made to be a small people. We are a minority in the world. And we are going to remain a minority. The nations of the world, no matter how diverse they are, all together they comprise one vast majority in opposition to the Am Yisroel. It makes no difference whether they are Mohammedans, or Christians or Buddhists or evolutionists, all together the nations are standing in opposition to us.
Now, it doesn’t mean that we fight with them, no. And on certain issues we can even ally with the good gentiles; in fighting against immorality and wickedness. Certainly, we can. But fundamentally, we stand alone against all the nations of the world. We are a unique people because there’s nothing in the nations of the world that can equate what the Jewish people stand for. The Jewish people stand for Hashem Who gave us a Torah at Sinai. That’s a Jew summed up in one sentence. We are the nation that accepts the obligation of obeying the Word of Hashem that was delivered at Sinai.
United Nations
And this, no creed in the world follows. Some say there never was a Matan Torah at Har Sinai and the others say it was abrogated later. Others say there never was a Sinai. Some say there’s no God at all. Hatzad hashaveh she’bahen, the common denominator is that we are the only one that upholds the Toras Hashem from Sinai. You could be Chassidic or Misnagdic, it doesn’t make any difference. Sefardi, Ashkenazi, no difference. All together we were mekabel the Torah at Sinai and we are standing faithfully by that. That’s the Jewish nation.
And because of that we’re the one nation that doesn’t mix. The Jew doesn’t intermarry. The Jews have certain moral principles. And therefore, all the nations of the world feel estranged from the Jew. The fact is that even today, when there are so many Jews who have lost their identity, there are still a lot of traits in them that don’t permit them to mingle. They’re misfits in gentile society.
That’s why the world doesn’t like us. They can’t agree on anything but this one thing they know, that we’re dirty Jews. The Negro will call you “a dirty Jew”. The WASP will call you “a dirty Jew” and the Irishmen will also call you “a dirty Jew”. They all unite for that. You’re a dirty Jew to everybody, no matter where you go. In all languages you’re a dirty Jew, worse than a dirty Jew. Don’t expect anybody to side with you. You’re a minority. You’re a me’at. You’re the smallest of all the nations. That’s what it means to be like the moon.
Kiddush Levanah
So you’ll say if we’re so small, so disregarded, what’s going to happen to us? What’s going to be?
And that’s why every month when the moon renews itself after disappearing, we go outside on the street and we say, עֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת לַעֲמוּסֵי בָטֶן – It’s being renewed as a crown of glory to the Am Yisroel, שֶׁהֵן עֲתִידִין לְהִתְחַדֵּשׁ כְּמוֹתָהּ – to remind us that we too are going to be renewed. That’s what the moon is saying to the world.
Of course, the Gentiles will put up a protest about that: “What kind of business is this? You hear the arrogance of these people? Orthodox Jews standing outside in the street, they say, the reason the moon is now renewed, it’s a symbol that they too will reappear once again as a great nation! Ignoramuses! Living in darkness! Don’t they know the moon has phases? The moon orbits around the earth, and therefore its appearance changes according to the changing angles of sunlight. It’s a natural thing. So what’s this business about a symbol?”
Revealing the Secret
And so we say to the world, “Oh, you poor, ignorant fellows. You never learned Parshas HaChodesh. So we’ll tell you the secret. Everything has a natural purpose too, but we live on a higher plane than that, and we know that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says it’s for us: ‘There is a higher purpose. I made it this way to be a message from Me to you, to My nation that is symbolized by the moon, that You will someday reappear and become the greatest in the world.’”
Right now, we are like the moon. Until the end of days, we’re going to be a minority, like the moon is so small compared to the sun. Sometimes we don’t even see it at all because it’s so small. But the moon in its phases is a symbol of what’s going to happen eventually. Someday we will be renewed. Eventually the truth will be demonstrated to all mankind. Eventually, the nation of the moon will grow full again, and we’ll become the great nation recognized by everyone.
“Someday the world will discover the truth,” Hashem says, “and then you’re going to shine. וְהַמַּשְׂכִּלִים יַזְהִרוּ כְּזֹהַר הָרָקִיעַ – And those who had seichel, those who understood someday they’ll shine with the splendor of the firmament. You’re going to shine then with a light, with a splendor that’ll make the sun look inconspicuous. The sun will be lost in your brilliance someday.” But until then, until the end of history, we live with the knowledge that we learned when we came out of Mitzrayim: “My people,” Hashem says, “Rosh Chodesh means that you’re like the moon; you’ll walk through history as the small one, the ones who live in the shadows of the night.”
Continued in Part III
https://torasavigdor.org/parshah-booklets/shabbos-hachodesh-5786-nissan-and-the-new-moon/
No comments:
Post a Comment