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Parashat HaChodesh

By: Rav Yechezkel Yakovson

(Summarized by Alexis Levy (SFW '08)

            This Shabbat is Parashat HaChodesh, the last of the series of four special parashiot, and is taken from Parashat Bo.

            The mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh was the first mitzvah to be given to Am Yisrael. There must, therefore, be something special about this specific mitzvah for it to be the first mitzvah. Rashi noted its importance in his first comment on Bereshit, saying that we might think it would make more sense to begin the Torah with the first mitzvah, Rosh Chodesh.

The mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh shows one way in which we differ from other nations. We are different than other nations in the way we set our calendar. Other nations go according to the sun, whereas we go according to the moon, using leap years to connect the two.

            There are three possibilities of why this mitzvah is unique and special, and therefore, warrants becoming the first mitzvah to be given to Am Yisrael.

            The first reason is the idea of hitchadshut, renewal. The moon waxes and wanes, each month renewing itself. Hashem is telling us that the message of this mitzvah is the key to the performance of all the other mitzvot. Each mitzvah kept today should be different from the way in which it was kept yesterday. The Pesach that we will celebrate this year should be on a higher level than the Pesach that we observed last year. Our lives should be an upwards spiral, arriving at the same point in the yearly cycle as last year but on a higher level.

            The second reason is that we, as Am Yisrael, are mekadesh the chagim, whereas Hashem is mekadesh Shabbat, Hashem fixes Shabbat. Bnei Yisrael appoint a Beit Din and until they say ‘mekudash mekudash’, the month does not begin. The Beit Din have the power to say that the following day will be Rosh Chodesh, and in that way, we can determine when the chagim will fall. The malachei hasharet asked Hashem when He would be judging Bnei Yisrael. He replied that they should not be asking Him, but rather Bnei Yisrael because they decide when Rosh Hashana will be. Through this mitzvah, Hashem is telling us that He didn’t give us the mitzvot to stay on one level. They are there to mekadesh and metaher us. Mizvot are not to be performed as robots but to raise us up to a higher level.

            The third reason is that one difference between the sun and the moon is that the sun gives out its own light whereas the moon reflects the light of the sun. Am Yisrael say to Hashem through this mitzvah, that we have nothing of our own; our tafkid in this world is to reflect the light of Hashem. The moon can be hidden one minute and then suddenly appears the next, and this is Am Yisrael. We can appear to be hidden, for example in the Holocaust, and then we burst into light, like we did with the establishment of Medinat Yisrael and then again with the Six Day War.

Chag Kasher v’Sameach