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This Month's for You
Translation and commentary by Eliyahu Munk from Shnei Luchot HaBrit
"This month shall be for you." (Ex. 12:2)
The commandment to sanctify the new moon and to
arrange for leap years when necessary is designed to ensure that the various
holidays set out in the Torah occur in their respective seasons. Passover must
occur in spring; Sukkot in autumn. Leap months and leap years were determined by
calendar calculation even during the eras when the appearance of the new moon
was confirmed by visual observation.
Astronomical factors were not ignored. We have a
tradition that the luminaries symbolize a two-faced concept [such as Adam and
Eve before Eve was separated from Adam by G-d. Ed.]. The moon receives its light
only from the sun. The secret of when the moon renews itself is when it is
positioned close to the sun. (This statement needs a detailed analysis. I have
dealt with it in my commentary on tractate Pesachim under the heading
Torah Ohr, sub-category Rosh Chodesh.)  | | " Women observe the New Moon more than their husbands..." | | |
Women observe the New Moon more than their husbands,
since, symbolically speaking, the moon (as the lesser of the luminaries) remains
on the wane for no more than seven days before it begins to shine again.
Similarly, a menstruating woman becomes pure again after seven days.
The normal menstrual cycle of a woman is thirty days,
similar to the cycle of the moon. We find in the Midrash Ha-nee-elam of
the Zohar Chadash that whereas the gentile nations arrange their calendar
according to the orbit of the sun, the Jewish people count according to the
orbit of the moon. At first glance we would have thought that the opposite
should be true. When G-d told the moon to diminish itself, the moon was not
placated until told that Israel would use it for its calendar calculations (Chulin
60). | | " The moon in this world shines only at night when it is dark..." | | |
The moon was also promised that the righteous would
bear its name. This is a metaphor and means that Israel walks in darkness in
this world, whereas the nations of the world walk in light. The moon in this
world shines only at night when it is dark. When Israel is in exile it
experiences an existence similar to that of the moon. Just as the moon, despite
its temporary eclipse, re-emerges and shines, so will Israel re-emerge after its
exile. The blackness [absence of moonlight. Ed.] of the moon is an allusion to
its being in mourning over the fate of Israel in exile.
Shemot Rabba (15:26) makes the point that there
were 15 generations from Abraham to King Solomon. These generations represented
the rising star of the Jewish people, similar to the first half of the month
when the moon is in its ascendance. After Solomon, the star of the Jewish people
began to decline, much like the moon towards the end of the month. King Zedekiah
was the 29th generation after Abraham, and it was during his life
that the Temple was destroyed, that the light of the Jewish nation was eclipsed.
The fact that King Zedekiah had his eyes gouged out by the Babylonians further
re-enforces the allegory between the moon and the fortunes of the Jewish people. | " There will come a time...
when the light of the moon will be as brilliant as that of the sun..." | | |
There will come a time, however, when the light of the
moon will be as brilliant as that of the sun, when G-d and His Name will be one,
when a new light will shine over Zion. The formula used in our benediction when
we recite the prayer for sanctification of the moon each month contains the
words "a crown of glory to those burdened from birth". We refer to the
Lord who bade the moon to renew itself, "a crown of glory to those burdened from
birth, who are likewise destined to renew themselves just like the moon, and to
glorify their Maker because of the glory of His kingdom." I have dealt with this
in the chapter mentioned earlier.
The subject of the orbit of the moon, the fixing of
leap months and leap years, is also related to aspects of the transmigration of
souls. The appearance and disappearance of one generation after another reminds
one of the lunar cycles. Our sages have jealously guarded what is called "the
secret of leap years", the mechanics of how and under what conditions to declare
these leap years and leap months.
(See Ketubot 112, based on Ezekiel 13:9. A collegium of seven scholars would deal with this issue in a closed session; normal sessions were open to the disciples Ed.)
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