Komentarz do Wyjścia 13:4

בחדש האביב IN THE MONTH ABIB — But would we not know in which month they went out (even though it were not stated here)? But Moses spake to them as follows: See the kindness which God has bestowed on you — that He brought you forth in a month that is fitted for going out, not hot, nor cold nor rainy. In the same sense it says (Psalms 68:7) “He bringeth forth the prisoners בכשרות” i. e. in a month that is fitted (כשר) for going out (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:4:1).

בחודש האביב, the reason that the Passover festival is to be observed in spring is so that it will coincide with the legislation of marking the lunar new year with the month of spring, the month of rejuvenation. Our sages have been very careful when calculating a permanent calendar to ensure that Passover never occurs before the spring equinox.

האביב; the time when the earliest harvests ripen. Compare the use of the word אביב in this context in Job 8,12 עודנו באבו לא יקטף, “while still tender not yet plucked.” The word also occurs in Song of Songs 6,11 in this senseלראות באבי הנחל, “to see the budding of the vale.’ The dagesh in the letter ב in the word באבי replaces the missing letter ב from the word אביב.

היום אתם יוצאים, “this is the day on which you are leaving.” The reason why the Torah had introduced the prohibition of eating leavened food is as a hint for all future generations that the anniversary of the Exodus is to be a day when anything leavened is out of bounds to the Jewish people. Seeing that on the original date of the Exodus it was springtime, the Torah adds that we must make sure that Passover will always occur in the spring season, [not before the spring equinox. Ed.] The Hebrew word אביב for spring is rooted in the term אב, the first, the leader; the barley from which the first בכורים, one omer of it is offered on the second day of Passover, is always the first ripe grain during the spring in locations such as the land of Israel, or countries even closer to the equator.

V. 4. בחדש האביב. Dieser Hinweis auf die Identität Gottes in der Natur und in der Geschichte, sowie auf die parallelen Erscheinungen in beiden geht durch die ganze jüdische Gotteslehre. Die Tatsache, dass die Erlösung im Halmmonat geschah, ist für das Gedächtnis derselben so wesentlich, dass sie zur Seite des קידוש החדש (Kap. 12, 2) das zweite Moment bildet, welches unser Kalenderwesen regelt. Während die Monatheiligung durch den Mondumlauf bedingt ist, hängt die Wiederkehr einer Jahreszeit, hier des Frühlings, vom Laufe der Sonne ab, und war daher nach Dewarim 16, 1 Vorkehrung zu treffen, dass der Erlösungstag, der 15. Nissan, immer in den Frühlingsanfang falle, woraus עיבור שנה, die unsere Mondjahre mit dem Sonnenjahr ausgleichende Einrichtung unserer Schaltjahre, hervorgeht.

היום אתם יוצאים; this is an exclamation equivalent to: “remember that you are leaving Egypt in the month of spring” (nature’s renewal)