Musar sobre Êxodo 12:2

The first commandment in this portion, which is the fourth commandment of the Torah, is the need to sanctify the moon each month and to arrange for leap-years when necessary.

החודש הזה לכם. The commandment to sanctify the New Moon and to arrange for leap-years when necessary that we find in Exodus 12,2 is designed to ensure that the various holidays set out in the Torah occur in their respective seasons. Passover must occur in spring, Tabernacles 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.

Every addition of holiness to our status has a mystical connection with the Additional Sacrifices and furthermore contains allusions to a future time. The Torah says in connection with ראש חודש: "This month shall be to you the first (head) of the months" (Exodus 12,2). It means that the Jewish people's calendar is patterned after the lunar cycle. Shemot Rabbah 15,26, comments on this that the great achievements of the Jewish people from the time of Abraham to that of King Solomon spanned 15 generations during which they rose to ever greater stature. At that point, when the light of the moon is at its most potent, "Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord" (Chronicles 1,29,23). Just as the light of the moon diminishes progressively from the fifteenth of the month onwards until it is totally extinct at the end of the month, so the generations of the Jewish people after Solomon progressively declined in greatness until, after another fifteen generations, the last Jewish King, Zedekiah was totally blinded, as stated in Kings II 25,7: "He blinded the eyes of Zedekiah." In the future, however, a new light will shine upon Zion, "and the brightness of the moon will match the brightness of the sun" (Isaiah 30, 26). The "light of the sun" referred to in that verse is the mystical dimension added by the offering of the מוסף-sacrifices on the days we celebrate the appearance of the New Moon. The mystical dimension provided by the Sabbath is the concept of a world which is constantly wrapped in the holiness represented by the concept of the Sabbath. The mystical dimension provided by the Passover sacrifice is that it is the anniversary of our original redemption from the bondage in Egypt, which is also the date of the month on which the redemption of the future will occur. (Rosh Hashanah 11) The scriptural source for this opinion is found in Michah 7,15: "I will show miracles as in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt." Israel will then become endowed with an additional level of רוח הקודש, Holy Spirit, and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G–d. The festival of Tabernacles, devoted to our reposing in "shade" i.e. the shade offered by the covering of the huts being the spiritual equivalent of sitting under G–d's direct protection- will provide an even greater amount of the Holy Spirit. New Year's Day, of which it says in our מוסף prayer: "This day is the day that recalls the beginning of Your handiwork, a reminder of the first day of Creation," will become the date on which the work of Creation will be renewed once it will resume the direction envisioned by G–d originally. At that time G–d will truly enjoy His works (Psalms 104,31). יום כפור, of course, represents the day in the future when all sins will have been atoned for, and the time of which the prophet Jeremiah 50,20, says: "The sins of Israel shall be sought and there shall be none; the sins of Yehudah, and none shall be found; for I shall forgive those I allow to survive." In the future then these are "My holidays." As long as Israel was steeped in sin, however, we are told in Isaiah 1,16: "Your new moons and holidays fill Me with loathing; they have become a burden to Me." In contrast with this, they will be called: "Holy Convocations," proclaimed by a holy congregation, at a time when we shall have merited eternal life. At that time body and soul will have achieved the mystical union hinted at by the words אך אשר יאכל לכל נפש, in Exodus 12,16. "Eating" is a dimension of the body's needs. The word נפש in that verse describes a dimension of the soul. The "food" (nourishment) of that element of man then is "knowledge of the Lord," as we know from Isaiah 11,9. The verse in Exodus hints at a time when even the body, i.e. "secular" matter, will be filled with such knowledge of the Lord. At that time we will experience fulfilment of the promise or commandment "שאו את ראש," in Numbers 26,2, which is a moral imperative to the Jewish people to elevate themselves to the highest moral/ ethical level they are capable of. The people who were counted at that time were rightly described by our sages as דור דעה, a generation which possessed knowledge (of G–d). This count took place "after the plague," after all those involved in the sin of בעל פעור had died. The term "אחר המגפה" can be understood more broadly as also referring to that time in the future of which it is said in Isaiah 25,8: "He will destroy death forever." During the first count of the people in the desert, the attribute of Justice predominated over the Jewish people, seeing they were all going to die during their trek through the desert, and would not be found worthy to enter the Holy Land. [That count had taken place after the episode of the golden calf, Ed.] Of this latter count, however, it states: "To these (the people to be counted now) the land will be distributed as an inheritance" (26,53). The prophet Isaiah (60,21), has already said of this future ועמך כולם צדיקים, לעולם יירשו ארץ "And your people, all of them righteous, shall possess the land for all time." The story of Pinchas is an allusion to this point in the future.

Perhaps this is the reason the Jewish people consider the whole month of Nissan holy, as indicated by the opening words in chapter 12: "This month shall be the first of the months for you; the first of the months of the year it shall be for you." There seems to be a duplication here. Normally, we attribute this to the possible need to institute an extra month. If we want to see an allusion in this, however, the message may be that we should consider the entire month as on a higher spiritual plane than the other months of the year, i.e. we should treat the entire month as if it were on the level of ראש חודש.

This is why he instructed Israel to offer a male goat as a sin offering each New Moon in compensation for having reduced the moon's size (i.e. Israel's size in this world). The Rekanati, in his commentary on Exodus 12,2, explains at length that the function of this sin-offering on the New Moon is very similar to the function of the scapegoat which is tendered to Azzazel on the Day of Atonement. Allegorically speaking, the reduction in size symbolizes the diminution of the forces of holiness due to Adam's sin. This results in the powers we call חיצוניות experiencing an uplift, increased strength. By sacrificing the male goat on the New Moon as a sin-offering to G–d we are symbolically sacrificing the קליפה, the symbol of negative influences which in turn undermines the influence of this קליפה. By doing this we re-convert some of the forces that though they originated in a holy domain had become active as negative forces. Such a positive act results in atonement. Rashi describing Genesis 32,2,1 explains Jacob's motive in sending gifts to Esau with the words: אכפרה פניו, to mean קנוח, "wiping clean." Atonement then is a way of "wiping the slate clean." Sin is considered to be a stain on our soul or character. Atonement is the removal of the stain in question. We follow this procedure every month whenever the moon renews itself. This process will continue until the קליפה has been reduced so much that the moon can regain its former size and its light equals that of the sun. At such a time, when the world will be filled with knowledge of G–d, the physical part of our bodies as well as matter in the universe will be imbued with sanctity similar to that intangible part of man, his soul.

Yalkut Shimoni item 191 on Exodus 12,1 has this to say: "You (Israel) count according to the lunar calendar, whereas the Canaanites do not count according to the lunar calendar. Rabbi, quoting Rabbi Yehudah bar llai-i, said it is good manners that the "senior" counts according to the great luminary whereas the "junior" counts according to the lesser luminary. Seeing that Esau was senior to Jacob, he counts according to the solar calendar, whereas Jacob counts according to the lunar calendar. Rabbi Nachman added that it is a good omen that the senior rules by day and not by night; as a result the wicked Esau's rule extends only during the present world whereas the rule of the junior Jacob will extend to both the present world and the Hereafter. He added that while the light of the senior is still shining brightly, the light of the junior cannot be noticed widely; as soon as the light of the senior has set, the light of the junior will become manifest and widespread. We have scriptural proof for this from Isaiah 60,1: קומי אורי כי בא אורך, "Arise, shine, for your light has arrived." Thus far the quote from the Yalkut.