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החדש הזה — He showed him the moon in the first stage of its renewal, and He said to him, “The time when the moon renews itself thus, shall be unto you the beginning of the month”. (The translation therefore is: “This stage of renewal (חדש) shall be the moment of beginning the months”; cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:2). But no Scriptural verse can lose its literal meaning, and He really spoke this in reference to the month Nisan: this month shall be the beginning in the order of counting the months, so that Iyar shall be called the second, Sivan the third.

THIS MONTH SHALL BE UNTO YOU THE BEGINNING OF MONTHS. This is the first commandment which the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Israel through Moses. Therefore it says here [that the Eternal spoke unto Moses and Aaron] in the land of Egypt,⁹⁷Verse 1. for the rest of the commandments of the Torah were given to him on Mount Sinai. It may be that the intent of the expression, in the land of Egypt, is to exclude the city of Egypt, just as our Rabbis have said:⁹⁸Mechilta, Introduction. “In the land of Egypt. This means outside the city.”
Now Scripture should have first said, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying:⁹⁹Verse 3. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, and so on to the end of the chapter. [Why then is the verse, Speak ye, etc., mentioned after the verse, This month, etc.?] It is because Moses and Aaron — [as mentioned in Verse 1: And the Eternal spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: This month, etc.] — are in the place of Israel. Saying it to them is equivalent to saying it to Israel in all their generations. In the following verse, however, He repeats by saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, in order to command them something which is not binding for all time, namely, the buying of the paschal offering in Egypt on the tenth day of Nisan.¹⁰⁰In subsequent generations, the paschal offering may be purchased at any time (Pesachim 96a). Ramban’s thought is thus clear. With the commandment, This month shall be unto you, etc., applying as it does for all time, it is sufficient for Scripture to mention only Moses and Aaron in connection with it, since they are in place of Israel for all times. But since the command mentioned in Verse 3, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, applied only to the paschal offering in Egypt, He therefore preceded it again by saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, the Israel of that time.
According to the Midrashic interpretation,¹⁰¹Rosh Hashanah 25b. The process involved witnesses who saw the appearance of the new moon. After their testimony was heard and examined, the chief of the Court then said, “It is hallowed!” and all the people answered him, “It is hallowed! It is hallowed!” This established that day as being the first of the month, and the occurrence of all festivals of that month were accordingly determined. With the Great Court or Sanhedrin no longer functioning in the Land of Israel, the first of the month is established only by calculating when the new moon appears. For a more detailed discussion of this important topic, see my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 159-163. lachem (unto you) [in the verse, This month shall be unto you], means that “the Sanctification of the New Moon”¹⁰¹Rosh Hashanah 25b. The process involved witnesses who saw the appearance of the new moon. After their testimony was heard and examined, the chief of the Court then said, “It is hallowed!” and all the people answered him, “It is hallowed! It is hallowed!” This established that day as being the first of the month, and the occurrence of all festivals of that month were accordingly determined. With the Great Court or Sanhedrin no longer functioning in the Land of Israel, the first of the month is established only by calculating when the new moon appears. For a more detailed discussion of this important topic, see my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 159-163. is to be performed only by a Court of experts [as Moses and Aaron were]. And this is the reason it does not say at the beginning [of Verse 2], Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, since “the Sanctification of the New Moon” can be performed only by Moses and Aaron and their like.
Now the purport of the expression, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, is that Israel is to count this as the first of the months, and from it they are to count all months — second, third, etc., until a year of twelve months is completed — in order that there be through this enumeration a remembrance of the great miracle, [i.e., the exodus from Egypt, which occurred in the first month]. Whenever we will mention the months, the miracle will be remembered.¹⁰²Thus everytime a person says, for example, “the third month,” he implies that it is the third in the order of the months which begins with Nisan, when the exodus occurred. It is for this reason that the months have no individual names in the Torah. Instead, Scripture says: In the third month;¹⁰³Further, 19:1. And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month … that the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle of the Testimony;¹⁰⁴Numbers 10:11. And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, etc.,¹⁰⁵Ibid., 29:1. and so in all cases. Just as in counting the weekdays we always remember the Sabbath-day since the weekdays have no specific name of their own, but instead are called “one day in the Sabbath,” “the second day in the Sabbath,” as I will explain,¹⁰⁶Further, 20:8. so we remember the exodus from Egypt in our counting “the first month,” “the second month,” “the third month,” etc., to our redemption.
This order of the counting of the months is not in regard to the years, for the beginning of our years is from Tishri, [the seventh month], as it is written, And the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year,¹⁰⁷Ibid., 34:22. Now the feast of ingathering is in the seventh month (Leviticus 23:39) and yet Scripture calls it here at the turn of the year, which means the beginning of the new year. Thus we learn that Tishri is the beginning of the year, although in the order of the counting of the months it is the seventh month. and it is further written, And the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year.¹⁰⁸Ibid., 23:16. If so, when we call the month of Nisan the first of the months and Tishri the seventh, the meaning thereof is “the first [month] to the redemption” and “the seventh month” thereto. This then is the intent of the expression, it shall be the first month to you, meaning that it is not the first in regard to the year but it is the first “to you,” i.e., that it be called “the first” for the purpose of remembering our redemption.
Our Rabbis have already mentioned this matter when saying,¹⁰⁹Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah I, 2. “The names of the months came up with us from Babylon,” since at first we had no names for the months. The reason for this [adoption of the names of the months when our ancestors returned from Babylon to build the Second Temple], was that at first their reckoning was a memorial to the exodus from Egypt, but when we came up from Babylon, and the words of Scripture were fulfilled — And it shall no more be said: As the Eternal liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but: As the Eternal liveth that brought up and that led the children of Israel from the land of the north¹¹⁰Jeremiah 16:14-15. The expression and that led is found ibid., 23:8. — from then on we began to call the months by the names they were called in the land of Babylon. We are thus reminded that there we stayed [during our exile] and from there, blessed G-d brought us up [to our Land].¹¹¹From Ramban’s “Sermon on Rosh Hashanah,” where he discussed the same topic (Kithvei Haramban, Vol. I, p. 215), it is crystal clear that the author’s intent here was not that the memorial of the redemption from Babylon will thrust aside the memorial of the redemption from Egypt. Rather, the one of Babylon will be added to that of Egypt, so that the names of the months will be reminiscent of the two redemptions together. See Note 114 further, for example. Joseph Albo’s position in his book Ikkarim (Roots), III, 16, that Ramban’s intent here was that after the return from the Babylonian exile, the first memorial was to give way altogether to the second, is thus not correct. For further discussion of this problem see the note in my Hebrew commentary Vol. II, p. 520. These names — Nisan, Iyar, and the others — are Persian names and are to be found only in the books of the prophets of the Babylonian era¹¹²See Zechariah 1:7, etc.; Ezra 6:15; Nehemiah 1:1. and in the Scroll of Esther.¹¹³Esther 3:7, etc. It is for this reason that Scripture says, In the first month, which is the month of Nisan,¹¹⁴Ibid. Thus both memorials are mentioned simultaneously: the first month to our redemption from Egypt, which is the month of Nisan, a name which is reminiscent of our Babylonian exile from which we have also been redeemed. just as it says, they cast ‘pur,’ that is, the lot.¹¹⁵Ibid. In this case too Scripture explains the Persian word pur as meaning lot, just as it explained the name Nisan as being “the first month.” To this day, people of Persia and Media use these names of the months — Nisan, Tishri, and the others — as we do. Thus through the names of the months we remember our second redemption even as we had done until then with regard to the first one.

החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, from now on these months will be yours, to do with as you like. [you have My authority to organise your own calendar. Ed.] This is by way of contrast to the years when you were enslaved when you had no control over your time or timetable at all. [Freedom, i.e. retirement from the “rat race,” means being able to formulate one’s own timetable. Ed.] While you were enslaved, your days, hours, minutes even, were always at the beck and call of your taskmasters.

This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first month of the year for you: Since The Holy One, Blessed be God, showed Moses with His finger the moon in its newness saying "like this you see and shall bless" thus He said this is the beginning of the month. That is to say this newness (of the moon) will be for you the beginning of the months, that every time that you see the newness of the moon in this picture you will have a new month for every month of the year. And after God gave this sign - it was known about all the days of every month of the year to make them new for every month of the year

החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, "This month shall be for you the beginning of the months." Why did the Torah repeat ראש חדשים and ראשון הוא? I believe the meaning of ראש is that the month of Nissan will be particularly important, the choicest of the months. We find the word ראש used in this sense in Exodus 30,23 when the most important of the spices in the making of oil for anointing is discussed.

'בארץ מצרים לאמר החדש הזה וגו, according to the view of Rabbi Yehoshua in Rosh Hashanah 11 who holds that the earth was created in the month of Nissan,

החודש הזה לכם, “this month shall be for you.” Seeing that this was the first commandment relayed to the Jewish people, the Torah mentions that it was revealed to him in the land of Egypt, seeing that all (most) other laws were given to him at Mount Sinai. Alternatively, the words בארץ מצרים mean that the law was given in the rural area of Egypt not while Moses was in the urban areas. It would have been appropriate for the Torah to continue immediately with: “speak to the community of Israel that this month will be the first, etc.” However, Moses and Aaron are here considered as representing the entire people, and G’d first wanted to legislate matters that would remain valid throughout the generations before dealing with how the Passover by the present generation of Israelites who stood poised for the Exodus was to be observed. Once the Torah reports Moses and Aaron being told דברו אל כל עדת ישראל (verse 3), this is the commandment to tell the people now how to observe their Passover. Verse 14 commences with details about the observance of the day of the Exodus to be observed in subsequent years and by subsequent generations. According to the Midrash the wording of the Torah gives only the Jewish Supreme Court the latitude to proclaim the new moon so that the Torah could not first address the entire people. The meaning of the words: “this month shall be for you the first of the months,” is first and foremost that from now on this is the first month in the year for you, and all subsequent months are going to be named in relation to this month, i.e. “the second month”, “the third month”, etc. This will serve to keep the month of the redemption and the miracles associated with it alive in our daily lives throughout the year. We follow the same pattern as we follow with the days of the week, (in our daily psalms) by making the Sabbath the focal point of the week and the days following it all being related to it by being called “second day,” “third day,” etc. We remind ourselves of the day of our rest on every single day of the week by means of this stratagem Similarly, we remind ourselves of the miracle of the redemption by the Torah mentioning months only in that fashion. [after the Babylonian exile, the Jewish people adopted proper names for the months, even reflected in the manner we announce the new moon on the Sabbath preceding it. This was not the Torah’s intention, obviously, and this writer wonders if the sages who permitted use of the secular names of the months wanted to remind us that the redemption from the Babylonian exile did not completely eliminate the traces of exile for a variety of reasons which are not my task to elaborate on here. Ed.] These names of the months current in Persia did find their way into the Bible in the writings of Ezra, Daniel, and the story of Esther, as well as in the prophecies of Chagai and Zecharyah. These prophecies were all revealed while the prophets and the people were already in exile. The Jews who returned to the land of Israel after the Babylonian exile, may have intended to remind themselves of their being redeemed from that exile in a manner parallel to the Jews who were redeemed from Pharaoh’s exile.

Moshe had difficulty regarding the renewal of the moon, how much of it must be visible so that it be fit to be consecrated. Re”m cited and compared many sources but they are not connected. . . However, it seems clear to me that exceptional wisdom is needed in this matter. It says in Maseches Rosh Hashanah 20b: “Said R. Zeira said R. Nachman, ‘The new moon is invisible for twenty-four hours. For us [in Bavel], it is six from the old moon and eighteen from the new. For them [in Eretz Yisroel] it is six from the new and eighteen from the old.’” And this is the point over which Moshe had difficulty: is it six hours from the new, or is it eighteen from the new? (Nachalas Yaakov)

החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, the determination of the calendar, i.e. months of the year, is made only on the basis of astronomical calculations and is not based on visual observation. The proof that this is so is the fact that during the forty years the Israelites were wandering in the desert the heavenly cloud which enclosed them by day, shielding them from heat and from the eyes of curious outsiders, as well as the pillar of fire by night, made visual observation an impossibility. This is the meaning of the verse in Nechemyah 9,19 ואתה ברחמיך הרבים לא עזבתם במדבר את עמוד הענן לא סר מעליהם ביומם להנחותם בהדרך ואת העמוד האש בלילה להאיר להם ואת הדרך אשר ילכו בה. “You, in Your abundant compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from them to lead them the way by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to give them light in the way they were to go.” How then were they possibly able to determine the times of the new moon and all the important elements of the calendar depending on this by visual observation? There is no question that the central commandment meant by our verse is to calculate the times of the new moon by astronomical means.

החודש הזה, “this month. [Seeing that the word “month” is an abstract term that cannot be described as visible, ”the meaning of G–d’s words are; “when you observe the position of the moon in which you see it at this time, this is when the lunar cycle enters a new phase, i.e. when the month in the Jewish calendar begins.” This event is to be sanctified by you on each occasion. The members of the Jewish High Court will have to officially proclaim this event. The word לכם, ”for you,” is G–d’s authority to appoint the High Court as competent to declare when the moon has renewed itself. If the members of the High Court deem it in the national interest, they have the authority to postpone the new moon for an extra day. [They do not have the authority to advance it for a day. Ed.] When Rosh Hashanbah approaches, G–d informs the angels that He will sit in judgment of mankind, and He gave them a preview similar to what He did with Avraham when He was about to destroy Sodom and its satellites. According to Rabbi Aushiyah, after He had told the angels that He was afraid He would have to destroy mankind, it happened once that when the day came and He had not sat in judgment, the angels approached G–d asking Him if He did not say to them: “Tomorrow I’ll sit in judgment over all of mankind and the judgment will result in our allowing mankind to disintegrate”? G–d replied: “My children have forced Me to delay this for a day when I authorised them to decide on making adjustments to the calendar.” [The editor of my edition of this edition of the Daat Z’keynim, points to a similar, but not identical statement in Sh’mot Rabbah 15,2, the prediction of mankind being destroyed being missing. Ed.] [If I understand the point of the Midrash correctly, if G–d had sat in judgment on the day on which Rosh Hashanah should have been according to His calendar, on that day the balance of good and evil on earth would have resulted in mankind having forfeited the right to exist. Due to the Rabbis having decided to observe Rosh Hashanah one day later, the pendulum by then will have swung to a positive balance allowing G–d a chance to continue to give mankind another chance. Ed.] Being aware of this, Moses said in Deuteronomy 4,7:כי מי גוי גדול אשר לו אלוקים קרובים אליו כה' אלוקינו בכל קראנו אליו, “for what great nation is there that has G–d so close to them, as the Lord our G–d whenever we call upon Him?" The word קראנו in that verse is to be understood as if it had been spelled קריאתנו, “our calling,” i.e. proclaiming the times of the new moon, or an additional calendar month making leap years.” According to our sages in the Talmud, tractate Menachot folio 29, this subject was one of three that Moses had had difficulty in comprehending without Divine assistance. [He had to be shown what the moon looked like at time of its monthly renewal. Ed.] Our author does not follow this, saying that anyone of us can see that at the end of the month it almost disappears completely, and at the beginning of the month it reappears gaining is visibility until full moon. Moses’ difficulty was that on the last day of the month the moon is just as invisible as on the first day of the month. How are we then to know if today is the last day of last month or the first day of the month just commencing? The answer is that the difference is that when approaching the end of the month, the hollow area of the semicircle points in the opposite direction from what it does at the beginning of the month. The hollow area faces west when the moon is in its second half, while it faces east when in its first half. Another way of determining this is that near the end of its monthly orbit it is visible in the south-eastern corner of the sky, whereas at the beginning of its monthly orbit it faces south-west.

החדש, “the month;” every first day of the month is referred to as חדש in the Torah (Bible?) whereas the entire month is called ירח, “moon.” The reason that the first day of the month is called חדש, “new,” is because it represents the renewal of the moon’s orbit.

הזה THIS [STAGE OF RENEWAL] — Moses was in perplexity regarding the Molad of (the exact moment when begins) the new moon — how much of it must be visible before it is proper to consecrate it as new moon: He therefore pointed it out to him in the sky with the finger and said to him, “Behold it like this, and consecrate it” (i. e., when you see the moon in a stage of renewal similar to this which you now behold you may proclaim that a new month has begun). But how could He point it out to him, for did He not conserve with him only by day, as it is said, (Exodus 6:28) “And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake [unto Moses]”; (Leviticus 7:38) “On the day when he commanded”; (Numbers 15:23) “From the day that the Lord commanded and henceforward”? But the explanation is: This chapter was spoken to him close to sunset and He pointed it out to him at nightfall (more lit., near darkness) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:2:1).

לחדשי השנה, “whenever I will say to you that some festival is to occur in the ‘eight’s or ninth month,’ the number refers to Nissan being the ‘first’ month relative to this.” According to Rabbi Eliezer, who holds that the earth was created in Tishrey, we would have to understand the plain meaning of the text as follows:

The Torah stressed the word לכם, for you, to tell us that this month would be special only for the Jewish people. Our sages pointed out in Rosh Hashanah 11 that Israel was redeemed from Egypt in Nissan and that the future redemption would again occur in that month. This is so because this month is a harbinger of good tidings for Israel. It is appropriate that Israel should begin the count of the months of the year by making Nissan the first month.

We have an ancient tradition that of the 12 months of the year 5 have 30 days each, whereas another five have 29 days each. The remaining two months sometimes have 29 days and other times 30 days. Sometimes, one of the two months in question has 30 days, whereas the other one has 29 days. The two months referred to are always Marcheshvan and Kislev. We also have an ancient tradition that the first day of the month of Tishrey is at the same time the first day of the New year. Every single month, according to tradition handed down since the time of Moses, consists (astronomically speaking) of 29 days 12 hours and 793 parts of the 1080 parts into which I hour (60 minutes) is divided in Jewish law.

הזה, this refers to the month known as ניסן in the Hebrew calendar. [How do we know this without having it spelled out for us? Ed.] The Torah describes the month in which the festival of huts falls, when the harvest has been brought in, as occurring at the time of the equinox. Exodus 34,22). It describes the festival of weeks as occurring during the early harvesting season for wheat, (same verse) and it describes the time when the Passover festival (matzot) occurs as being during the spring season, or more precisely as the month of the spring equinox. (Exodus 34,18) From all this it is clear that in order to comply with all these data the Sukkot festival can only occur during the month of Tishrey, and the Passover festival can only occur during the month of Nissan. It is spelled out even more clearly in the Book of Esther 3,7, “on the first month which is the month of Nissan.”

החודש הזה לכם, even though other nations do not know the institution of “new moon,” you will have such an institution, so that the months can be numbered by ordinal numbers, i.e. “the second, the twelfth,” etc. (compare Esther 3,7) This is the month from which you will begin dating important events in your history/calendar, for this is the month in which you attained your freedom as a people. Whenever the Torah refers to an event by naming the month in which it occurred or would occur, the ordinal number used is relative to this month, the month of Nissan, which rates as the “first” month. This is spelled out even more clearly in Exodus 19,1 בחודש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל ממצרים, “in the third month, after the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.” The date of the Exodus from Egypt remained uppermost in the way our prophets recorded important historical events, as for instance, in Kings I 6,1 when the completion of Solomon’s Temple is dated as having occurred in the 480th year after the Exodus from Egypt.

Another reason that the Torah writes החודש הזה instead of writing חודש זה, is to allude to something or someone we are already familiar with. The reference to this known entity is G'd who is described in 15,2 as זה קלי, "this (One) is my G'd." The Torah alludes to the promise that it is this G'd who will orchestrate the redemption.

This tradition is spelled out in Chronicles I 12,32: ומבני יששכר יודעי בינה לעתים לדעת מה יעשה ישראל ראשיהם מאתים וכל אחיהם על פיהם,”and from the tribe of Issachar, men who knew how to interpret the signs of the times to determine how they should act, their chiefs were 200, and all their kinsmen followed them.” There is no discipline that requires greater wisdom than the calculation of the mysteries connected to when the lunar cycle renews itself.

הזה. Why did G-d have to use the word “this”? Moses faced the problem that the new moon does not become visible to us until about 18 hours into the fourth day of the month, and it is difficult to pinpoint that moment exactly. This problem has already been pointed out by the liturgist who added extra poetical text to the prayers recited on the Shabbat preceding the beginning of the month of Nissan in a poem commencing with the words: אבי כל חוזה. The poet there calls the period during which the new moon is not yet observable שלשים מרוצות, (apparently a name for standard length of races) A different explanation: Moses knew when the new moon commenced, (in the sky) but did not know from what point on it could be welcomed with the customary prayer. (Kiddush levanah) He did not know whether the correct time was when it started diminishing to the north or when it started diminishing towards the south. [The reader who is interested in the astronomical aspects of all this is referred to Rabbi Menachem Kasher’s Torah Shleymah, Genesis chapter 15 item 48 where G-d was described as instructing Avraham in some of these details. Ed.]

An additional meaning derived from the wording of this line is that Israel will be a ראש, head, as a result of what happened in this month. The numerical value of the word זה is 12, i.e. Nissan will be the first and most distinguished of these twelve months.

Once one has already seen the new moon, it is a well known fact that such a day is observed officially as the new moon and our festivals are calculated on that basis, for instances Passover on the 15th of the month of Nissan, etc. The calculation upon which the real renewal of the lunar cycle is based, known as מולד in our halachic literature, is something which is calculated not visually but astronomically by our sages, something which required special ordination for the people entrusted with that task [before the introduction of a permanent calendar. Ed.] The people would be informed by the result of the sages’ calculations when this still was required. They would accept this ruling without fail. This is the meaning of the words in Chronicles we have quoted: “and all their kinsmen followed them.”

לכם, “for you.” This lunar calendar is not intended for the gentiles. They are to continue to use the solar calendar.

You will find another reference to this subject in Samuel I 20,5 where David and Yonathan discussed the imminent celebration of the new moon, (2 days on that occasion). If the determination of the date of the new moon had depended on visual observation, how could David have known beforehand that the new moon would be observed both on the 30th of the month and the day following on that occasion, seeing the moon had not yet been sighted as yet? Clearly, the determination was made on the basis of astronomical data, and David was aware that in view of the previous month having been a month of 29 days that according to the astronomical data the new moon following would have to be observed on two days. The text there (verse 24-26) reads as follows: ויסתר דוד בשדה בשדה ויהי החודש וישב המלך על הלחם לאכול.. ולא דבר שאול מאומה ביום ההוא כי אמר מקרה הוא, בלתי טהור הוא....ויהי ממחרת החודש השני ויפקד מקום דוד. “David hid in the field. On the new moon the king sat down to eat and he did not say a word (about David’s absence) saying it is the result of seminal ejaculation, presumably he is ritually impure [and had no chance to immerse himself in a ritual bath. Ed.] so that he could not attend. It came to pass on the second new moon, etc.” [There follows the famous altercation between Yonathan and his father, etc, which I do not bother to repeat here as it is not really necessary for the author’s point to be made. Ed.] From the context of the story, it is quite impossible to understand the last words as applying to the celebration of the new moon on the following month.

ראש חדשים, the beginning of a count of months but not the beginning of the counting of years. The 7 annual sh’mittah cycle, the 49 year Jubilee year cycle, the period of planting i.e. the seasons and harvesting, are all not regulated by the lunar calendar but by the solar calendar, i.e. relying on summer, winter, fall and spring. This has been spelled out in the Torah in Deut. 31,10: “at the conclusion of seven years, during the season of when the year of sh’mittah, 'release’ begins during the festival of sukkot.”If the first day in the month of Nissan had been intended to serve as the first day of the year, why did the Torah not command us to read the relevant passage on the holiday of Passover? This would have taught us that the month of Nissan was also the first month of the year! If the Torah describes the festival of Sukkot as occurring at the end of the year, the festival of Passover which occurs before any harvest season, cannot possibly be at the beginning of the year. Clearly, the beginning of the year occurs near the festival of Sukkot.

It is clear therefore that even in the days of King Sha-ul arrangements had been made beforehand to observe 2 days of Rosh Chodesh. Such arrangements beforehand were based on the calculations of the Sanhedrin, Supreme Court. What was the custom in the days of King Shaul continued for a period of about 1100 years from the time of Moses until the days of Antignos the head of the Supreme Court during the early days of the Second Temple. When two of the students of this sage by the name of Tzadok and Beyssus heard their mentor say “do not be like the servants who serve their master because of the reward they expect to receive as compensation, but serve the master for altruistic considerations,” they began to question the entire foundations of Judaism, the concept of reward and punishment. They concluded that based on their mentor’s words there was no such concept in Judaism, and they began to live in a style which reflected their new found philosophical freedom. Once they had crossed this threshold they began to question the tradition of calculating the new moon astronomically rather than by visual observation, challenging the established authorities whose ruling was based on the oral Torah rather than on the written text as per our verse above i.e. the word זה, “this,” which implies visual observation. This was the beginning of the schism in Judaism, the heretics being known as צדוקים, based on the name of the originator Tzadok. Their basic argument was to challenge the tradition which did not clearly base itself on the written text of the Torah.
The Torah sages during that period saw themselves forced to counter the arguments of these people by proving that what they did based on tradition did not contravene the text of the written Torah, but that what had been the accepted manner in which the sages determined these dates was not only accurate but was always in harmony with the Torah.
Rabban Gamliel in Rosh Hashanah 25 already told his audience not to put too much stock into the need to actually see the new moon before the festival of the new moon could be observed, seeing that the astronomical data outweigh the importance of visual confirmation. He quoted a long family tradition to support his view. The calculation he referred to stated that the length of a lunar month is never shorter than 29 and a half days and 793 portions of the 1080 divisions into which the 13th hour is divided.
These words of Rabban Gamliel prove that he, who more than anyone else provided elaborate safeguards to prove if witnesses claiming to have sighted the new moon had spoken the truth, did not in fact base his decisions on the testimony of these eye-witnesses at all.

ראש חדשים, the first of the months. Seeing that this leaves open how many months there should be, the Torah adds: לחדשי השנה, “for the months making a up a year.”

There is also an entire Mishnah on the same folio in the Talmud which reads: “if the entire supreme Court as well as the people generally had come to testify to the sighting of the new moon, and the examination of the testimony had taken so much time that at the end it was already too late to declare that day as “new moon,” the following day would be declared as new moon. This Mishnah is clear proof that the Court did not have a tradition according to which the actual sighting of the new moon was the decisive factor in determining the calendar. If they did have a tradition that the sighting determines the dates, how could they have bothered to examine more than the necessary number of two witnesses and allow the opportunity to declare that date as new moon to go by without sanctifying it?.

ראשון הוא לכם, if not for this line I might have thought that when we have a leap year we should add an additional month of Nissan instead of an additional month of Adar. This would not work as the month of Nissan would also be the second month during that year. The Torah said specifically that the month of Nissan is to be (only) the first in a list of months. It did not distinguish between a year that has 13 months and a year that has twelve months. The Torah nowhere warned us against having a year of thirteen months (or more). The Torah decreed to offer the Passover during that month and called it “the first month.” It also decreed that at least part of the festival must occur during the season known as “spring,” i.e. after the spring equinox. It also decreed that the festival of Shavuot, 50 days after the beginning of Passover must occur during a season when wheat is already being harvested. (a period when the bikkurim, the first ripe fruit of the seven species for which the land of Israel is famous, may already be ready to be offered in the Temple.

An even more convincing proof is the following: The Talmud states there that if two witnesses arrived at the court and they testified: “we saw the new moon on the evening of what would have been the 30th of the month, and on the following evening we did not see it again,” Rabban Gamliel accepted this testimony as believable. If the court had based their determination on the sighting of the moon rather than on the astronomical calculations, surely the fact that the moon, according to their testimony, had not been visible on the following night must have proved that the witnesses had been lying! Rabban Gamliel’s acceptance then meant that he had calculated that the correct date was the date of the first sighting reported by the witnesses. Seeing that there was then a new month and the court had sanctified it this was the end of the matter. [the balance of their testimony was quite irrelevant. There are numerous other interpretations as to why Rabban Gamliel accepted these witnesses. All agree that Rabban Gamliel was not really interested in sightings when the sightings conflicted with his astronomical data. Ed.]

ראשון הוא לכם, “it is a first for you;” from now on this will be a first month for you, the reason being that you will start counting by months as a reminder of when you received your freedom from slavery. It will forever remind you of the Good that I have done for you. Up until now, the month of Tishrey had been the first month and Nissan the seventh. This agrees with what is written in Kings I, 8,2: בירח האיתנים בחג, “in the month of the original ones “ (the patriarchs, or in the months whom the early generations of mankind referred to) as the seventh month.”Yonatan ben Uzziel translates the word איתנים as “the ancient generations of man called it the first month and now it is the seventh month.”

The Talmud reports that in Rabban Gamliel’s study there were maps of the sky depicting different possible or impossible positions of the moon at the time of the new moon, which the Rabbi used to determine if the testimony of the witnesses could be relied on from an astronomical point of view. A major reason why Rabban Gamliel had these maps made was to prove to the followers of Tzadok and Beyssus that he was an expert of the orbit described by the moon at any time during the month. He would predict accordingly when the end of the cycle would occur after 29 days and when it would occur after 30 days. He taught his own students how to become thoroughly familiar with the position of the moon in the sky at any time of the month, allowing also for the variations of the moon’s position in the sky due to the season of the year. When he proved himself invariably correct month after month, year after year, the arguments of the opponents gradually were silenced. He still kept up the regular examinations of witnesses and they were encouraged to come forward as a reminder of the period when the matter had been a clouded issue.

לחדשי השנה, “of the moons of the year.” These months commence with Nissan, followed by lyar, Sivan, etc. This is the reason why they are not listed by name but number except in the Book of Chagay, Zecharyah, Daniel, Ezra and Nechemyah, (when the people were already in exile) Prior to this when a name is mentioned, it is not these names of Persian origin but name such as Ziv, Eytanim, and Bul fall in the Book of Kings).

All our sages agree that the source of investing the Sanhedrin with the authority of determining changes in the calendar goes back to Moses at Sinai, and that this authority has been used by the Sanhedrin. Any changes in rulings made in the past would have to have been authorized by another larger court superior to the original one in numbers and wisdom. The beginning of our chapter is the authority granted to Moses to determine our calendar.

That is to say, the power of the month will be for you, that you should be able to renew yourselves in Torah and in your actions. The Holy One of the Blessed Name gives to the Children of Israel this power. And even though it is apparent that this [the renewal] is not [organically] from them, since it is a renewal, the Holy One of the Blessed Name inscribes/seals Godself in that this is a renewal for you.