הלכה אויף במדבר 28:2

And already you know that the soul is sustained in the body and its activities are manifest only if the body eats. And from this understand the matter of the sacrifices, which are the hidden things of the Torah, about which it is written: ‘to My [offering by] fire, my pleasing odor’ [Nu 28:2]. The power of the higher soul increases and is added to by the fire offerings in the eating of the sacrifices, and so our rabbis said;¹¹Song of Songs Zuta, though in R. Bahya’s own paraphrased version [as per Chavel’s note]. ‘My sacrifice, My bread, to My [offering by] fire.’ It could say just ‘My bread,’ but Scripture adds, ‘to My [offering by] fire;’ to My fire you give it. This is because of the connection of the soul to its attributes. The powers of the soul are connected to the powers of the body. And understand the verse that ‘the favorite of the Strong One’ [Ps. 103:1, i.e., David] mentions: “My soul bless YHWH, all that is inside me [bless] His holy name.’ The invisible unites with the invisible, the visible with the visible. And understand this, that the powers of the soul are not visible and are actualized only through the body. If so, the body is a great necessity for the public revelation of the high degree of the soul and its perfection.

It is a duty to recite these three blessings daily and then read a small portion of the words of the Torah. The people have the custom to read the Priestly Benediction.^*Numbers 6:24-26. In some places the section referring to the Daily Sacrifices^*Numbers 28:1-8. is read. In others again, both these sections are read. Chapters or paragraphs from the Mishna or the Boraitha are also read.

On the first day of each month, the person first called to the reading of the Law reads three verses from the section beginning Tzav (Numbers 28:1-8). The second person called to the Law repeats the third verse already read by the person called before him and adds the two following verses, so as to leave three verses to the end of the section. The third person called to the Law reads these three verses and also the next section beginning Uveyom Hashabbath (ibid. 28:9-10). The fourth person called to the Law reads the section beginning Uvrashé Chodshechem (ibid. 28:11-15). When the first of the month falls on a Sabbath, two scrolls of the Law are taken out during the morning service. In the first, the portion for the week is read; and in the second, the one who completes the reading reads Uverashé Chodshechem (Numbers 28:11-15). The person who reads the lesson from the Prophets is the one who reads the section concerning the New Moon. The lesson from the Prophets is that section which concludes, "And it shall come to pass that month by month etc." (Isaiah 66:23). When the first of Ab falls on a Sabbath, the lesson from the prophets is the section containing the verses, "Your new moons and your festivals my soul hateth" (ibid. 1:14). When the first day of the month falls on the first day of the week the lesson from the prophets on the preceding Sabbath day is the section beginning, "And Jonathan said unto him; tomorrow is New Moon" (I Samuel 20:18-42).