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, 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 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, 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.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Rabbi
Isaiah Horowitz the Shelah b. 5320 (1560 CE) in Prague; d. 5390 (1630
CE) in Jerusalem, where he served as chief rabbi. Author of Shnei Luchot
HaBrit, hence the acronym SHeLaH, a work of commentary and halacha.
Eliyahu
Munk was born in Frankfurt, emigrated to England as a young man and
then to Toronto. After retiring from education and moving to Israel
in 1978, he began an extraordinary second career as a translator, publishing
English versions of the Torah commentaries of Rebbeinu Bachya, Akeidat
Yitzchak, the Shelah, the Alshich and the Ohr Hachayim.
