Rabbi's Sermons

Shabat Shalom!

Next Tuesday is Rosh Chodesh Elul the last month of the Jewish calendar, and our week´s Parashat Re’e concludes on Deuteronomy 16, with details concerning the calendar itself. While recent Parashot tell us how to keep the holidays, from Perashat Re´e we learn the reasons why to keep them. A rationale is given, as to the timing and rituals of our holidays. To ensure that the holidays are maintained according to the times assigned by the Torah, great care has always been taken to observe the lunar cycle, within the cycle of the solar calendar. So much was so, that in the Talmud Sanhedrin 42a, Rabbi Yochanan taught: "Whoever blesses the new moon at the proper time is considered as having welcomed the Presence of the Shechinah". Sanctifying time, which is the infinite expression of sanctifying God, who is Eternal.

Rosh Chodesh is the time of the first appearance of the new moon, how can we calculate it? Today the mean lunar month is calculated as a period of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 1/3 seconds. In biblical and early rabbinic times, the new month was obviously not determined by an exact astronomical calculation. The High Court in Jerusalem would receive the testimonies of witnesses, who claimed to have sighted the MOLAD – in Hebrew, the "birth" of the moon, the appearance of its first light. Questions about its shape and location, would be asked to the witnesses; and when the court was satisfied with the evidence, it was declared and sanctified as the new moon.

This special ritual is described in the Mishnah in Rosh HaShanah 2:2-7. The head of the court would call out: Mekudash! "(The New Moon) is consecrated!", and the people assembled in the Temple court would respond, not once, but twice: Mekudash! Mekudash! It is consecrated! It is consecrated!" similar to a wedding ceremony by the way. The shofar would be blown, and the festivities of sacrifices and feasting would begin. A very big bonfire would be lit as a beacon atop Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. Its light would be visible from hilltop to hilltop, in concentric circles radiating out across the Land of Israel and into parts of the Diaspora, even Babylonia, bonfires would be lit to signal the beginning of the month.

It would make sense to have the lunar celebrations when the moon is full and round, illuminating the night sky and the earth beneath it. Quite the contrary, the celebration initiates when the sky is mostly shrouded in darkness. Why? When the first sliver of light is noticeable to the human eye, fears are replaced with newfound hope. This is the moment worthy of celebration. This is the moment when a full potential is revealed and must be sanctified. The Mishnah's description of the intricate ritual for declaring the new moon comes to teach us, that we must always be on the lookout for new light and for potential growth. The mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon instructs us to be optimistic, to anticipate that renewed light will come our way. We are to expect it, to yearn for it, to trust that it will come-sooner or later. And when it does, we are to praise God, who is with us in the darkness, as in light.

The Jewish People is likened to the moon, in the sense that the People of Israel waxes and wanes; not monthly, but throughout our long history. There are times when we prosper; there are centuries of expansion and enlightenment. And there are times when we are in complete darkness, when we wane in numbers and in Torah-wisdom. In such times of fear and anxiety, like the ones we live since the October 7^th, we may look to the new moon and remember that there is potential, even in the darkness. And just as each month God renews the moon, so God will renew our people. This theme of restoration will be especially magnified coming Tuesday, on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the month during which we prepare ourselves for the New Year, and The Day of Atonement. The stakes are higher now. The work of renewal is intensified. The potential for growth is even greater.

An elaborate Yiddish prayer was composed for exactly this moment by the Rebetzin Seril of Vilna in 1874, and entitled: "Tchine of the Matriarchs for the New Moon of Elul". Her innovative prayer was intended to be recited by women each day, throughout the month of Elul, in preparation for Rosh HaShanah:

“Ribono shel Olam! You have given us one day every month, Rosh Chodesh, as a day of expiation and forgiveness of our sins, so that we may repent every Erev Rosh Chodesh, and on Rosh Chodesh our sins will be forgiven. Although we did not repent all year long,...we still have time… We are brokenhearted, dear merciful Father. Accept our repentance...for now, we are all of one mind. Together we call upon your Holy Name with our broken hearts. Our repentance is that of a multitude, as it is written in Your holy Tora: "There is a difference between the repentance of an individual and the repentance of a multitude" (Talmud, Berachot 8a). The repentance of an individual helps only before the judgment is passed ...but collective repentance can help, even if the judgment has already been passed. Therefore, we beseech our Matriarchs to pray for us and to bring before the Throne of Glory our repentance which we offer now and every day...” (Tracy Guren Klirs, The Merit of Our Mothers, [Cincinnati, Ohio, HUC Press, 1992], pp. 46-75)

As we know, the moon has no light of its own. It just reflects the light of the sun. Its own glory is earned by how well it reflects the sun's light. So, it is taught, the People Israel is like the moon. Our only glory is earned by how we bring God's light to shine to others. This is our prayer for the year that begins very soon: May we behold more light, so we may reflect more light to the world.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

August 30^th 2024