The Beginning of Months

"'This month shall be unto you
the beginning of months...'"
(Exodus 12:1-20)

Adar 27, 5766/March 27, 2006

This past Shabbat, in anticipation of the approaching Passover festival, parashat hachodesh was read in synagogues around the world. Named after its opening verse, "'This month - hachodesh hazeh - shall be unto you the beginning of months...'", (Exodus 12:1), the reading describes the first commandments the emerging nation of Israel was to receive. From these few commandments one can sketch the entire trajectory of the spiritual mission of the Jewish nation.

Calculating the months and years became a major task for the children of Israel, ultimately taken up by the Sanhedrin. The gravity of this task was not so much in its technical fulfillment. The awesome responsibility of accounting for G-ds creation, and calibrating its seasons is what compelled the sages of each generation to apply the strictest requirements for accepting the testimony of witnesses to the new moon. It is no wonder that ultimately witnesses to the new moon would be received and examined by the sages of the Great Sanhedrin, the highest court in the land, located in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, in the northern wall of the Holy Temple Courtyard. For this was more than a clerical function to be performed. Determining the new moon was nothing less than a partnership with G-d, and a shared responsibility in the maintenance of His universe.

"'In the tenth day of the month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their father's houses...'"
(Exodus 12:3)

The performance of the first pascal offering, while still in Egypt, and the following commandment to do so every year hence, ("'And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the L-rd; throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever,'" Exodus 12:14), created the spiritual and historical imperative necessary for the eventual building of the Holy Temple. For when the Holy Temple stood, each year, on the fourteenth of the month of Nissan, the entire nation of Israel, man woman, and child, would converge upon Jerusalem, and in groups ascend the Temple Mount with their pascal lambs.

"'And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts
and on the lintel...'"
(Exodus 12:7)

It was the performance of this commandment that would forever set the Israelite nation apart. For the lamb was considered a deity by the Egyptians. To slaughter a lamb was a sacrilege, no doubt punishable by death. By slaughtering lambs, family by family, the children of Israel were making themselves odious to the Egyptians. What nine plagues hadn't achieved, this act would set in motion: the exodus from Egypt. But where did the Israelites find the courage requisite for so bold an act? The answer is in this same act of smearing the blood on the doorposts. By creating a sign by which G-d could recognize and deliver them from the Egyptians, and from the blow He was about to deal them, they were placing all their trust in Him. It is this covenant of faith that continues to inform all our actions, large and small, each and every day. It is this covenant of faith that brought the people of Israel into the land, and sustained then through dark millennia of exile. It is this covenant of faith that has brought us back to the land, and it is this covenant of faith which will guide our hands in the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, and throughout the unfolding of our redemption.

Courage of our convictions, trust in Hashem and in our divinely ordained mission, are certainly the order of the day - today - no less than it was those many years ago in Pharaoh's Egypt. There are forces today at work, day and night, bent on shaking our conviction, stripping us of our historic mission, and enslaving us in submission to their twisted will. May we be reminded this Passover season, as we are every year, of the enormity of our task in fulfilling the word of G-d, as transmitted through His holy Torah, and the paramount significance for all mankind, of our success in doing so.

Part II of Rabbi Chaim Richman's video tour of The Temple Mount is now available online for viewing. For links to Part I and Part II, please click here.

This week Rabbi Richman and Yitzchak Reuven will not be broadcasting a new episode of Temple Talk. The current Temple Talk, as well as past broadcasts, are all available at our Mulitimedia page. Next week, G-d willing, a new episode of Temple Talk will be broadcast live.

Once again, we invite everyone to brush up on his and her knowledge of Passover as it was celebrated during the time of the Second Temple, by visiting our study tool, Shlomo's Passover Adventure.

May we, in our trust in Hashem, and our adherence to His word, be blessed with freedom and deliverance from all our enemies,

Yitzchak Reuven

THE TEMPLE INSTITUTE
PO Box 31876
Jerusalem, Israel 97500