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Shiurim & Adult Education
THOUGHTS ON PARASHAT HACHODESH BY RABBI WILKINSON
This Shabbat is not only Shabbat Mevarchim but also Parashat HaChodesh heralding the start of the first month of the year, Rosh Chodesh to the rosh hachadashim, the first of the months.
Over the years the power of this Shabbat has been revealed, especially its power to enable a person to ‘begin again’.
The very first mitzvah we received was that of kiddush hachodesh, sanctifying the month. Where did we receive it? In Mitzrayim. While we were still there. This was to show us that a Jew who wants to get close to Hashem should not wait until they rid themselves of their yetzer hara or until they feel they are completely pure. Rather, while we are still in the pit, still in their personal Mitzrayim we should find the strength to start serving Hashem.
The Gemara (Shabbat 147b ) tells a dramatic story about how Rabbi Elazar ben Arach visited the city of Progisa , a place where the wine was known to be superior . The great Tanna was ensnared by the local culture , and he soon forgot all his Torah .
When he returned to yeshivah, it was Parashat HaChodesh, and he wanted to read from the Torah. He reached the words ‘haChodesh hazeh lachem’ but instead of reading them correctly, he mistakenly read them as ‘HaCharesh hayah libum’ , which literally means and their hearts were deafened.
The other chachamim felt bad for him, and they davened for him until he remembered all his learning.
That is the story, seemingly one with a message about being lured after the pleasures of this world. The Chozeh of Lublin saw another lesson here as well, Even a person whose heart, the place from which life flows, is deafened, surrounded by so many layers that it is unable to hear or feel, still on Parashat HaChodesh, there is a power in the world for them to become whole once again.
Rav Hershel of Rimanov sees reference to this in the pasuk itself: ”This month shall be for you the beginning of the months” (Shemot 12:2).
The month, he translates, will be a beginning for all sorts of hischadshut, any sort of renewal that will yet be, and through it, a person will have the strength and vigour to begin anew at any time, not like the yetzer hara tells us, that it is too late.
A month is called a chodesh, which has the same root as chiddush, renewal. This is because a person has the ability to motivate oneself anew and be “mechadesh”, says the Chiddushei HaRim, and while it is true every Rosh Chodesh, it is especially true in the month of Nisan.
That is why the pasuk continues with the words: “It shall be for you the first of the months of the year”, a chance for you to use all the kochot, powers, that you have been given to accomplish so much and make yourself great. “And if a person would realise what they are and what they are capable of doing”, concludes the Chiddushei HaRim, “they would certainly not rest even for a moment.”
This ability, to not allow ourselves to be bound by what was, to dream bigger and to aspire for more, is what elevates us. The Rabbis teach that a sheretz, a small creeping animal, is defined as “any living creature that does not stand high above the ground” (Rashi, Bereishit 1:20). The mark of a human being is that they do not remain at ground level but we lift ourselves up off the ground to rise, This is what differentiates us and makes us an ‘adam’.
May we use the forthcoming month to achieve our potential and to use Pesach as a springboard to rise up and grow spiritually.
Shabbat shalom and chodesh tov.
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