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BEGIN WITH A GRIN

Two loons are walking down the street and see a point of light. The first one says, “That’s the sun,” the second one says, “That’s the moon,” and they argue for a long time. Finally, they decide to ask a third person. “Excuse me, sir, is this light the sun or the moon?” The third person answers: “It’s a street lamp.”

FIRST LIGHT

In this week’s parsha of Bo, we learn about the first mitzva given to the Jewish people during the Exodus from Egypt – the mitzva of sanctifying the new month. “This month shall be for you the head of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Rambam counts this mitzva in his Sefer HaMitzvos, positive mitzva 153, and after him also in the Sefer HaChinuch, positive mitzva 4.

Rambam, in his introduction to the Sefer HaMitzvos, lists 14 principles for how to count the mitzvos, or in simple words, what is a mitzva and what isn’t, what counts as one of the 613 mitzvos, and what isn’t included in the 613. One of Rambam’s principles, the third principle, is that “it’s not appropriate to count mitzvos that don’t apply for all generations.” This means that any mitzva in the Torah that will expire is not counted as a mitzva. For example, all the commands related to the Mishkan, or the various mitzvos related to the “manna” are indeed part of the Torah (which is eternal) but since these mitzvos only applied during the time in the desert, they are not counted as part of the Torah’s mitzvos.

And here an interesting question arises: how can we count the mitzva of sanctifying the month as one of the 613 Torah mitzvos, when for the “future to come” it is said by the Navi Yeshaya 30:26, “And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of the seven days?”

Let’s explain. “Sanctifying the month” is the time when the moon is ‘newly born,’ after its complete disappearance at the end of the previous month, due to its proximity to the sun. Today, when the moon has no light of its own, and all its light comes only as a reflection of the sun’s light, the moon changes from day to day. Starting from the “birth of the moon” at the beginning of the month, it moves away from the sun, and then it grows larger day by day, until mid-month when the moon is full. Then begins the process of the moon approaching the sun, and it gets smaller day by day, until the end of the month when it completely disappears, and the cycle begins again.

This process is a result of the fact that currently the moon has no light of its own, and its light comes (only) from the sun. But in the “future to come,” when “the light of the moon” will be “as the light of the sun,” the moon will have its own light, and therefore the moon will neither grow nor diminish, and there will be no changes in it at all, and thus there will be no monthly “birth” of the moon, and nothing to sanctify. If so, the mitzva of sanctifying the month will automatically become void, and it has an expiration date, so how can it be counted as a mitzva?!

A similar question can be asked about the second part of the mitzva of “sanctifying the month,” which is the mitzva of “impregnating years.” The need to insert an additional month to the year comes as a result of the lunar year being shorter than the solar year. Since the moon is the “lesser light,” therefore the lunar year’s cycle is shorter than the solar year’s cycle, which leads to differences in the number of days between a lunar year and a solar year, creating a need to lengthen the lunar year and align it with the solar year. But in the “future to come,” when the sun and moon will be equal, as they were at the beginning of creation, “the two great lights,” there will be no deficiency in the lunar year and no need for any alignment. If so, why do we count the mitzva of “impregnating years” and sanctifying months as one of the Torah’s mitzvos (and moreover, as the first mitzva) when this mitzva is destined to be annulled, and any mitzva that is destined to be annulled is not counted among the mitzvos?!

There is a famous saying that a good Jew resolves a question with… another question! This question too will be resolved by another question, greater than the first.

In fact, this question can be raised about all the mitzvos!

The Gemara Niddah 61b says that “mitzvos will be annulled in the future to come,” so how can we count 613 mitzvos at all, since every mitzva is destined to be nullified, and if it is destined to be nullified, it cannot be counted among the mitzvos?!

ETERNAL LIGHT

This tremendous difficulty gives birth to a new interpretation of Rambam’s aforementioned principle. Rambam didn’t mean to say that a mitzva that will become null in the future isn’t counted among the mitzvos; Rambam’s intention was that as long as there are mitzvos in the world that need to be fulfilled, any mitzva that will be annulled during the era of mitzva observance, when we are still supposed to, need to, and are obligated to fulfill mitzvos – such a mitzva cannot be counted as part of the Torah’s mitzvos. However, mitzvos that will be rendered null as a result of reaching a time when there is no longer any fulfillment of mitzvos at all, such mitzvos are still considered part of the 613 Torah mitzvos.

An example: It is explained in Igeres HaKodesh (Chapter 26) that “mitzvos will be annulled in the future to come” refers only to the time of the Resurrection of the Dead, but in Yemos HaMoshiach (before the Resurrection) all mitzvos will be fulfilled in their completeness. The Alter Rebbe even brings numerous examples there, such as the mitzvos of sacrifices, shechita, forbidden fats, blood, the impurity of a woman after childbirth, and more. Based on this, we can say that the messianic prophecy of “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun” refers only to the time after the Resurrection of the Dead, but in Yemos HaMoshiach (before the resurrection) there will be no changes in the moon’s light, and it will still need the sun’s light, and therefore the mitzvos of sanctifying the month and expanding the year are considered mitzvos that apply for all generations, because as long as we fulfill mitzvos (meaning: until the time of Resurrection) there will still be a mitzva to sanctify months and align the years. And the nullification of this mitzva, after the resurrection of the dead, doesn’t diminish its importance and its being part of the Torah’s mitzvos, because then, after the Resurrection, all mitzvos will become nullified, not just this one.

The moon has ups and downs, changes and descents, and the Torah commands us to establish the beginning of time according to the moon’s renewal. This is the first message that the Torah chooses to convey to us: “This month is for you!” This is a call that says: renew yourself, never become routine. Don’t let your spiritual life become something that moves on its own, on automatic pilot. A Jew must diversify their spiritual life and introduce elements of surprise and change.

TO CONCLUDE WITH A STORY

We’ll end with a story that highlights this point. R’ Gimpel Orimland, who ran a nursing home in Miami, came to the Rebbe for Shabbos Bereishis. The gabbaim conducted a public auction for shul mitzvos for the entire year, and R’ Gimpel, who didn’t exactly understand what was happening and only heard they were collecting money, declared that he was willing to donate a thousand dollars for the shul.

Unusually, the Rebbe turned to him and said, “I want you to give five thousand dollars.” The Rebbe added a promise: “Next year you’ll be able to give double that amount.” The year passed, and R’ Gimpel didn’t see any economic leap on the horizon. Moreover, he felt uncomfortable about what was expected of him; what would happen if this time too the Rebbe would increase his donation amount and ask him to give what he didn’t have?

Just days before Rosh Hashana, R’ Gimpel received a purchase offer from the hospital adjacent to his nursing home for his building. They signed a ‘memorandum of understanding,’ and he received a cash advance on the deal, fifteen thousand dollars, three times his donation.

R’ Gimpel saw with his own eyes that ‘it works,’ and again traveled for Simchas Torah and Shabbos Bereishis to the Rebbe. This time he expected the Rebbe to demand an even larger donation, as a sign of the double returns he would merit during the year.

On Simchas Torah, R’ Gimpel stubbornly competed in the auction for ‘buying’ the first verse in “Atah Hareisa” – with which they honored the Rebbe. Eventually, he gave up and bought the right to the second verse, not for a specified amount but “according to the Rebbe’s discretion.” In his heart, he hoped the amount would be as large as possible…

After Shabbos Bereishis, R’ Gimpel went in for a private audience with the Rebbe. The Rebbe didn’t bring up the subject, so he asked himself what amount to write on the check.

The Rebbe replied: “One hundred and twenty-six dollars.”

He was shocked. Last year, when he didn’t have money to give, the Rebbe asked him for five thousand dollars; and this year only one hundred and twenty-six?!

The Rebbe answered him: “I don’t need your money. I need you to break through your limitations and give tzedaka from the heart. That’s what I wanted from you, when you thought you had nothing and couldn’t do it.”

Good Shabbos!

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