This Month Is Yours and the Calendar Handed to Israel

Pesikta Rabbati 15:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"This month shall be for you the head of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you" (Exodus 12:2). "He made the moon for appointed times; the sun knows its setting" (Psalms 104:19). Rabbi Yochanan said: only the orb of the sun was created to give light. "Let there be lights" (Genesis 1:14) — it is written defectively, as "curse." If so, why was the moon created? To sanctify by it the new months and the new years. The Holy One, blessed be He, foresaw that the nations would arise and make these into deities. He said: if, when there are two and they contradict each other, the nations still make them into gods, then were there only one, how much more so. "And let them be for signs" (Genesis 1:14) — these are the Sabbaths; "and for appointed times" — these are the festivals; "and for days" — these are the new moons; "and years" — these are the New Years, that the nations of the world should count by the sun and Israel by the moon. "This month shall be for you." Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: all the two thousand four hundred forty-eight years before Israel went out of Egypt, the Holy One, blessed be He, sat reckoning calculations, intercalating, sanctifying years and renewing months, until Israel went out of Egypt, when He handed them over to them. As it says, "The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, saying: This month shall be for you" — what is "saying"? He said to them: from here onward the new moons are handed over to you. The Assembly of Israel said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the universe, "I sleep, but my heart is awake" (Song of Songs 5:2). I sleep from the Temple, but my heart is awake in the houses of prayer and study. I sleep from the sacrifices, but my heart is awake in commandments and acts of charity. I sleep from the redemption, but my heart is awake toward the Holy One, blessed be He, to redeem me. Rabbi Berekhiah said in the name of Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Simon: the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel: My children, you have a renewal of redemption here, and so too in the time to come. In the past I did not redeem one nation from the midst of another nation, but now I redeem a nation from the midst of a nation, as it says, "Or has any god attempted to take for himself a nation from the midst of a nation" (Deuteronomy 4:34).

Themes

RedemptionExodusIsrael

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