Larchmont Temple CHEVRAH TORAH LIVING in JEWISH TIME HolyDays & Every-Days EXODUS 12:1-14 ************************************* KEY KOSHI:

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1 Larchmont Temple CHEVRAH TORAH 5779 LIVING in JEWISH TIME HolyDays & Every-Days EXODUS 12:1-14 ************************************* KEY KOSHI: HOW does this moment reframe the marking of time for Israel? HOW does this new beginning of the first of the months re-envision our life-purpose as a people? HOW is this first-ever Passover rite a tone-setter for keeping Jewish time? P SHAT Entering the Timeless Text: HOW do we experience it this moment?... 12:1] The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2] This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. 3] Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. 4] But if the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. 5] Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6] You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. 7] They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. 8] They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. 9] Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted head, legs, and entrails over the fire. 10] You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. 11] This is how you shall eat it; your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a Passover offering to the Lord. 12] For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the Lord. 13] And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14] This day shall be to you ne of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. ו יּ אמר י הוֹ ה אל משׁ ה ו א ל א ה ר ן בּ א רץ מ צ ר י ם 1 ל אמ ר: 2 ה ח דשׁ ה זּ ה ל כ ם ר אשׁ ח ד שׁ ים ר אשׁ וֹן הוּא דּ בּ ר וּ אל כּ ל ע ד ת י שׂ ר א ל ל אמ ר 3 ל כ ם ל ח ד שׁ י ה שּׁ נ ה: בּ ע שׂ ר ל ח דשׁ ה זּ ה ו י ק ח וּ ל ה ם א ישׁ שׂ ה ל ב ית א ב ת שׂ ה ו א ם י מ ע ט ה בּ י ת מ ה י וֹת מ שּׂה ו ל ק ח ה וּא 4 ל בּ י ת: וּשׁ כ נ וֹ ה קּ ר ב אל בּ ית וֹ בּ מ כ ס ת נ פ שׁ ת א ישׁ ל פ י א כ ל וֹ תּ כ סּוּ ע ל ה שּׂ ה: 5 שׂ ה ת מ ים ז כ ר בּן שׁ נ ה י ה י ה ל כ ם מ ן ו ה י ה ל כם ל מ שׁ מ רת ע ד 6 ה כּ ב שׂ ים וּמ ן ה ע זּ ים תּ קּ חוּ: א ר בּ ע ה ע שׂ ר י וֹם ל ח דשׁ ה זּ ה ו שׁ ח ט וּ את וֹ כּ ל ק ה ל ע ד ת ו ל ק חוּ מ ן ה דּ ם ו נ ת נ וּ ע ל שׁ תּ י 7 י שׂ ר א ל בּ ין ה ע ר בּ י ם: ה מּ זוּז ת ו ע ל ה מּ שׁ ק וֹף ע ל ה בּ תּ ים א שׁר י אכ ל וּ את וֹ ו א כ ל וּ את ה בּ שׂ ר בּ לּ י ל ה ה זּ ה צ ל י א שׁ וּמ צּ וֹת 8 בּ ה ם: א ל תּ אכ ל וּ מ מּ נּוּ נ א וּב שׁ ל מ בשּׁ ל 9 ע ל מ רר ים יאכ ל הוּ: בּ מּ י ם כּ י א ם צ ל י א שׁ ראשׁ וֹ ע ל כּ ר ע יו ו ע ל ק ר בּ וֹ: ו לא תוֹת ירוּ מ מּ נּוּ ע ד בּ קר ו ה נּת ר מ מּ נּוּ ע ד בּ קר 10 ו כ כ ה תּ אכ ל וּ אתוֹ מ ת נ יכ ם ח גר ים 11 בּ א שׁ תּ שׂ ר פוּ: נ ע ל יכם בּ ר ג ל יכ ם וּמ קּל כ ם בּ יד כ ם ו א כ ל תּ ם את וֹ ו ע ב ר תּ י ב א רץ מ צ ר י ם 12 בּ ח פּ ז וֹן פּ ס ח ה וּא ל יהוֹ ה: בּ לּ י ל ה ה זּה ו ה כּ ית י כ ל בּ כוֹר בּ א רץ מ צ ר י ם מ א ד ם ו ע ד בּ ה מ ה וּב כ ל א לה י מ צ ר י ם א ע שׂ ה שׁ פ ט ים א נ י י הוֹ ה: ו ה י ה ה דּ ם ל כ ם ל א ת ע ל ה בּ תּ ים א שׁ ר א תּ ם שׁ ם 13 ו ר א ית י את ה דּ ם וּפ ס ח תּ י ע ל כ ם ו לא י ה י ה ב כ ם נ גף ו ה י ה ה יּ וֹם ה זּ ה 14 ל מ שׁ ח ית בּ ה כּת י בּ א רץ מ צ ר י ם: ל כם ל ז כּ ר וֹן ו ח גּת ם את וֹ ח ג ל יהוֹ ה ל דר ת יכ ם חקּ ת עוֹל ם תּ ח גּ הוּ:

2 REMEZ Living the Text s Truth: HOW do we make meaning of Time...? v1-2 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. IBN EZRA I have already noted in the introduction to my Torah Commentary that the year and the months were fixed by the Rabbinic Courts. Now that we are in exile, we rely on what they set up: the intercalation of the leap months. According to Judah the Persian, the Israelites used a solar year, as the uncircumcised do For the lunar year shifts against the natural year of plowing and harvesting, which depends on the sun alone. But this is incorrect. God commanded that the festivals be observed according to the lunar months, but in their proper season, as determined by the Rabbinic Courts It is extremely surprising that Moses went into such detail about the rules concerning skin diseases, which afflict so few people, and did not explain how to set up our calendar, which every Jew must observe for all time! RASHI The Hebrew word month CHODESH also means new moon. God showed Moses the new moon and told him, When the moon grows new, that shall mark for you the beginning of the new month. But even when the Midrash derives additional meanings, a verse never loses its context. God told Moses that Nisan was to be the first month of the year, Iyar the second, Sivan the third. RASHBAM for you You must count starting with this month as a reminder of when you went forth from Egypt Verses regularly date themselves based on the Exodus. RAMBAN the beginning of the months That is, Israel should consider Nisan the first month, and number the other 11 months in order as a memorial of the great miracle, so that whenever we mention the months, the miracle is recalled. SEFER HaCHINUCH The nations of the world build their calendar around the sun, while the People Israel bases theirs on the moon. This symbolizes the difference between Israel and the nations of the world. The nations survive only as long as the sun shines upon them. As soon as the darkness descends, they disappear from history. Not so the Jewish people. For, like the moon, which can shine even through the darkest night, the people Israel persist to spread light. S FORNO the beginning of the months for YOU. While you were enslaved, your days were not your own; now the months shall be for you RAMBAN shall be for YOU Our Sages have already pointed out that the month names are Babylonian and that originally we had no names for the months Their significance, to us, is different. The month names now mark our first redemption from Egypt looking to the time of our second redemption. SARNA The Hebrew months, like the days of the week, are given in ordinal numbers. The absence of names for either is probably due to a desire to avoid any confusion with the polytheistic calendars that associate months with astral bodies or pagan deities. v.3/6 Speak to the whole community of Israel saying: On the 10 th of this month, each of them shall take a lamb, one to a household You shall keep watch over it until the 14 th day of this month, then all the assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. RAMBAN Our The astrological sign of Aries the ram is, of course, at its greatest strength during Nisan, when it is the rising sign. Slaughtering a ram demonstrated that we did not leave Egypt by force of astrology, but a Divine decree. KOL DODI The Egyptians worshipped sheep as a symbol of wealth. The month of Nisan, with Aries rising, is also a time of new life, Springtime, as earth is rejuvenated after its dormancy As such, it was important for Israel to denounce the Egyptian mindset called upon to take the lamb which they had worshipped together with their Egyptian neighbors and offer it in the service of YHVH. SARNA Selected on the 10 th of the month, the animal is protected from blemish until the 14 th. No reason for the interval is given v.7-8 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs RASHBAM All of the details on eating share the element of hurriedness, like one who s in a rush to be on his way. ZORNBERG As RASHI noted, B Chipazon in confusion and with fear, as in David was in haste NECHPAZ to go. [I Sam.23:26] There is a lack of control in this last meal Strangest of all, this panic is commanded ahead of time But, as the MECHILTA assures, The lamb of future generations would not be eaten thus.

3 DRASH Decoding the Message: WHICH Way in the direction of Redemption...? Rabbi HAROLD KUSHNER This chodesh shall be for you the beginning [day] of the months. [Exodus 12:1-2] One of the first steps in the process of liberation was for the Israelites to have their own calendar, their own way of keeping track of time and recalling the most important days of their people s history. A slave does not have control of his or her own time; it belongs to someone else. HIRSCH wrote that the Jewish calendar is the Jewish catechism, for it is the most concise summary of what we remember and what we stand for. WHY does Israel count by the moon? Because the moon, unlike the sun, waxes and wanes, nearly disappears and then grows bright again. So the Jewish people go through cycles of prosperity and suffering, knowing that even in darkness there are brighter days ahead. The next step toward liberation was to slaughter a lamb publicly, something no Egyptian would do, and mark the post with its blood. In this way they would proclaim their psychological liberation from fear After painting the doorpost for divine protection, the next step, a shared meal, will become the prototype for our Pesach Seder, when we not only remember but strive to reenact our deliverance from Egypt Although we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, beginning a new year in the fall, the Hebrew calendar actually begins in the spring with Nisan Some scholars see this as a compromise among ancient cultures, those who celebrated the beginning of the year in spring when the harsh winter rains were over and plants re-emerged, versus those who celebrated new year in the fall when the rains returned after the summer drought. Rosh Hashanah was thus seen as the anniversary of the world s creation, marking our shared humanity with other peoples; Pesach is the birthday of the people Israel, symbolizing our special destiny as Jews. Rabbi SHLOMO RISKIN This chodesh shall be for you the beginning [day] of the months. [Exodus 12:1-2] What is the precise definition of this first commandment of the Torah? Rashi initially suggests that chodesh means that the new moon is when a month begins. The emergence of a waxing moon as in chidush, the novelty of a sliver of a moon being born amidst the blackness of night is to determine the beginning of each month. Immediately following that commandment comes the exhortation to have every household slaughter a lamb, and place the animal s blood on the two doorposts and lintel of the house. The Midrash explains that since the lamb was considered an idol in the eyes of the Egyptians, such an act would be a capital crime, a sign of the willingness of the Israelites to place their lives on the line for God. But what has this to do with the new moon, or Nisan, as the first of the months?

4 The Jewish lunar interest doesn t end with Rosh Chodesh. The first Saturday night following Rosh Chodesh features a curious ritual called Kiddush Levana, the sanctification of the moon. Following the evening service, the congregants gather outside the synagogue in a place from which they can view the waxing moon The service concludes with everyone dancing in a circle, singing praises to the orbs of the heavens, concluding by pointing up at the emerging form of the bright moon within the blue-black sky. What is the significance of this strange rite? The sacred Zohar teaches that the nation of Israel may be compared to the moon. Just as the moon wanes and totally disappears, just as the bleak, black heavens seem to be totally devoid of light, the sliver of the new moon appears, as does a new spirit of regeneration emerges from within Israel. And so, the Babylonian Talmud emerged from the destruction of the Second Temple, and the renewed Jewish state rose out of the ashes of Auschwitz. No wonder the Israelites in Egypt were willing to place their lives in danger by sacrificing a lamb and placing its blood on the doorposts just as they heard the command of the new moon. God taught them the optimistic message of light coming from darkness, and salvation emerging from slavery, by means of the light of the new moon. They were willing to risk their lives for the dream of redemption. Maimonides bases his crowning proof for Jewish optimism on this commandment to mark the new moon. He reminds us that our calendar was established by Hillel the Second in the third century C.E., and we could not maintain it today unless the sages of our generation are considered the agents of Hillel s generation. If there would ever cease to be a Jewish community in the Land of Israel, or a religious court there, the agency could not be effective either, because Torah and therefore the calendar can only come forth from Zion. But God would never allow such a void, says Maimonides, since the Almighty guaranteed that the Jewish community in Israel will never be erased. Remember that Maimonides expressed such an awesome and stirring faith even though he was chased from pillar to post in his lifetime by the marauding Muslim Almohads, as well as living at the time of the Christian Crusades. What more reason have we to be optimistic about Jewish future with our return to the Jewish national sovereignty in Israel after nearly 2,000 years of exile? May the Merciful Lord lead us to our land and enable us to walk on our land proudly and uprightly.

5 SOD Embodying the Mystery: HOW is The Tree sustaining/re-cycling/sanctifying Life? Rabbi BRADLEY SHAVIT ARTSON The central story of the Jewish People is our story of liberation. The exodus of Israel from Mitzraym leaving the bondage of slavery under Pharaoh to become a free people in our own land has stirred the souls of countless peoples around the globe, as they, too, have struggled for independence and freedom. One of the most profound gifts of the Jews to the world has been just this recognition that God sides with slaves and intervenes on behalf o the downtrodden. How ironic, then, that the tale of freedom which inspired, and still inspires, millions should be incomplete. Our liberation from Egypt, the great paradigm of freedom, is flawed by the very haste with which freedom was achieved. Why must the slaves eat the Pesah lamb hurriedly?... That first liberation was rushed. Huddled in their homes while the Destroyer struck down the Egyptian firstborn children outside, the Jews ate their meal in haste, fearful for their own safety and excited by the prospect of freedom.bekhor Shor comments that they ate in haste like people who rush to be on their way. However, a rushed liberation is bound to be incomplete. To be free physically does not necessarily mean one s spirit is free, nor is society as a whole free. The liberation from Mitzraym was unfinished. On one hand, the liberation on Pesah was a reminder that human freedom is a real possibility, that slavery is not forever Yet our hurry itself testifies to the abiding power of those oppressive forces. Fearful that the moment might pass us by, we rush before the chance to escape eludes us forever. On the other hand, true liberation never follows an external schedule. Faithful to its own nature, inner liberation unfolds at its own pace, until total liberation is achieved The rabbis of antiquity saw the liberation from slavery in Mitzraym as a model for an ultimate, more complete liberation to come in the future, beyond the reaches of human history. Thus, Midrash Sh mot Rabbah says that our ancestors rushed through the exodus from Egypt, but in the messianic era, we are told, You will not depart in haste, nor will you leave in flight (Isaiah 52:12). Ultimate liberation the messianic age desired by so many generations of Jews only begins when human suffering abates, when human caring and sharing initiate a new age. The end of days, the messianic vision of Judaism and the Jewish prophets, is a call for us to transcend those limitations, to stretch the muscles of spirit and body toward a better day.