A New Year- Shabbat HaChodesh

Hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodashim rishon hu lachem l’chod’shei hashanah

This month will be for you the beginning of the months; it is the first month for you of the months of the year.   (Shemot 12:2)

Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 teaches that we have four new years. The first of Nisan is the new year for kings and festivals. The first of Elul is the new year for tithing animals. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon say it is the first of Tishrei. The first of Tishrei is the new year for years, for the shmittah and jubilee years, and for planting and vegetables. The first of Shevat is the new year for trees. These are the words of the House of Shammai. The House of Hillel says it is the fifteenth day. The mishnah is simple. In order to count for tithes, we need to know what the tax year is.  For animals, the fiscal year begins in Elul; for vegetables the year is counted from Tishrei. For fruit [trees] the start is Tu B’Shevat [15^th of Shevat]. We mark our years from the start of Tishrei, our present Rosh Hashanah. For kings it is a ceremonial date. We mark the anniversary of a king’s rule from the first of Nisan. We also mark our holidays from this point.

Thinking upon it, it makes sense. The first holiday of our year is not Rosh Hashanah, but Pesach. It is the holiday when we remember and celebrate God’s having brought us out of Egypt. It is the holiday that marks our formation as a nation instead of a family. From here the cycle makes sense. We are brought out of Egypt, redeemed by God. Fifty days later we stand together at Mount Sinai to receive the Torah on Shavuot. From there we recognize our people’s wandering in the wilderness at Sukkot. This is the chronological and theological path of our year. Our nationhood begins at Pesach. Each Pesach we begin anew the ultimate in bibliodrama, a re-enactment of our redemption from slavery.  As the Torah tells us, “And you shall tell your child on that day, saying, ‘It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.’” We do so in our foods from the seder’s ritual foods, to the dairy of Shavuot. We do so in our actions: teaching the story of the first Pesach in the first person, “what God did for ME,” eating the unleavened travel provisions and the bitter herbs. Some even put the matzah on their backs as if starting a journey or hit each other with scallions or leeks to represent the lashes of our taskmasters. We repeat this at Shavuot, remaining awake all night prepared to study this new gift of Torah from God, and again as we dwell in our sukkot, leaving the comfort of our homes to expose ourselves to the elements.

Each year we begin again. Not only at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, looking inside and reimagining our individual selves, but again in the spring as a entire people, reconnecting to and sharing the experience with our community.

My family & I wish everyone a good year and a sweet and meaningful Pesach. Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are needy come and share the Pesach with us. Our door is always open.