Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel writes in his Epilogue to The Sabbath that, “A world without time would be a world without God, a world existing in and by itself, without renewal, without a Creator” (The Sabbath, 101). I used to have great difficulty with this quote, as it does not appear obvious as to the connection between time and godliness, yet an answer is found in this week’s parasha, where a mitzvah connected to keeping a calendar is seen by our commentators as a way for God’s presence to become eternally known to the Jewish people.
Immediately prior to the Israelites’ departure from Egypt, God commands Moses with the Torah’s first ‘official’ mitzvah, a commandment to make that month the first month in the calendar. The Torah states, “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year”” (Shemot 12:1-2). After a first reading, it does not appear obvious why God decides that this moment is the right moment to command Moses to begin keeping a calendar. However, our rabbinic commentators argue that this mitzvah makes an essential connection between the sanctification of time and God’s covenant.
In his Torah commentary, the Ramban points out that the mitzvah to begin counting the months in this week’s parasha not only conveys the message that the Israelites’ history officially begins after they leave Egypt, but that any time the Israelites marking the passing of a month on their calendar, they are simultaneously recalling the miracles God brought to bring them out from Egypt. The Ramban writes:
“The explanation of “This shall be for you the beginning of the months” is that Israel should count [that] month as the “first month,” and from it they should count all the months, “second” and “third” until the completion of the year with twelve months. The reason is so that this should be a remembrance of the great miracle, for on every occasion that we mention the months, the miracle will be recalled. And for this the months have no names in the Torah” (Ramban on Shemot 12:2).
According to the Ramban, God wants the Israelites’ memory of the exodus to be intertwined with their observance of the mitzvot, and since counting the months is considered by the rabbis to be the first mitzvah in the Torah, it is fitting that this mitzvah would be uniquely linked to Israel’s acceptance of the entire Torah shortly afterward.
Echoing the Ramban’s commentary, Nahum Sarna points out being able to make the choice about how to keep a calendar officially marks the Israelites’ transition to becoming a free people. He writes:
“The impending Exodus is visualized as the start of a wholly new order of life that is to be dominated by the consciousness of God’s active presence in history. The entire religious calendar of Israel is henceforth to reflect this reality by numbering the months of the year from the months of the Exodus” (Nahum Sarna, JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus, 54).
Sarna’s commentary emphasizes that establishing a calendar firmly establishes the Israelites’ independence from Egypt. Presumably, as slaves the Israelites were required to operate entirely under the schedule of their masters, and going forth from Egypt means that they will now need to take responsibility for linking the yearly cycle to their covenant with God.
Finally, the Hayyim Va-Hesed, a Hasidic work of the Lithuanian hasid Hayyim Hayka of Amdur, argues that God commanding the Israelites to count the months of the year is a reminder of the way in which we can bring the divine presence into our everyday lives. He writes:
“This is the meaning of “This month [hodesh] is the first [rosh]...for you”...it is through [paying attention to] the heads of things (rosh) that we are renewed and raise ourselves up to God. That is why the verse is introduced by, “Speak to all the community of the Children of Israel…” The whole community can come to behave in such a way because of this renewal” (Hayyim Va-Hesed on Shemot 12:2, in Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from around the Maggid’s Table, Vol. 1, 186).
In this commentary, we are reminded that while counting hours, days, months, and year might seem trivial and mimetic, marking time provides us the opportunity to acknowledge God’s presence in our lives, for only God can control the passages of time. By recognizing the way in which time turns over, we are acknowledging God’s role in our everyday lives.
While the Torah obviously does not mark the coming of the secular new year, it is important to recognize how coming back to school in a new calendar year offers an opportunity for every student, teacher, staff member, parent and community to find spiritual renewal. Counting days and months may not seem like much, yet using that counting as a means to find deeper meaning in our lives provides the opportunity to make all of our days count. As we return from our winter vacation, and begin filling the halls of Schechter with teaching and learning, may we never lose sight of the ways in which we can make each day count, thereby creating a deeper relationship to our community and our God.
Shabbat Shalom!
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