Parshat Bo
January 31, 2004

I wish to thank R. David Avraham Spector of Bet Shemesh, whose Shabbat afternoon shiur was the basis for this Dvar Torah.

On the threshold of the Exodus from Egypt, Hashem teaches the following commandments:

And Hashem said to Moshe and to Aharon in the land of Egypt, saying: “ This month (HA’CHODESH HA’ZEH) is for you (LACHEM) the first (ROSH) of the months; it is the first (RISHON) for you (LACHEM) of the months of the year” (Shemot 12:1-2).

As Rashi says in his famous first comment to Bereishit (1:1), this really should have been the opening passage of the Torah, because it contains the first commandment intended for the entire people of Israel.

Furthermore, says Rashi (based on Rosh Hashanah 20a), another meaning of HA’CHODESH HA’ZEH LACHEM ROSH CHODASHIM is “this newness shall be for you the beginning of the months”; when you witness that the moon is new, you should establish a new month. This is the basis of the Jewish calendar. Sefer HaChinuch formulates this commandment (§ 4) as follows:

“to sanctify months and to intercalate years in the High Court that is greatest in wisdom and ordained with authority in the Land [of Israel], and to set the dates of the year’s festivals according to that sanctification.”

Consequently, the repetition of for you (LACHEM . . . LACHEM) emphasizes that this new calendar system will identify the Jewish People, distinguishing them, most immediately, from the Egyptians, and ultimately from all other peoples.

This differentiation is central to the purpose and fulfillment of this mitzvah. As Ramban writes:

“That Israel must count [Nisan] as the first month, and from it they will count all the months — second, third — until the conclusion of the year as 12 months, so that this will be a reminder of the great miracle[of the Exodus], because whenever we mention the month the miracle is remembered.”
Ramban develops this further in his comments on the Decalogue (20:7) and in his discourse for Rosh Hashanah.

Beginning our year from Nisan is a constant commemoration of the Exodus, just as numbering the days of the week from Shabbat is a constant reminder of the Creation. Citing the Mechilta (Chodesh 7), Ramban points out that other nations assign intrinsic names to the days of week (such as Sunday, Monday . . . or dimanche, lundi . . .) whereas we denominate every day relative to Shabbat (yom rishon, - “first day” - yom sheni - “second day . . .Ba’Shabat). This is a fulfillment of the mitzvah

Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it (Shemot 20:8), which in turn asserts our belief that the universe is created by Hashem. Similarly, the Torah calls the months “first, second,” and so on, beginning with the month of the Exodus, the unique historic encounter between Hashem and Israel that establishes their exclusive relationship.

Continuing Ramban’s reasoning, Chatam Sofer, in his commentary to the Torah, Torat Moshe, writes that using the Jewish calendar should be an article of national pride and identity:

“And this is reproof that we should write in letters and the like ‘the first day of Shabbat,’ and ‘the first month,’ to attest to the Creation of heaven and earth in six days “and He rested on the seventh day” (Shemot 20:11), and about the Exodus from Egypt, not G-d forbid, like the numbering of the nations of the world.”

He further argues for the sole use of the Jewish calendar in his discourses (Discourse for 8 Tevet 5593,vol. I p. 93, col. 3; Discourse for 7 Av 5570, vol. II p. 315, col. 2). He is highly critical of Jews who count time like their Christian neighbors. As the first Rashi in Bereishit points out, the Torah begins with the story of Creation so as to justify the Jewish People’s claim to the land of Israel; why would any Jew who supports that claim abandon the Hebrew names of the week that attest to Creation? Rather, by combining the “days of the Shabbat” with the “months of the Exodus,” we bring together fundamentals of Jewish faith: Creation of the universe and Redemption.

R. Ovadia Yosef (Yabi’a Omer, vol. III, Yoreh Deah, ch. 9) discusses whether one is permitted to use the Julian-Gregorian calendar. After a detailed analysis of the historic basis for this calendar, R. Yosef shows that it does not give tacit acceptance to Christianity. Garnering many sources for his arguments, he also proves that it is not a violation of and in their statutes you shall not go (Vayikra 18:3). Moreover, even Chatam Sofer, who gave reproof, still stopped short of prohibiting the calendar.

R. Yosef therefore concludes that the use of this calendar is not forbidden. However, he adds, one should try, as much as possible, to use the Jewish calendar. He invokes the Sages’ precept, “While one can be good, do not be called bad” (Berachot 30a, Bava Kamma 81b), meaning that a person should not be satisfied to just fulfill the minimum:

“Anyone who has no great need should write the months and the years according the numbering of the Children of Israel, especially here in our Holy Land. And where there is a need, it is best to write, in addition to ‘by their numbering’ also ‘by the creation of the world.’”

It is particularly significant that the commandment to set the calendar coincides with the moment when the people of Israel are about to achieve their freedom from Egypt. As Sforno says:

“This month is for you the first of the months: From now on the months will be yours, to do with them as you wish. However, during the days of enslavement your days (time) were not yours, rather they were for the service of others and their desires. Therefore it is the first for you of the months of the year, because in it (this month) begins your autonomous existence.”

A Jew should take pride in his distinctive way of measuring time.

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