 Parshat Tazria-M'tzora A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... We benched Rosh Chodesh Iyar last Shabbat Parshat Shmini, April 10th. Rosh Chodesh is/was Friday and Shabbat, April 15-16. The Molad of Iyar as announced, is FRI (April 16th), 4m and 4p after midnight. That corresponds to 12:43am Israel Summer Time. The actual molad of Iyar is 7:21am on Friday. First visibility of the Moonwill be at the end of Shabbat. Rosh Chodesh Iyar is always two days in our fixed calendar, because Nissan always has 30 days. Iyar, on the other hand is "chaseir" with 29 days. Iyar "the second month", counting from Nissan, and is the eighth month of the year. It is called ZIV in Tanach. Its mazal is the SHOR, Taurus the Bull. All Rosh Chodeshes areon the first and 30th of the month, but Iyar's Rosh Chodesh is on the 15th. How? First opportunity for Kiddush L'vana, Minhag Yerushalayim, will be Monday night, April 19th. The following night is Leil Yom Ha'Atzma'ut, a nice night for Kiddush L'vana. 7-day opinion people, as well as those who say K.L. only on Motza'ei Shabbat, will have their opportunity next Motza"Sh, April 24th, eve of the 9th of Iyar. One of Pesach's Lessons Pesach is Zman Cheiruteinu, the season of our freedom. We joyously commemorate Y'tzi'at Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt. Regardless of the life-conditions we find ourselves in, we celebrate the Exodus. Even if we are plunged back into slavery and oppressive circumstances? Yes. Even when we are in exile? Yes. What aboutin the future when we will be privileged to the Complete redemption and we will have a Beit HaMikdash and the Mashiach? Yes. These are the various conclusions drawn from the last Mishna of the first chapter of Brachot, which is borrowed by the Pesach Hagada. It contains the famous drash of Ben Zoma in justifying the sayingof the third passage of the Shma at night, and in commemorating the Exodus at night. "The days of your life" would mean daytime, "All the days of your life" includes nights. In addition to the issue of time of day, some Hagada commentaries apply the drash to "good times" (day) and "bad times" (exile, night). Furthermore,the drash of the Chachamim that concludes the Mishna applies the terms to "our times" and "the time of Mashiach". Do we celebrate Pesach even though it was "only" the first step and there was - and still is - a lot more to go? You bet we do. In fact, a look at the Hagada will show that Pesach is Pesach and our joy and celebration focus on the events of Y'tzi'at Mitzrayim, but there are several allusions to the fact that Pesach is onlya step on the way. Pesach is worthy, so to speak, of its own celebration, but its special quality is the potential it holds. The very first passage we recite states that this year we are "here"; next year in Eretz Yisrael. This year we are slaves; next year we will be free. This same theme is expressed towards the end of the Seder with Next year in rebuilt Jerusalem. We have finished all of Seder Pesach in a proper manner, but there is more tocome. Just as we have been privileged to celebrate Pesach, so may we be privileged to do the Korban Pesach in the Beit HaMikdash. In the Dayeinu passage, we begin by counting off many aspects of the Exodus experience for which we must acknowledge G-d. But we get a bit "carried away" when the list continues to include Shabbat, Matan Torah, entrance into E. Yisrael, and the building of the Beit HaMikdash. Sort of a "and we lived happily ever after" but not yet. Perhaps the best example of the dual nature of Pesach-something in and of itself to celebrate and a step towards bigger and better things in the future- can be seen in the almost but not quite fulfillment of the Mishna in chapter 10 of P'sachim. We are taught to use the portion of the Bikurim-bringer as a text for the Seder night, and told to start with ARAMI OVEID AVI and finish the whole passage. We don't finish the passage. we use the p'sukim that deal with Egyptian bondage and our release from there, but we don't yet include the presently-not-yet-fulfilled pasuk about coming to Eretz Yisrael and having a Beit HaMikdash and bounty. I would suggest that it is so, not only because we're still in Galut, but also because it isn't the part of our national story that we focus on at the Seder. Mention, yes:but not a focus. The point in all this talk of Pesach? Why not save it for next year's Seder? Obviously, it relates to more than Pesach. The establishment of the State of Israel. Yom HaAtzma'ut. The some Jews, the State is the fulfillment of the Zionist dream. To others, the major secular nature of many founders of the State and its leaders and governments since its establishment in essence invalidate it from their religious consideration. If you are reading these words via the website or email version of TT, know that this last part did not make it into the hard copy. It's something that needs further elaboration and discussion. Let me suffice here to say that, I believe with all my heart, that we must have a Pesach-like attitude towards the concept of the State of Israel. We must see its establishment as something in and of itself to appreciate and to thank G-d for. And we must see it as a positive step in the direction of the Complete Redemption. The first act of the provisional government of the new State immediately after it came into existence was the abrogation of the White Paper of 1939. This act removed restrictions on Jewish Aliya and purchase of land in Eretz Yisrael. Whatever else the State is or isn't (yet), the restoration of Eretz Yisrael as a home for any and all Jews alone gives us something for which to be eternally grateful to G-d. But, if we've gone a long way from British quotas and homeless wandering, etc. then we've also got a long way to go. This combination of recognitions must go hand in hand. Hurray, we're out of Egypt - whose needs Sinai, Eretz Yisrael and the Beit HaMikdash, would be missing the point in a big way. What's the big deal about getting out of Egypt, look at what we have in the Midbar, etc. is also missing the point. This is a lesson of the Pesach experience that is applicable a mere fortnight (that's two weeks) later. [The Tazria-M'tzora Homepage] |