Feature Tidbit While We Wait A special memory of my childhood involved helping my father z"l build the Sukka. One year, my brother and I got into a fight (yeah, it happened occasionally) right at Sukka-building time and our father punished us be not letting us help him. Had we not actually liked helping with the Sukka, we would have taken advantageof our "forced unemployment" to play a game or go to the park or ride our bikes... or whatever. Instead, we stood at the window watching our father build the Sukka without our "help" and we cried. Those tears, and our longing for that special task which they evidenced, won our father's forgiveness; we were back on thejob post haste (as my father used to say a lot). Sefer HaChinuch, in his discussion about the mitzva of Kiddush HaChodesh, the setting of the Jewish Calendar based on eye-witness testimony of the sighting of the first visibility of the lunar crescent, describes our current situation with the phrase - BA'AVONOTEINU HARABIM, because of our many sins... He tells us how theCalendar was set up in the times of Sanhedrin and how it is done today. A comparison of the two methods by some people lead them to the conclusion that we are better off today with the accurate calculations of our computers. Who needs the archaic, primitive method of people traveling to the Court in Yerushalayim to testify that they saw the new lunar crescent. Is not the present day method of determining the calendar in general and Rosh Chodesh in particular, more accurate, less prone to human error, more efficient than the Sanhedrin method? The answer is YES. But that does not make it preferable. And this is the point. G-d, so to speak, was not looking for perfect accuracy. That cannot be achieved when human beings are involved. And that is what HaShem wants - our involvement. So He yields some exactness and gets our involvement in the trade. That, it seems is what He wants. But do we want it too? Sukka-building in my early years would have gone much smoother without my "help". But my father wanted the involvement of his children in the process. He was willing to work things less efficiently for the tremendous benefit of our participation. But do we want that too? What we did during our periodof exile, during that time that our father was angry with us and was not allowing us to work with him, was a strong indicator of our attitude. Do we, the Jewish People, really want to go back to a Sanhedrin system, with all that it involves? Do we really want a Beit HaMikdash? There are many other similar questions that can be asked. Many people are uncomfortable with these questions. But let's go back to KIDDUSH HACHODESH for now. Many people who hear me talk about the Jewish Calendar are incredulousat the suggestion that we will resume the "old-time" method of Sanctification of Rosh Chodesh. But we will do so, IY"H. And it will take getting used to. The most striking example of the differences in the two calendar-making systems might be the following scenario. Let's take this coming Sunday (depends when you are reading these words; I'm talking about Sunday, 26 Adar, a.k.a. March 14th), for example. Purim is a week and a half behind us. Pesach is a bit more than two weeks away. Plans are made. Invitations to Seder and other meals have been tendered. Slowly but surely, your supplyof Chametz products are being purposefully depleted. You turn the radio on for the 2:00pm news and one of the items throws you for a loop (as they say). Today the Sanhedrin spokesman held a press conference to announce the decision of the special committee's decision that the next month, less than a week away, shall beADAR again, and not Nissan, as had been expected. What?!? That's right. You heard correctly. Another Purim is less than three weeks away. Megila twice, Seuda, the works. Pesach is now over six weeks away. Sounds crazy, no? (No disrespect intended.) Purim again. Postponed Pesach. No fixed calendar to buy before Rosh HaShana. What's wrong with what we have been using for the last many centuries. Part of the answer is that we are not active participants in the Mitzva that G-d wanted us to be involved in. Do you realize thatHe gave us permission to descecrate the Shabbat to travel to Jerusalem to testify to the possible sighting of the lunar crescent and to be questioned by judges who are obligated by halacha to know exactly if, when, and where that crescent will be visible. Witnesses come to the judges of Sanhedrin to testify to that whichthe judges already know. Usually, testimony is meant to establish the truth of facts that are unknown or in question. With Kiddush HaChodesh, the testimony must match that which Sanhedrin has already determined by astronomical and mathematical calculations. G-d has Shabbat - His Shabbat - step aside so that we can activelyparticipate in the fixing of the yearly cycle of Chagim - our Chagim. This are the Festivals of G-d, which you (the Jewish People) proclaim and sanctify them. Think about it. Shabbat does not step aside for the building of the Mikdash. It does step aside for the preservation of Life (of the individual) and for KiddushHaChodesh, which can be viewed as Piku'ach Nefesh for the Nation. The question, however, is do we understand all this, and more importantly, do we care. Does this topic excite us or bore us. What do we do while we wait for the Mashiach, for the restoration of the Beit HaMikdash, for the "renewal of our days as in time gone by". Let's stay in the same area but change gears a bit. Consider the following... THIS month shall be the first of your months... G-d was referring to Nissan, not January! Today's the 11th, right? To that question asked on Thursday, March 11th, I will usually answer, "No, it's the 23rd. Usually, my answer is met by a hesitation, sometimes of a second or two, sometimes longer. Occasionally, I'll get asmile of recognition and a "touche" for thinking of the Hebrew date. I've said this many times before - why not use the Jewish dates when writing checks and other documents that require a date? It's acceptable here in Israel. In fact, this is the only country in the whole world where you can legally use the Jewish dates.The radio signs on with them in the morning. Every bank displays the day's date, first in Hebrew, then in secular. It will take a little getting used to, but you'll feel good about it after a while. I know it sounds too little to make a difference, but I believe it says something about our attitude. Don't get me wrong - I use secular dates. But I try to think Jewish, even in this "small" way. Hey, I just realized that there is an aspect of this topic that can work for all Jews, wherever they live. There are several sources, fairy recent ones, that raise an objection - not to the use of secular dates in general, butto the numbering of the secular months. As I said earlier - G-d says that Nissan is our month #1 - why do we use a 1 for January? Filling out forms that call for numbers might be a problem, but there are many opportunities to write MAR instead of 3. And I believe that each time we consciously avoid numbering a secularmonth, we are in some way fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem... There's more to be said, and I will IY"H take the opportunity to say more, but maybe not in this issue of TT. It's late and Torathon 5759 is approaching. [The Va-yak-al/P'kudei Homepage] |
