Dvar Torah for Parshat Bo

Based on Likutey Halakhot, Ribit 4:46-47

"God said to Moshe and to Aharon...'This month shall be the head month to you. It shall be the first month of the year.'"
Exodus 12:1-2

Sunset, sunrise. Sunrise, sunset. Day follows night and night follows day. The birds that sang in the morning go to sleep. The stalkers that work best under the cover of darkness awake from their slumber and begin to go on the prowl. The difference between daytime activities/attitudes and nocturnal activities/attitudes is, well, like the difference between day and night. Like good Jews all over the world, we take note of the changes that come about in the wake of the sun's arrival and of its departure.

How? By acknowledging the Creator in the berakhot (blessings) of both the morning and in evening kriat Shema. What does kriat Shema have to do with the change of time? Reb Nachman writes (Likutey Moharan I, #51) that the plethora of variation and change in Creation is the base for the yetzer hara (evil urge/inclination). The constant clamor that something is "New!" or "Better!" keeps us distracted. In order to maintain our focus on the purpose of life and towards what ends Creation is to be used, we recite kriat Shema, reminding ourselves that there is only one God and everything comes from Him and is to be used to draw closer to Him.

The transition from one month to another is more radical than the change from day to night. As the Sefer Yetzirah teaches, each month is associated with a different part of the body, a different letter of the alephbet and a different tribe, as well as a different mazel (sign of the zodiac). The moon emerges from its hiding place and starts to exert her influence on the earth. To remain aware that the powers are not her own, but a gift, our Sages gave us the berakha of kiddish levanah (sanctification of the moon).

In this berakha we describe God as the "worker of truth Whose deeds are true." By revealing the truth - that the forces of Creation are slaves united in the service of the Master - and dispelling falsehood, we weaken the yetzer hara (see The Aleph-Bet Book, Truth:8).

Kiddish levanah is directly connected to kiddish hachodesh (sanctifying the month; Sanhedrin 42a). One who recites kiddish levanah is like one who greets the Shechinah (ibid.). The Talmud makes an even more amazing statement. It would be enough for the entire Jewish people if they would have only this one mitzvah to fulfill once a month!

The mitzvah of kiddish hachodesh was the very first mitzvah given to the Jewish people. It was given when God was ready to take us out of Egypt and juxtaposed to the mitzvah of offering the Paschal lamb. Without this mitzvah the Exodus could not have taken place (Likutey Halakhot, Rosh Chodesh 4:8; cf. Kli Yakar on Exodus 12:2). For even after nine plagues it was not clear to all that everything is under God's control. When the sheep, the Egyptian god, was slaughtered the Jews gained the ability to see God in everything and yet not be overwhelmed, the ability to measure out God's light in a proper amount, similar to the moon's waxing and waning.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!