The Parsha opens, “This month shall be for you the beginning of New Moons, it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.” There is an obvious redundancy why does the Torah state twice within one verse that this month should be the first of the months. The Chizkuni explains that Nissan is to be the beginning of the Months of the year but it is not to be the beginning of the year itself. Therefore, the Torah reiterates that it is only the beginning of the Months not of the year. In fact, the beginning of the year is to be Rosh Hashanah in the seventh month of Tishrei. Hence, the Torah is instructing that Nissan is to be the first of the Months of the year but not of the year itself. The Torah therefore refers to the months in their ordinal numbers, so that Nissan is the first and Tishrei is the seventh month and Iyar is the third month and so on.

However, this is confounding. If the year, which is the sequence of the 12 months, begins with the seventh month, regarding what concern is Nissan to be considered the first? The answer might be that it begins the order of the months as they stand by themselves regarding who is Number One. That, however, seems somewhat meaningless if there is no relevance other than to be called Number One.

The cycle of the month is much more than just a cluster of 29/30 days with no other meaning than being a means of dividing the year into 12 segments. The month is a segment of time which has a beginning, a middle and an end. It begins with a sliver of light and grows to
completion and then diminishes to nothing. It then begins the cycle of renewal again.

With this mitzvah, HaShem endowed us with the ability to look at the New Moon and become inspired to renew ourselves; to be able to reassess our relationships and our commitments and
restart them with the same freshness that we had on the first day they began. The purpose of the lunar cycle is to grant us the opportunity to restart, refresh and renew.

Whenever we have a sequence of things or steps where one thing leads to the second and the second leads to the third and so on, we understand that everything that will follow is compacted into the first thing. Take for example the unfolding of an apple seed that is planted. Our seed will go through a series of many stages from the moment it is placed in the ground until a sapling will emerge. At the outset, when the seed was planted all the millions of cells in the sapling were all compacted within that original seed, in some form. It contained everything that was to come from it. We apply this to the first Commandment of the Ten Commandments. The first Commandment contains the totality of Torah. The first word of the Torah, Breishis, contains all 613 mitzvos.

This month of Nissan always occurs in the Spring. It is the month which always occurs during the world’s time of renewal.

The animals come out from hibernation, the trees put forth their first buds and the bees begin to pollinate. The world is coming back to life. Perhaps, the Torah is telling us that all the months of the year should follow Nissan. Nissan should be the first of the months. It should be the seminal month from which all the subsequent months will carry their own unique renewal.
In this very first mitzvah that HaShem gives us, He is teaching us the critical lesson that applies to all relationships; renewal!

Without renewal relationships grow stale. This mitzvah was given to us as HaShem prepares to take us out from Egypt to place His Great Name upon us. Only if this relationship will always remain forever fresh will it endure. He therefore endowed us with the ability to renew ourselves and our relationships.

Have a wonderful Shabbos.

Paysach Diskind