A Light Mission [Only Half the Calories]
By Rabbi Pinchas Winston
As Rashi points out at the beginning of Parashas Bereishis, the first mitzvah the Jewish people received from God is the
mitzvah to sanctify the new moon in this week's parashah. This is the mitzvah to observe the new moon, testify to its
sighting before a Bais Din (Jewish court), and then announce the official beginning of the new month.
It might seem strange that this mitzvah was the first to be given to the newly freed nation (Egypt had lost their control
over the Jewish people the previous Tishrei, though they still remained in Egypt). How anti-climactic! There must be at
least a dozen mitzvos far more relevant to the leaving of Egyptian oppression, mitzvos such as the slaughtering of the
Passover Offering, an Egyptian god, that the Torah could have started with. One would like to believe that the mitzvos
were given and recorded according to the role they played in leading to the redemption from Egypt.
As the prophet Yishayah (Isaiah) teaches, the Jewish nation left Egypt with a mission, a mission that would only begin by
receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai 50 days later. It is mission encapsulated by the time-honored phrase, to be "a light unto
What does this mean? In simple terms, it means to advance mankind morally, by acting as a conduit of sorts for the
wisdom of Torah, as it is relevant to the nations of the world. The method for achieving this end is to achieve national
moral perfection, as much as possible, given the demands of daily life. If the whole nation shows commitment to the
values of Torah it is bound to catch the attention of the world, and inspire them to live according to a higher standard of
However, if the Jewish people live without unity, fracturing into several groups, each radically altering the message and
mitzvos of Torah from its original form according to their own vision, then all the world sees is a nation in confusion. At
such a point, the principles of Torah lose their brilliance in the eyes of the world and their ability to inspire. The world
then rejects Torah as a guiding principle for mankind and as a repository of Divine Wisdom. The "light unto the nations"
becomes a derision of the nations instead, and the rest of the story has been a long and embittered history within the
This is why the first mitzvah in Egypt, prior to the "birth" of the Jewish people from Egypt, was the mitzvah of sanctifying
the new moon. The main property of the moon is that it does not create its own source of light. Rather, it reflects the light
of the sun, and quite well at that. Even during the blackness of night, when the sun can no longer be seen, the moon can
still gather in the hidden rays, and reflect them earthward for mankind to find direction in the midst of night.
The rabbis teach that the Jewish people are compared to the moon. Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so too has the
Jewish nation cyclically grown and contracted. And like the moon, the Jewish people keep coming back despite of the
efforts of the most powerful nations to overcome and annihilate them. However, the most important comparison of the
Jewish people to the moon is not in terms of its appearance, but rather, in terms of its mission.
Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so too are the Jewish people meant to reflect the "light" of God. The "light
unto the nations" is really a "reflector" of God's holy light to the nations (especially when God seems less apparent),
bringing the light of God's morality to every last dark corner on earth. To not fulfill this function is to become "eclipsed,"
which results in historical darkness, and worse, terrible anti-Semitism, to which history testifies.
Hence, it is quite logical and very meaningful that the first mitzvah to be given to the Jewish people should be the
sanctification of the new moon once a month. What better way is there to remind the Jewish people the purpose for
which they were freed from Egyptian bondage? What better way is there to point out to the Jewish people, once a
month, the mission for which they were hand-picked by God Himself, than to have them focus their attention on the new
sliver of moon that is fighting to bring light to the darkened sky? It was the acceptance of this first mitzvah that acted as
the spiritual "threshold" across which each Jew in Egypt had to cross to "earn" his or her freedom. It is the acceptance of
this mission, the Torah is teaching, that each Jew must continually accept throughout the generations to maintain that
freedom. This is why the Haggadah commands us to look at ourselves as if we too left Egypt, in order to rekindle within
our own hearts a sense of commitment to the Jewish mission.
The Torah sanctions originality. The rabbis teach that everyone has his own place within Torah, some novel idea waiting
to revealed specifically by him. And anybody who has been to a Sheva Brochos and has listened to some of the divrei
Torah (words of Torah) knows just how original someone's interpretation of Torah can be! (Perhaps a little too original
for some people's tastes!)
However, the principles of Torah are fixed. They are axioms of creation, Divine wisdom beyond reason, that built this
world, and which also maintain it. Our job is not to create them, or recreate them, but to reflect them. Our task is to
become committed to understanding them as much as we can, and then perform them to the best of our ability, as if they
mean something special to us. In this way, the light of Torah becomes increasingly more apparent, and like the moon,
reaches a crescendo of light, which, we are promised, will eventually never wane again.
May it be Your will ... to fill the flaw of the moon, that there be no diminution in it. May the light of the moon be like the
light of the sun and like the light of the seven days of creation, as it was, before it was diminished ... (From the Prayer,
"Kiddush Levana"-Sanctification of the New Moon- said by Jews around the world over the new moon, every month).
So too will it be for the Jewishpeople, as well.
Have a great Shabbos,
Copyright © 1997 by Rabbi Pinchas Winston
and Project Genesis, Inc.
Rabbi Winston is a teacher and author of many books on Jewish philosophy
(hashkofa). If you enjoy Rabbi Winston's Perceptions on the
Parsha, you may enjoy many of his books.