Parshat Tazria [Mevorchim]

The first Mitzvah we were commanded as a nation was the Mitzvah of Kiddush Hachodesh.  With this Mitzvah, God asked us, as Jews, to create a calendar - to establish coordinates of time in a uniquely Jewish way.  
      
The Jewish calendar is very different from the Islamic lunar calendar.  That is because our calendar does involve the solar year while the Islamic calendar does not. The purely lunar year (of twelve months) is eleven days shorter than the solar year.  As a result, Islamic holidays arrive eleven days earlier (on the solar calendar), from year to year.  Over time, there are many more of these lunar years than there are solar years.  We Jews, however, correct for these eleven days by creating leap years. This intercalation of the lunar and the solar calendar (through inclusion of a thirteenth month for the purpose of reconciling the two calendars) is an acceptance of the role of the sun. 

As seen in the way we mark time - the sun and the moon both play a role - the celestial bodies carry a powerful message for us.  What message does marking time by the moon (and the sun) carry home to us?  Why don't we just count time using the sun?          

One reason for our marking time by the waxing and waning of the moon is because of its message of renewal and rebirth. In the Beracha we recite for Kiddush Levana we say that we will one day be renewed and once again be whole, like the moon which regains its strength and fullness once each month.

In addition, there is another reason for the important choice of the moon as a marker in time.  It is the fact that the moon is not a source of its own light; it has no shine of its own.  The moon is a Mekabel; it is a recipient of sunlight which it then reflects toward earth.        

The Jewish people are like the moon. We are the ultimate Mekablim.  We are Mekabel Torah from Sinai.  We are Mekabel Mesorah from generation to generation.  Then, in turn, we shine with a light that that emanates from God.  We reflect His goodness and His wisdom and shed these both, upon this planet and the people who live on it.         

Counting time by the moon means accepting our role as the Mekablim of the Pnei Hashechinah.  We don't ignore the great light of the universe; actually, we try to reflect it.  In everything that a Jew chooses to do he looks toward Hashem - the sun, as it were - and attempts to reflect some of His perfect light.  He or she asks, "How can this mundane activity be used to reflect Hashem's will on this earth?  How can I make Him shine through for all to see Him in a world that is too often darkened by ignorance, too often darkened by selfishness and greed?"         

The reason why the first Mitzvah we were commanded was Kiddush Hachodesh is because it is the Mitzvah that guides us to become receivers. It is a Mitzvah that moves us on a path toward being Mekablim of Hashem's light - a light we endeavor to reflect in every area of our lives.

Shavua Tov, and Chodesh Tov.

MosheTeitelbaum