Parashat Hahodesh starts with the words: החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים
This month ( Nisan) is the first of the months
ראשין הוא לכם החדשו שנה
It’s the first month of the year
Many people may not realize that while Rosh Hashanah is the start of the new year, it isn’t the first month of the year. It’s actually the seventh month. Our Jewish monthly cycle begins in Nisan.
Why?
It is interesting to note that our Rishonim explain that names of months such as Nissan, Tishre are not mentioned in the Torah, except for a few places in some Neviim and Megillat Esther, because there are no months. The Torah identifies the months by their distance in relation to Yetziat Mitzrayim. Nissan is the first month- counting from Yetziat Mitzrayim. We refer to the months in this way in order to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim every single day. It’s similar to the proper way to refer to the days of the week- Not as Sunday or Tuesday but as Yom Rishon L’Shabbat, Yom Shelishi L’Shabbat. Thus, the best way to refer to the months is by their order, rather than by the name of the month. In this way, we show that Yetziat Mitzrayim is always on our minds, as it should be.
As we know and have discussed previously, there are many mitzvot to remind us of Yetziat Mitzrayim. החדש הזה לכם introduces us to this concept.
In the pasuk החדש הזה לכם , the rabbis tell us the word חדש can mean both Hodesh/month and Hiddush /novel idea.
G-d is telling us that he’s giving us the power of renewal, freshness, excitement.
In Kohelet it says,
השמש אין כל חדש תחת
There is nothing new under the sun.
And we know that. There is no “new” on the news. Crime, politics, nothing is really new- Under the sun.
But above the sun, which is to say, in the spiritual realm, there is “new” or what we call Hiddushim/ novel concepts or thoughts. A watch is not really new - it’s a variation of something old. but a Devar Torah is new. The midrash says, like fish jumping out of the water for rain, that’s the enjoyment we get from a Hiddush. This enjoyment over a new Hiddush was given to us at Yetziat Mitzrayim.
The parasha goes on to tell us about Korban Pesach. Hashem instructed Bene Yisrael to put the blood on the door posts as a sign for G-d to see, and pass over, not allowing the destructive forces into the house. Why? What was the power of the door posts? The Rishonim say it’s the power of Bitachon. Bene Yisrael brazenly slaughtered the Egyptian idol and roasted it whole, on a spit in plain sight, so there could be no doubt that it was the Egyptians’ god, the sheep. The Mitzrim had to smell their god roasting. The blood on the door post was the sign that Bene Yisrael weren’t afraid of the Mitzrim. They knew Hashem would protect them.
What does that have to do with us every single day of the year? We are supposed to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim every day. Does the Mezuzah have anything to do with us remembering Yetziat Mitzrayim?
When learning about the Parashat Mezuzah in our Havruta program, we saw that there is no mention of Yetziat Mitzrayim in the Mezuzah. The two parashot of Shema in the Mezuzah do not discuss it. The third parasha of Shema discusses Yetziat Mitzrayim but that part isn’t in the Mezuzah.
And Rambam says that when you kiss or see the Mezuzah what you have to keep in mind is that you love Hashem and that Hashem is One.
So maybe the Mezuzah is not a reminder of Yetziat Mitzrayim?
But then Ramban says the Mezuzah should remind us. How so? It’s not written inside. We didn’t have an answer.
Then one of our Haruta members suggested a Hiddush!
He said that we don’t need it to be written inside because the Mezuzah itself is the sign, as it represents the blood on the doorposts When we kiss the mezuzah, we think of the blood!
I’d never heard that before!! What a Hiddush!
We did some research and found that indeed, there’s a Midrash in Mechilta that says clearly that if the blood on the doorposts protected us and it was just a one time mitzvah without Hashem’s name on it, then surely our Mezuzot, which are an eternal mitzvah and do have Hashem’s name, will protect us. When you kiss the Mezuzah, the protection is coming from knowing Hashem is in charge, from remembering the blood on the doors, and how Hashem protected us at Yetziat Mitzrayim. When we see a Mezuzah on a door, we know the Jew inside feels protected by Hashem, because he remembers Yetziat Mitzrayim.
What a Hiddush!
This Hiddush came from one of the main organizers of our Havruta Program. And we see that when we do for Klal Yisrael, the biggest way Hashem can pay us back is with a Hiddush.