Parshas Bo: Rosh Chodesh: Spiritual Spa of Rejuvenation:

This renewal of the moon shall be unto you the beginning of New Moons, it shall be unto you the first of the months of the year. (Exodus 12:2)

The very first commandment that G-d gave the Jewish nation was the observance of Rosh Chodesh, the new moon. Technically this mitzvah is of such importance that the Torah would have begun with the commandment, had it not mentioned our birthright contained in Genesis first. (See Rashi Genesis 1:1) The Midrash even has it that heretofore the Jewish ancestors held a solar calendar based on the nuance of the verse “it shall be unto you,” implying that now was the switch to the lunar calendar. Why was this mitzvah chosen to welcome the Jewish nation into the G-dly covenant? Also why is blessing the New Moon considered as having greeted the Divine Presence (Talmud Sanhedrin 42a)?

The Slonimer Rebbe, Rabbi Shalom Noach Barzovsky (1911-2000), in his masterful Torah commentary “Nesivos Shalom” explains that the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh, blessing the new moon, is both a message from G-d to the Jewish people, and a message from the Jews back to G-d. G-d’s message is for us to look at the cycle of the moon. It waxes and wanes, dimmers and glimmers, yet it is always present. So it is with the Jewish people. Throughout our history we have been subject to challenges that would have put (and did put) any other nation out of commission, yet in that darkness we still saw the moon waiting to shine again. We did not give up. The nations who follow the solar calendar may have everything bright, but when darkness and hardships befall them, they do not maintain faith. We are the people of the moon. We have our ups and downs, but we are always faithful to out creator. That is G-d’s message to us. Don’t give up. We shall persevere.

On the other hand, when we bless the new moon we are sending a very powerful message to G-d. As Rabbi Samson Rephael Hirsch (1808–1888), has it, “It is not to be the conjunction of the moon with the sun; not the moon receiving the rays of illumination afresh, that is to induce the beginnings of our months, it is not that, to which our celebration of New-Moon is to be dedicated. But each time the moon finds the sun again, each time it receives its rays of light afresh, G-d wants His people to find Him again and to be illuminated with fresh rays of His light, wherever and however, in running their course, they have had to pass through periods of darkness and obscurity. The moon finding itself again in conjunction with the sun is only to be a model for our finding ourselves again with G-d, the rejuvenation of the moon is a picture of, and an incentive to, our own rejuvenation.”
In other words, we have a mandate that we must avoid at all costs the odoriferous grime of stagnation. There is no greater stench than the stench emitted by the lack of growth displayed by a spiritual corpse. When we bless the moon each month we attest to our own renewal.

The Netziv (Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, 1817-1893) quotes The Rashba (Rabbi Shlomo Ben Aderes, 1235-1310) that every Jewish date taps into the essence of that day as it played out in Jewish history and belief. Therefore every month of Nissan contains within it the energy of redemption, as Elul has the energy of judgment. Every single Rosh Chodesh contains within the power of renewal.

The Sfas Emes, Rebbe Yehudah Leib Alter, (2nd Gerrer Rebbe 1847-1905), further elaborates that thirty days of the month is quite significant. We know that many blessings (on the sea, certain Shehechiyanu’s, etc.) need to be recited anew if thirty days have passed, because too much time has elapsed to keep the momentum of the first blessing going. The same is true with each and every one of us in our vis-à-vis our own spirituality. Every thirty days we commit to a fresh beginning.

What is the secret of the Jewish people? Our unwavering belief which is displayed even in the deepest darkness of the exile; and our constant commitment to rejuvenate. These two messages are contained in the first mitzvah imparted to the Jewish people. That is why this mitzvah containing the Jewish secret of immortality, was chosen to inaugurate the introduction of mitzvos to the nascent Jewish nation. May we all see that light at the end of the tunnel, and let’s all hit the spa, that is the spiritual spa of Torah and Mitzvos!