Chodesh Tov Chevra,
What is so special about the head of the month (Rosh Chodesh) in the Jewish calendar? What is so important about the month of Nissan, that it is considered the first month of the year? Isn’t the month of Tishrei the beginning of the New Year? Why is the calendar so important in Torah Judaism to the extent that the first Rashi in the Torah says the Torah would have started with the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh, the new month, which is in this week’s Torah portion of Bo?
“This month shall be for you the beginning of the months; it shall be for you the first of the month” (Shemos 12:2). The medrish Mechilta (8) on this pasuk first suggests that the Torah say “this month is yours” whereas Adam HaRishon did not start counting from this month [of Nissan]. However, the Mechilta clarifies: Is the “you” referring to you and not Adam HaRishon or you and not the gentiles? The Mechilta answers that because the pasuk reiterated “it’s the first for you” that sounds like it’s for you and not the gentiles, therefore the first “for you” was as opposed to Adam HaRishon. We learn from here that the Jews count the calendar by way of the moon and gentiles by the sun. Wouldn’t it be enough that once every 30 days [the Jews] would raise their eyes to their Father In Heaven!
The Netziv sees a profound insight from this medrish. The Jews have a mitzva to count months and not the gentiles in order that a Jew can acknowledge that the main thing is the “unique form,” and not the physical form, of every human being. The month of Tishrei is the choicest in terms of the needs of the world, because it was then that the world was created. It’s an important rule that the day that something was created, that day has good fortune for future generations to strengthen the matter of that thing even more. For that reason, the nature of fire is to boil quicker on Motzie Shabbos because that was when [fire] was created (this is what the Rashba in his responsa writes in chapter 413). Also, for this reason, the month of Tishrei is the main judgment of a person for the year to come, because on that day Adam HaRishon was judged, as the Ra”n says in masechta Rosh Hashanah. That month also contains the holiday of Sukkos because it is the main blessing for grain, as in that month the world was created (as the Netziv writes in HaEmek Davar Vayikra 23:34, and Bamidbar 29:12). All this is in regard to nature. So too the month of Nissan is good fortune for the Jewish nation of Hashem, as we were originally created when going out of Egypt. Therefore that month is geared for strengthening our service of Hashem through discussing Yetzias Mitzraim, the exit from Egypt, which triggers trust and faith in Hashem. (Click here for Hebrew text.)
The Malbim has his own unique insight into this medrish. He says that the phrase “to you” always infers ‘and not to someone else;’ here, in this pasuk, the phrase is mentioned twice, because the Egyptians didn’t have months based on the moon at all. Their calculations were solely based on the sun, which they worshipped. According to the Jews there was a custom to count months based on the moon dating all the way back to Adam HaRishon, as we find by the calculations of Noach and the Flood. However up until this point they thought that Tishrei was the first month, for it was then that the world was created and it’s Rosh Hashanah. But the Jews were commanded to count from the month of Nissan in remembrance of their redemption from Egypt, for from then it was integrated into them a higher status than the way of nature. Nature is dependent on the creation of the world, for from that point there was personal Divine intervention by Hashem into our lives. (Click here for Hebrew text.)
The reason the month of Nissan is considered the first month on the Jewish calendar is because within that month the Jews became a nation, just as throughout history many kings calculated years from the point in time that they or the monarchy of their royal family first became king. It is a time of beginning, renewal, and uniqueness that should be celebrated and recognized. So too, we find that the very essence of a month, its concept, sets us apart from the rest of the world since it shows we have a higher or different judgement of time than they do. But why is it so important to make a holiday over it, to celebrate and commemorate it as we do every Rosh Chodesh?
We see from this Mechilta that because of how we calculate the months, and because we became a nation in Nissan, it is therefore considered the first month for the Jews. This is even though Tishrei was in fact when the world was created, as the purpose of it all is to instill in ourselves new levels of emuna (faith) and bitachon (trust) in Hashem. It’s to be used to raise our eyes to Hashem and realize He took us in as His children, to be princes and princesses of the King of All Kings, and to appreciate that lofty status.
Rosh Chodesh is the opportunity to thank and praise Hashem for that realization, just as the month of Nissan with the Yom Tov of Pesach is the chance to gain new heights and express an appreciation and understanding of what it means to be Hashem’s people, who He took out of Egypt and made His nation. In this way these times of the year are powerful tools to strengthen our belief, faith, and trust in Hashem, a reason to sing Hallel!
A gutten chodesh!