Parshas Bo
1. The mitzvah "לקדש חדשים ולחשב שנים וחדשים בב״ד בלבד" ("to sanctify months and to calculate years and months, in the Beis Din alone")1 is learned from the verse2 "החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה" ("This month shall be for you the head of the months; it shall be the first for you of the months of the year").
Rashi says in his commentary on Scripture (earlier)3 — regarding this mitzvah — that "לא הי׳ צריך להתחיל את התורה אלא מהחודש הזה לכם שהיא מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו בה ישראל" ("It would not have been necessary to begin the Torah except with 'This month shall be for you,' which is the first mitzvah4 that Israel were commanded")5 (and he explains "מה טעם פתח בבראשית" — "why did it open with Bereishis?").
However, for those who enumerate the mitzvos, the Rambam and the like, who count the mitzvos in their order, the mitzvah of sanctifying the month is not "the first mitzvah"6 (and pointedly so7). For example, the Rambam says: "מצוה ראשונה ממצות עשה לידע שיש שם אלוה שנאמר אנכי ה׳ אלקיך" ("The first mitzvah8* of the positive commandments is to know9 that there is a G‑d, as it says10 'I am the L‑rd your G‑d'").
The reason for this is simply understood: the knowledge and the fulfillment of all the mitzvos are relevant only after*10 there is the knowledge11 "that there is a G‑d"12, and, in his words at the beginning of the laws13, this is "יסוד היסודות ועמוד החכמות" ("the foundation of foundations and the pillar of wisdom").
And in Rashi's commentary he simply means "first" in the sense of being the first to be written in the Torah14.
However, since all matters in the Torah are precise, it can be said that although in relation to man (the person — gavra) the "first mitzvah . . . is to know that there is a G‑d" — and, in the words of our Sages15, one must first "יקבל עליו עול מלכות שמים" ("accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven")16 and only afterwards "יקבל עליו עול מצות" ("accept upon himself the yoke of the mitzvos") —
nevertheless, as the matter stands from the perspective of the Torah (and from the perspective of the object — cheftza), the "first mitzvah" (with which the Torah apparently should have "begun"17) is "This month shall be for you," because this mitzvah contains within it a central and foundational content of the Torah and mitzvos as a whole.
It can be said that this is so in several respects: a) the mitzvah shows the manner in which the Torah was given; b) it brings out the power of the Torah and mitzvos; c) in it is expressed the goal and purpose of the mitzvos of the Torah, as will be explained.
2. The Ibn Ezra in our parsha18 dwells on the fact that "משה לא פירש לנו בתורה איך נקבע השנים והחדשים ואם לא נמצא אביב מה נעשה ויש לתמוה מזה תימא גדולה איך פירש דיני כל נגעי המצורע שהוא באדם אחד ולא יעמוד בכל זמן והניח דבר המועדים שכל ישראל חייבים לשמרה בכל זמן ויש כרת על אכילת חמץ בפסח ועל אכילת יום הכפורים" ("Moshe did not explain to us in the Torah how we are to fix the years and the months, and if no ripened grain is found, what we should do. One should wonder greatly about this: how did he explain the laws of all the afflictions of the metzora, which concern a single person and do not occur at all times, yet left out the matter of the festivals, which all Israel are obligated to keep at all times, and for which there is kares for eating chametz on Pesach and for eating on Yom Kippur?"). And the Ibn Ezra explains: "וזה לאות כי סמך על קריאת ב״ד בכל דור ודור" ("This is a sign that he relied on the declaration of the Beis Din in each and every generation")19.
That is to say, from the mitzvah of sanctifying the month there is a sign, a clear and open proof, that the Torah was given together with its explanation20 — that the Oral Torah, which the Sages in all generations revealed, is one thing with the Written Torah.
This is especially so since the fulfillment of a great many mitzvos of the Torah that are connected with the times of the year is connected specifically with the fixing of the months, etc., as the Sages established it in the Oral Torah21.
3. Similarly, the mitzvah of sanctifying the month brings out that the Torah is master over the world — as in the well-known saying of our Sages22 on the verse23 "אקרא לאלקים עליון לא־ל גומר עלי" ("I call to G‑d Most High, to the G‑d Who completes [it] for me"): "בת שלש שנים ויום אחד ונמלכין ב״ד לעוברו הבתולין חוזרין ואם לאו אין הבתולין חוזרין" ("A girl of three years and one day — if the Beis Din decided to intercalate the month, the signs of virginity return; and if not, the signs of virginity do not return").
Therefore the mitzvah of sanctifying the month is "the first mitzvah that Israel were commanded" (to the extent that "it would not have been necessary to begin . . . except [OCR unclear]," as above) — because from it one "takes" the foundation of the Giving of the Torah: the belief in the truth of the Oral Torah; and also the foundation of the strength of the Torah and mitzvos in general — the power to change the nature and reality of the world.
In light of this, another matter becomes clearer: although it is stated explicitly that the reason the Torah "opened with Bereishis" is because "כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו כו׳" ("He told His people the power of His works, etc.") (as Rashi concludes there), nevertheless, since the beginning of "בראשית ברא" ("In the beginning [G‑d] created") stands in place of the beginning that should have been — "This month shall be for you" ("it would not have been necessary to begin the Torah except with 'This month shall be for you'") — it is reasonable to say that even according to the conclusion the two have a connection with each other.
According to the above this is understood: on "בראשית ברא אלקים" ("In the beginning G‑d created"), Rashi explains24: "בשביל התורה שנק׳ ראשית דרכו ובשביל ישראל שנק׳ ראשית תבואתו" ("For the sake of the Torah, which is called 'the beginning of His way,' and for the sake of Israel, who are called 'the first of His produce'"). And since the entire creation is for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel, it is understood that when the Beis Din rules according to the Torah that the month is intercalated, this takes effect in the very reality of the world. For the entire creation was created for the sake of the Torah and Israel.
4. This, however, is not sufficient. For the matter that when the Beis Din intercalates the month "the signs of virginity return" is not in the mitzvah itself, not even in the moon, but is a result that takes place in an entirely third thing!
From the wording "the first mitzvah that Israel were commanded" it is implied that the matter of being "first" is connected with the mitzvah itself; and from this it follows that the content and purpose of the mitzvah come to emphasis in it.
5. It can be said that the explanation of this is as follows25:
The main point of the mitzvos of the Torah is to bring about holiness in the world. And this is the core of all the mitzvos of the Torah: one takes an object of the world and makes of it an object of mitzvah, to the point that it becomes a matter of holiness26.
And this is also the content of sanctifying the month — the achievement that the Beis Din sanctifies27 a particular day (an object) as Rosh Chodesh, "not a day of work"27 (and a special offering28, etc.) — to the point that "והיה מידי חודש בחדשו ומידי שבת בשבתו יבוא כל בשר" ("And it shall be that from new moon to new moon, and from Shabbos to Shabbos, all flesh shall come")29.
And in the words of the Rambam30: "שיקדשוהו בית דין ויקבעו אותו היום ראש חודש הוא שיהי׳ ראש חודש" ("that the Beis Din sanctify it and fix that day as Rosh Chodesh — that is what makes it Rosh Chodesh"), "שאין הראי׳ קובעת אלא ב״ד שאמרו מקודש הם שקובעין" ("for it is not the sighting that fixes it; rather, the Beis Din who said 'Sanctified' are the ones who fix it")31.
(This is also connected with the holiness of the festivals, because the basis of the mitzvah of sanctifying the month is "כדי שיעשו ישראל מועדי השנה במועדם" ("so that Israel observe the festivals of the year at their appointed times")32; and therefore on Yom Tov we say "מקדש ישראל והזמנים" ("Who sanctifies Israel and the seasons"), because "ישראל דקדשינהו לזמנים" ("it is Israel who sanctify the seasons")33.)
It can be said that this is why it is the first mitzvah: in addition to the fact that the general point of all the mitzvos of the Torah is to cause an object to become an object of mitzvah, and this point is openly revealed in the mitzvah of sanctifying the month, as above —
it is (in the inner dimension of things) "first" also in its content and level. Although the definition of the world comprises two things, both time and space34, and time is connected with space35, in the order of precedence time comes before space36. For every coming-into-being, including the coming-into-being of space, is a change (in the present) relative to (the past) before that coming-into-being37. It follows that before every coming-into-being (even before the coming-into-being of space) there already existed the reality of something that afterwards undergoes change — and this is (the content of) time.
That is, the first reality of the world (the reality from which all existing things begin) is time.
This is also simply understood with regard to man: first the time arrives for him, the particular day, and only afterwards do his actions on that day, and with the objects of the world on that day, become relevant.
Therefore the sanctification of the month is the first mitzvah: first the Beis Din brings holiness into time, which is the beginning of existence, and only afterwards comes the deed of man, which he effects in the objects of the world, which are a matter of space.
6. This, however, is apparently not sufficient:
a) The sanctification of the day of Rosh Chodesh, when the Beis Din says "Sanctified," does not take place every time (even in the era when they sanctified on the basis of sighting), for "אין מקדשין אלא חודש שנראה בזמנו" ("they sanctify only a month [whose new moon] was seen in its proper time")38 — when Rosh Chodesh falls on the thirtieth day — and "אין מקדשין אלא על הראי׳" ("they sanctify only on the basis of sighting")39.
b) Included in the mitzvah of "This month shall be for you" is (according to the Rambam40) also "to calculate years and months in the Beis Din," and regarding that the term used is "intercalating years," not "sanctifying years."
c) According to the Rambam41, "הלכה למשה מסיני הוא שבזמן שיש סנהדרין קובעין על פי הראי׳ ובזמן שאין שם סנהדרין קובעין על פי החשבון הזה שאנו מחשבין בו היום ואין נזקקין לראי׳" ("it is a law given to Moshe at Sinai that when there is a Sanhedrin they fix [the months] by sighting, and when there is no Sanhedrin they fix them by this calculation that we calculate by today, and sighting is not required"). Accordingly, it would seem that fixing by calculation is also included in the mitzvah of sanctifying the month42 — and then there is no sanctification, as above, for "they sanctify only on the basis of sighting."
7. This will be understood by first noting that the Rambam, when he counts this mitzvah in his enumeration of the mitzvos, uses the wording, as above, "to sanctify months and to calculate years and months." But in the laws themselves, at the beginning of the Laws of Sanctification of the Month, he says: "מ״ע אחת והיא לחשב ולידע ולקבוע באי זה יום תחלת כל חדש מחדשי השנה" ("one positive mitzvah, which is to calculate, to know and to fix on which43 day each month of the year begins"); and similarly within the laws44: "מצות עשה מן התורה על בית דין שיחשבו וידעו אם יראה הירח או לא יראה" ("It is a positive commandment of the Torah upon the Beis Din that they calculate and know whether the moon will be seen or not") — and he does not say that the content of the mitzvah is "to sanctify the month."
The simple reason for this is that fixing months and intercalating years by calculation is also included (according to the Rambam) in the mitzvah of sanctifying the month (not only fixing and sanctifying by sighting when there is a Sanhedrin), as above.
An explanation is needed, however: why does he state only this matter in the positive mitzvah (to calculate, to know and to fix on which day each month begins), and not include in the mitzvah the matter of sanctifying the month as well, whereby one (fixes and) sanctifies on the basis of sighting?
8. It can be said that the explanation of this is as follows:
The entire creation is, after all, for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel. This applies to all matters of creation — the heavens and the earth and all their hosts — and not only to their coming-into-being in general; rather, it is a constant thing.
And the service of a Jew consists in bringing into actuality and revealing the "for the sake of the Torah . . . and for the sake of Israel" within creation. When a Jew fulfills a mitzvah with an object in the world, the "for the sake of" is thereby carried out — the purpose of the creation of that particular thing45 (that it is for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel) — and consequently it becomes an object of mitzvah, etc.
For example: when a Jew makes parchment from the hide of an animal for a Torah scroll, tefillin and mezuzos, the purpose of (the creation of) the animal hide is thereby carried out; the parchment becomes an object of Torah, and openly so.
Since time, too, is a created thing46, it is understood that the same applies to the reality of time — that it is "for the sake of the Torah . . . and for the sake of Israel." And this is the content of the mitzvah of sanctifying the month: by Jews sanctifying the months — Rosh Chodesh and the festivals — they reveal how the true reality of time is for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel. As King David explains47: "עשה ירח למועדים" ("He made the moon for the appointed times").
And just as with regard to all matters of creation the intention is not only that the purpose of a particular object's creation be carried out in it, but that this should accomplish (or — add48) in the entire creation49 and in all its details — which comes about through every thing in creation "helping" and adding to a Jew in his service50, and this divides into several levels51: preparations for a mitzvah, preparations for a preparation, and the like —
so too (and even more so) with regard to time: the completion of the purpose of the creation of the months of the year is not only in fixing and sanctifying Rosh Chodesh or the festivals of the year52, i.e., particular days in the month, but when the "for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel" is felt throughout the entire continuum of time (also after Rosh Chodesh, etc.). And this comes about through the Beis Din fulfilling the mitzvah ". . . to calculate, to know and to fix on which day each month of the year begins," for which the Beis Din must calculate and know the detailed calculations of the course of the moon, etc. (and "יודעין מקומות הכוכבים ומהלכם" — "they know the positions of the stars and their courses," etc.53).
That is to say: in addition to the effect on the time of the months of the year through the fixing and sanctification54 of Rosh Chodesh, also for the sake of the festivals55 — in which manner the intervening time is merely a kind of preparation for the holiness of the time of the festivals (because in order for there to be Rosh Chodesh and the festivals of the year one must have, and know, the entire continuum of time of the month, etc.) — there is something more: the calculation itself — that the Beis Din "calculate and know whether the moon will be seen"56, which, after all, concerns the entire continuum of the moon's course throughout the whole month — is a part of the positive commandment itself. The mitzvah is not only to sanctify the day of Rosh Chodesh, but also the "calculate and know"56,
so that within the entire continuum of time itself the "for the sake of the Torah . . . and for the sake of Israel" stands revealed57.
9. It can be said that (also) for this reason the mitzvah of sanctifying the month is "the first mitzvah that Israel were commanded":
The "for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel" in the matters of creation in general is not present in a direct and revealed manner in all of creation. There are objects that themselves become holiness or a mitzvah, or accessories of holiness and accessories of a mitzvah, or lower than that — things that a Jew does for the sake of Heaven58, or "בכל דרכיך דעהו" ("in all your ways know Him")59. And there are things that are merely a preparation, or a preparation for a preparation, or even further removed, to the point that in a direct and revealed manner there is no connection between them and a Jew and the Torah, and only through an action performed with one detail of that species does an elevation take place in the entire species [similar to what the Alter Rebbe explains in Tanya60 regarding the offerings, that through the offering of one animal "הי׳ כל החי עולה לה׳ . . וכל הצומח ע״י עשרון סולת אחד בלול בשמן כו׳" ("all living creatures ascended to G‑d . . . and all vegetation through one tenth-measure of fine flour mixed with oil, etc."), and similarly (and even more so) with tzedakah, where the "fifth elevates with it all four parts to G‑d, to be an abode for His dwelling, may He be blessed"].
With regard to time, however, the mitzvah of sanctifying the month consists in the Beis Din having "to calculate, to know and to fix on which day each month of the year begins" — the mitzvah and the action of Jews (the Beis Din) apply to the entire time61 of the month in a direct manner.
10. According to this one can explain the precise wording of the Rambam at the beginning of the Laws of Sanctification of the Month: "והשנים שאנו מחשבין הם שני החמה שנאמר שמור את חודש האביב" ("And the years that we calculate are solar years, as it says62 'Keep the month of Aviv'"). The simple meaning of this is63: it continues the beginning of the halachah, "חדשי השנה הם חדשי הלבנה" ("The months of the year are lunar months") — i.e., a month is not a twelfth part of the solar year, but (the months of) the moon, which consist of (approximately) twenty-nine and a half days.
On this the Rambam continues that nevertheless, since Pesach must fall in the month of Aviv, and the seasons of the year are determined by (the course of) the sun, and a solar year is (approximately) eleven days longer than a lunar year, the years are counted according to the course of the sun; and therefore every two or three years the Beis Din makes a leap year (as the Rambam continues in the following halachah64). And as the Rambam explains in the subsequent chapters, "הדברים שהן העיקר שמעברין בשבילן כדי שיהיו השנים שני החמה" ("the matters that are the main reason for which they intercalate, so that the years be solar years")65.
From the simple wording of the Rambam, however, it is implied that this is not only on account of the festivals, so that Pesach be in the season of Aviv (especially since he does not mention this at all in the halachah; he only cites (part of) the verse "Keep the month of Aviv"), but that it is a law concerning the year in general — that the years be solar years66 — only that this is learned from "Keep the month of Aviv"67.
This needs to be understood: although the cycle — the overall continuum of nineteen years — corresponds to solar years, by virtue of the leap month that is added [and at the end of the cycle (nineteen years) the lunar years even out with the solar years, to the point that "לא ישאר ממנין ימי החמה בכל תשע עשרה שנה חוץ משעה אחת וארבע מאות ושמנים וחמשה חלקים" ("there remains of the count of the solar days in each nineteen years only one hour and four hundred and eighty-five parts")68],
in actual practice each individual year — every one of the years — is not a solar year of 365 days, but (twelve lunar months —) 354 days69, or (thirteen lunar months —) 383 days69.
11. In light of the above it can be said: since the mitzvah of sanctifying the month is to reveal the purpose of the creation of time — for the sake of the Torah and for the sake of Israel, as above — so that it becomes a Torah reality, it is understood why the Rambam emphasizes "and the years that we calculate are solar years." For the intention is to have an effect, through the mitzvah, on every detail of time: not only on the portion of time called a "month" (which is connected with the revolution of the moon), but also on the time called a "year" (which is connected with the revolution of the sun — for "אין ללבנה שנה כלל" ("the moon has no year at all")70).
Consequently, it is not enough to reckon the seasons, etc., according to the course of the sun merely (in order to know when to add a leap month) so that Pesach and the month of Nissan fall in the season of Aviv71 (which is merely a detail and a law in the months of the year). Rather, the time of the year itself, in its entirety, must become a Torah reality in its own right (whereby it — solar time — "arrives" at the purpose of its creation). And this comes about through the Beis Din calculating the solar years themselves.
This is why we find several laws and mitzvos of the Torah that are connected with the solar year72 (365 days)73. For example, the incense, which "היתה נעשית . . שס״ה מנה . . כנגד ימות החמה" ("was prepared [every year, and in all years] . . . three hundred and sixty-five maneh . . . corresponding to the days of the solar year")74 — even though, because of this, they afterwards had to redeem the leftovers and transfer them from sanctity to mundane status75 — for which there must be a "calculating . . . of solar years"76 in the literal sense.
12. According to all the above, the connection is also understood between "פתח בבראשית . . כח מעשיו הגיד לעמו לתת להם נחלת גוים" ("He opened with Bereishis . . . 'He told His people the power of His works, to give them the inheritance of the nations'") and "This month shall be for you, which is the first mitzvah that Israel were commanded" (as stated above in section 3 — that the two matters are connected with each other):
The matter of "He told His people the power of His works, to give them the inheritance of the nations" — the conquest of the Land of Israel — alludes to and shows (also)77 "וכבשוה" ("and conquer it")78: the conquest of (the physicality of) the world, which Jews take over and make into holiness (like the Land of Israel, the Holy Land) — that is, drawing holiness into space.
And this is the connection to the content of "This month shall be for you," whose matter is drawing holiness into time. Even though "time" is a part of creation, and in such a manner that one cannot make it longer or shorter, and in its defining dimensions — past, present and future — it applies with its force to everyone, Jews make of it a thing (an object) of Torah and mitzvos. And not only "lunar months," since "ישראל מונין ללבנה" ("Israel count by the moon")79 (because they are likened to the moon), and which are connected directly with the festivals; but also "solar years," which are apparently connected with the nations of the world, who count by the sun79 — these too Jews transform, so that "the years that we calculate are solar years." This too becomes Jewish time, a Jewish year, and a detail in the mitzvos of the Torah: "it shall be the first for you of the months of the year."
And through the service of conquering the land spiritually, and also the "conquest" of time, we hasten in actuality that the conquest of the Land should also be physical, with the coming of our righteous Moshiach, who "מקבץ נדחי ישראל" ("gathers the dispersed of Israel")80. And then there will be "ואשיבה שופטיך כבראשונה" ("I will restore your judges as at first")81 (whose matter is Torah), and once again there will be "מחשבין וקובעין חדשים ומעברין שנים . . בארץ ישראל" ("calculating and fixing months and intercalating years . . . in the Land of Israel")82 by sighting, through the Sanhedrin83, whose place and authority84 are "בלשכת הגזית שע״י המזבח" ("in the Chamber of Hewn Stone, which is beside the Altar")85 in the Beis HaMikdash in the Land of Israel, speedily in our days, literally.
(From the sichos of Shabbos Parshas Tazria 5710 and Shabbos Bereishis (second farbrengen) 5744.)
Notes
1) The wording of the Rambam in his enumeration of the mitzvos at the beginning of the Yad, positive commandment 153. Similarly in Sefer HaMitzvos as we have it, that positive commandment: "to sanctify months (another version: to calculate months) and years, and this is the mitzvah of sanctifying the month, etc." So too in Rabbi Heller's edition of Sefer HaMitzvos (in accordance with the other version). But in the Kafih edition: "that He, may He be exalted, commanded us to calculate months and years, and this is, etc." And in the Chinuch, beginning of mitzvah 4: "to sanctify months and intercalate years and fix the festivals of the year according to that sanctification." See below in the text, section 5ff.
2) Our parsha, 12:2.
3) Bereishis 1:1. See Tanchuma (Buber), Bereishis 11; Yalkut Shimoni on the verse "HaChodesh" (remez 187); the version in Midrash Lekach Tov, beginning of Parshas Bereishis.
4) See also Rashi on our parsha, 12:1: "the first mitzvah." In the above midrashim the words "which is the first mitzvah, etc." are absent, but it is implied that this is the intent of those midrashim, and Rashi added it explicitly for further clarity.
5) "In contrast, circumcision and the sciatic nerve . . . which were commands only to individuals, are not counted among His mitzvos so long as all Israel were not commanded in them, etc." (Re'em on Rashi, Bereishis there).
6) Note Horayos 8 [OCR unclear]: "Which is the mitzvah that was stated first? You must say, this is [the prohibition of] idol worship" (and the Gemara asks, "But did the Master not say that Israel were commanded ten mitzvos at Marah?" — and it does not raise a difficulty from the mitzvos in our parsha, which preceded it); this requires some further study in Horayos there. See Sifri, Parshas Shelach, which speaks of what Adam was commanded. Note also the Rambam, beginning of ch. 9 of the Laws of Kings: "Adam was commanded regarding six things: regarding idol worship, etc. . . . and in Egypt Amram was commanded additional mitzvos, until Moshe Rabbeinu came and the Torah was completed through him." He does not list the mitzvah of sanctifying the month.
7) In the Zohar (vol. 3, 256b): "The first commandment is 'I am.'" And in vol. 2 (Raaya Mehemna, 25a), on "and you shall take . . .": "'And you shall know that I am the L‑rd your G‑d, etc.' — this is the first commandment of all the commandments, the very first of all the commandments: to know the Holy One, blessed be He, in a general way." And there, 25b: "The secret of the first commandment is to know Him in a general way, because it is written 'I am,' etc." See [OCR unclear] 30 (74b). See also "HaRaaya Mehemna — Sefer HaMitzvos" (by Rabbi Reuven Margolios) at the beginning of his edition of the Zohar (Jerusalem 5704, and other editions); see there. See at length below, p. 116.
8) Thus is the wording of the Rambam in his enumeration of the mitzvos at the beginning of the Yad (unlike the other mitzvos, where he does not write "the second mitzvah," etc. — simply because then he would have had to do so until the end). Apparently his intent is to emphasize not only the count — that it is mitzvah number one — but also its importance (and he alludes in this to his wording at the beginning of the Yad, as below). Similarly he wrote at the beginning of the negative commandments in his enumeration of the mitzvos. See the sichah of 13 Nissan 5745.
*) See the Rambam, Sefer HaMadda (Jerusalem 5724), that in several printings and manuscripts too it begins "the first mitzvah," even though before it is marked "1" (as before the other mitzvos), as in our printings. However, in the Rome printing of the Rambam (5240) (and other printings cited there) the marking "1" before it is absent; and versions are cited there in which the first mitzvah begins like the other mitzvos — "1. To know" — without "the first mitzvah of the positive commandments." (Similar are the variants in the Rambam at the beginning of the negative commandments in the enumeration of the mitzvos.)
9) So too he wrote at the beginning of the Yad: "to know that there is a First Being." In Sefer HaMitzvos as we have it, positive commandment 1: "the belief . . . that we believe, etc."; but in the Kafih edition, there too: "the knowledge . . . that we know, etc." (see also the sources cited in the Heller edition there). See Likkutei Sichos vol. 11, p. 339, in the note. This is not the place to elaborate.
10) Yisro 20:2.
*10) Note Tanya, Kuntres Acharon, section beginning "Hinei" (162a): "the mitzvah of love . . . which is counted first among the 613 mitzvos, as the Rambam, of blessed memory, wrote, that it is among the foundations of the Torah, etc."
11) Note that this is also the first statement of the Ten Commandments — the first mitzvah at the time of the Giving of the Torah. See the Rambam's Commentary on the Mishnah, end of ch. 7 of Chullin.
12) See the Tzemach Tzedek's Sefer HaMitzvos, the mitzvah of believing in G‑dliness, at its beginning.
13) Beginning of the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah.
14) Note that according to the Zohar (Raaya Mehemna) vol. 2 (cited in note 7), "'And you shall know that I am the L‑rd' (at the beginning of Parshas Va'eira) . . . this is the first commandment."
15) Berachos, beginning of ch. 2, regarding the reading of Shema. See similarly Mechilta, Yisro (20:3) — in connection with the Ten Commandments.
16) Note the Rambam's Sefer HaMitzvos, positive commandment 2.
17) And even according to the conclusion that the Torah begins with Bereishis, in the order of "Torah" (— instruction, mitzvos) it is (as above) "the first mitzvah that Israel were commanded" (see above, note 5).
18) 12:2, in the long commentary. See also the short commentary.
19) He elaborates on this in the introduction to his commentary on the Torah, in "the second way," and concludes: "And this is for us the sign that Moshe relied on the Oral Torah, which is joy to the heart and healing to the bones; for there is no difference between the two Torahs, and both were transmitted to us from the hands of our fathers, etc." Similarly in his Sefer HaIbbur, in "Sod HaIbbur."
20) See the Rambam at the beginning of his introduction to the Yad.
21) See at length Abarbanel here, section beginning "VeHalimud HaShelishi," and onward. See also the Tzlach, in the introduction to tractate Berachos, at its end, at the mnemonic "Zman Nakat."
22) Yerushalmi, Kesubos 1:2, and the sources cited there. Cited as halachah in the Shach (and the Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch), Yoreh De'ah 189, subsection 3 (subsection 23).
23) Tehillim 57:3.
24) On the verse there, in the second comment.
25) For the approach of Chassidus, see Likkutei Sichos vol. 16, end of p. 481ff.; vol. 21, p. 65ff.; and elsewhere.
26) See at length Likkutei Sichos vol. 16, p. 212ff., and elsewhere.
27) See Shemos Rabbah on the verse here (15:24).
27) Yechezkel 46:1.
28) See Rashi, Chagigah 17b, s.v. "VeKadesh chodesh" — "for the musaf offerings" (it comes together with "(count days) and sanctify Atzeres," and in Rashi: "with offerings"). And in the Levush, Orach Chaim (beginning of siman 417): "a day on which there is holiness, more than the other weekdays, since musaf offerings are brought on it as on Yom Tov."
29) Yeshayahu 66:23. And also now, similarly ([OCR unclear], and elsewhere — as cited in [OCR unclear] on the Zohar — Nitzutzei Zohar, and elsewhere). See the Responsa of the Rama of Fano (siman 79; cited as halachah in the Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim 417, subsection 2): "Just as there is no Tachanun on the festivals, so there is no Tachanun on Rosh Chodesh . . . those who are accustomed to fast on the Eve of Rosh Chodesh likewise increase in honoring the night and the following day; for the prophets compared Rosh Chodesh to Shabbos in several good qualities regarding the gate of the inner courtyard and 'all flesh shall come to bow down,' and the Torah compared it to the festivals of joy, to blow trumpets over the offering, etc.; and we learned (Rosh Hashanah, etc.): 'The head of the Beis Din says "Sanctified" . . .'; they established for it a concluding blessing equal to that of the festivals, etc."
30) Laws of Sanctification of the Month 1:5.
31) There, ch. 2 [OCR unclear].
32) The Chinuch cited in note 1. See the Rambam there, 1:7; end of ch. 2; and elsewhere.
33) Berachos 49a.
34) Shaar HaYichud VehaEmunah, ch. 7 ([OCR unclear]).
35) Likkutei Torah, Berachah 98a.
36) On what follows, see also Likkutei Sichos vol. 20, p. 333, and the sources cited there.
37) See also Hemshech 5672, vol. 1, p. 339: "For everything that came into being is in the category of time; for besides the fact that they came into being from nonexistence to existence, there was a time when they did not exist, and they came into being and were newly created."
38) Rambam there, 2:8, in accordance with the view of [OCR unclear], Sanhedrin 10b (and [OCR unclear]).
39) Rambam there, 8:5. See Minchas Chinuch, mitzvah 4, at its beginning, section beginning "VeHinei mitzvah zu," that this matter holds according to all opinions — for the fact that it is a mitzvah "to sanctify on the basis of sighting" is a separate matter from the fact that the Beis Din sanctifies (says "Sanctified") only a month that was seen in its proper time.
40) As he wrote in his enumeration of the mitzvos (cited in note 1). In contrast, according to the Ramban (in his glosses there, Shoresh 1), intercalating years is a separate mitzvah, learned from "Keep the month of Aviv" (in accordance with the view of the Behag; and so too according to the Smag, positive commandments 46 and 47) — cited in the Chinuch there. See at length the commentary of Rabbi Y. F. Perla on Rav Saadiah Gaon's Sefer HaMitzvos, positive commandment 56, at its beginning. See also there, section beginning "VeLachen" (236a–b), where he wonders why the Rambam did not mention in the Laws of Sanctification of the Month the positive commandment of intercalating years.
41) Laws of Sanctification of the Month 5:2.
42) See also what he wrote in Sefer HaMitzvos, cited in note 1.
43) So it is in our printings, and likewise in the enumeration of the mitzvos according to the order of his laws at the beginning of the Yad (but in Sefer HaMadda — Jerusalem 5724 — there it is written as one word, "be'eizeh").
44) 1:1.
45) See Likkutei Sichos vol. 9, p. 193ff. — an example (with practical ramifications) in halachah.
46) [OCR unclear] of the Maggid — cited in the Siddur, Shaar [OCR unclear] (75, end of column d ff.). See Likkutei Sichos vol. 7, end of p. 59ff., and the sources cited there.
47) Tehillim 104:19. See Shemos Rabbah on the verse here (15:22), at its end: "Therefore He created the moon for the sake of the festivals, so that Israel should, etc. . . . David arose and explained, etc." See also Bereishis Rabbah, beginning of ch. 6.
48) Note the ruling of the Rambam (Laws of Teshuvah 3:4) that "every person should view himself throughout the entire year as if he were half meritorious and half guilty, and likewise the entire world as half meritorious and half guilty; if he performs one mitzvah, he has tipped himself and the entire world to the side of merit and brought salvation to himself, etc."
49) See at length the Rambam's introduction to his Commentary on the Mishnah (section beginning "Achar kach ra'ah lehistapek"), where he explains at length how "all the beings beneath the sphere of the moon exist for the sake of man alone," and continues to explain that the speaking species itself was created for the sake of the perfect sage who is able to engage in divine wisdom and in good deeds. See there for the details of the distinctions in the manner in which everything is used for the sake of the sage (in particular, and of man in general).
50) See Shabbos 130a: "They cut wood to make charcoal to make iron" (for a circumcision knife — Rashi there).
51) Which in itself (its creation is in a manner that) it is one continuum, to the point that in several matters of Torah it is a single point (see Tzafnas Paneach, Mahadura Tinyana 28b, 44b; Responsa Tzafnas Paneach (Dvinsk) vol. 2, siman 32; Mefaneach Tzefunos ch. 3). Accordingly, the statement that "the Torah will not be exchanged" is better understood (see the Rambam, beginning of ch. 9 of the Laws of the Foundations of the Torah; Laws of Kings ch. 11, end of halachah 3; Commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, introduction to Perek Chelek, the ninth foundation).
52) "The festivals of G‑d require sanctification by the Beis Din" ([OCR unclear]; Nedarim 78, beginning of side b). See the Rashbam, Bava Basra: "For they would sanctify the month according to sighting, and as a result the festival is sanctified at its time; for the festivals themselves they did not sanctify, only the months . . . and this is the establishment of the festivals and their holiness" (see the Rashbam there, s.v. "Shabbos Bereishis"). This is how it is understood in the Rosh and the Ran, Nedarim there. But in the Rashba, in the name of [OCR unclear] (cited in the Shitah Mekubetzes, Bava Basra there): "that we learn from it that the festivals require sanctification by the Beis Din, to fix them and to say that the festival is on this day which is sanctified." See also the wording of the Rambam there, end of ch. 5: "This that we calculate nowadays, etc., and say that Rosh Chodesh is on such-and-such a day and Yom Tov on such-and-such a day, etc. — it is the fixing of the inhabitants of the Land of Israel that makes it Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov." But this does not speak of sanctification (by sighting), only of fixing by calculation. And in Sefer HaMitzvos there: "Because the Great Beis Din in the Land of Israel already fixed this day as Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov, and because they said that this day is Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov, it will be Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov, whether their action was by calculation or by sighting, as is stated explicitly, 'These are the festivals of G‑d' . . . meaning, that they should declare that they are festivals." See the wording of the Rambam there, halachah 6. This is not the place to elaborate. See below, note 54.
53) Rambam there, 1:6.
54) For it is obvious that regarding this too one says "the sanctification of the festivals is entrusted to the Beis Din" (the wording of the Mechilta, Ki Sisa 31:16) and "it is Israel who sanctify the seasons" (Berachos 49a). See the Ramban's glosses on Sefer HaMitzvos there, at its end.
55) See the Rashbam, Bava Basra there.
56) The wording of the Rambam there, halachah 6. See Minchas Chinuch there, at its beginning, that according to the Rambam the calculation too must be specifically in the Land of Israel.
56) Note Chagigah there: "The Torah said: count days and sanctify the month; count days and sanctify Atzeres" (which are compared to each other). See Tosafos there, s.v. "Amrah."
57) Note something even greater, from Sefer HaMaamarim — Kuntreisim (vol. 1, 226b): that through analogies drawn from physical things the G‑dly soul refines and purifies its portion in the world — i.e., the physical things through which he grasps G‑dliness; he sees in them the G‑dly matter, i.e., he sees the details of the analogue within the analogy and how they are truly one thing, etc. See there at length.
58) Avos 2:12.
59) Mishlei 3:6.
60) Ch. 34.
61) Accordingly, it can be said that the intent of "it is Israel who sanctify the seasons" is in the broad sense: not only Rosh Chodesh and the festivals, but the entire continuum of time.
62) Re'eh 16:1.
63) See the Commentary on the Rambam there.
64) Halachah 2 there.
65) Ch. 4, end of halachah 4.
66) See at length Likkutei Sichos vol. 16, end of p. 95ff.
67) In Sefer HaMitzvos there, at its end: "And they said, 'Keep the month of Aviv' — this teaches that our year should be one in which we keep the seasons of the year, and therefore it shall be solar." In the Kafih edition: "and therefore they shall be solar years."
68) Rambam there, 6:10. See there, 6:11: "It follows that in a cycle that is like this . . . the years are solar years."
69) See the Rambam there, halachah 4, for the exact calculation.
70) Ibn Ezra on the verse here.
71) See the Rambam there, 4:1.
72) According to the above, the statement of Rabbi Simlai (Makkos 23, end of side b) is better understood: "613 mitzvos . . . 365 prohibitions, corresponding to the number of days of the solar year" [and the Rambam, at the end of his introduction to the Yad: "the negative commandments are 365; a sign for them is the number of days of the solar year." Even more so in his introduction to Sefer HaMitzvos: "the negative commandments are 365, the number of days of the solar year" (and afterwards he adds: "and this number is mentioned . . . at the end of Gemara Makkos . . . corresponding to the days of the solar year," i.e., that this is a sign [OCR unclear])]. Note Rashi (Rivan), Makkos there, s.v. "365": "for every day warns him not to transgress." And in Tanchuma, Teitzei 2: "And 365 prohibitions, corresponding to the days of the solar year; and every single day, from when the sun rises until it sets, it cries out and says to man: I decree upon you . . . do not transgress through me, etc." [also cited in [OCR unclear] on the Rambam there: "And they also said, by way of derush . . . the prohibitions are the number of days of the year, that is, each and every day says to man: do not commit a sin through me"].
73) In addition to "one who sees the sun at its season . . . says 'Blessed is He Who makes the work of creation'" (Berachos 59, beginning of side b); but this is not every year, but rather "every 28 years" (Berachos there; Rambam, Laws of Blessings 10:8).
74) Kerisus 6, end of side a; Yerushalmi, Yoma 4:5.
75) Shekalim 4:5; Kerisus there.
76) Similarly, "one who sells a residence among the houses of a walled city may redeem it immediately, and may redeem it throughout the twelve months" (Mishnah, Arachin 31a); and according to Rebbi (there), "to give him a year and its intercalation" — "whether in a regular year or in a leap year, we give him a lunar year plus the days by which the solar year exceeds the lunar year, that is, eleven days, on account of which we intercalate the year" (from Rashi there). But this is in the realm of derashos.
77) See Likkutei Sichos vol. 10, p. 2ff.; vol. 20, p. 2ff.; and the sources cited there.
78) Bereishis 1:28.
79) Sukkah 29a; Bereishis Rabbah 6:3.
80) Rambam, Laws of Kings, beginning of ch. 11, and at the end of that chapter.
81) Yeshayahu 1:26. See Likkutei Sichos vol. 9, p. 105, note 74.
82) Rambam, Laws of Sanctification of the Month 1:8. See there, beginning of ch. 5 and end of ch. 5, and at length in Sefer HaMitzvos there. Accordingly, the connection is understood also to the plain meaning of Rashi's "why did it open with Bereishis" as it relates to the Land of Israel: for both the mitzvah of sanctifying the month, "which is performed only by the Sanhedrin in the Land of Israel" (there, beginning of ch. 5), and also "our calculation," which is only "to know the day that the inhabitants of the Land of Israel fixed" (there, end of ch. 5), indicate that there will always be Jews in the Land of Israel, "and [G‑d] will not erase [OCR unclear] the nation entirely"* — see Sefer HaMitzvos there; Responsa Chasam Sofer, Yoreh De'ah 234; and see Tzafnas Paneach on the Rambam, end of ch. 5 there.
*) In the Kafih edition: "and He will not uproot the remnant of the nation entirely."
83) See the Rambam there, 5:1, that "fixing Rosh Chodesh by sighting and intercalating the year on account of the season or on account of need are performed only by the Sanhedrin in the Land of Israel, or by a Beis Din ordained in the Land of Israel to whom the Sanhedrin gave permission." So too in Sefer HaMitzvos there. (But see halachah 3 there; and see at length the Ramban's glosses on Sefer HaMitzvos there. This is discussed in several places, to reconcile the view of the Rambam. This is not the place to elaborate.)
84) Avodah Zarah 8, end of side b, and the sources cited there; Rambam, Laws of the Sanhedrin 14:11–13. And according to the Ramban (cited in the previous note), "all the laws dependent on the Great Beis Din have ceased."
85) Yerushalmi, Makkos 2:6; Mechilta, end of Yisro (beginning of Mishpatim); Mishpatim 21:14; Rashi, beginning of Mishpatim. See Torah Sheleimah there (and the sources cited there).
Key Lesson
The mitzvah of sanctifying the month is "first" because it shows the Torah's power over creation and because time, the very first reality of the world, is the first thing a Jew must make holy. By calculating and sanctifying the months and even the solar years, the Beis Din reveals that all of time exists for the sake of the Torah and the Jewish people. Every Jew, too, conquers time and space for holiness, hastening the true conquest with the coming of Moshiach.