The Paradox of Change
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This week is parshas Tazriah, pashas HaChodesh and Rosh Chodesh. It’s a very special Shabbos. We do not read from three Sifrei Torah on any other time throughout the entire year as we do this week with the exception of Simchas Torah and occasionally on Shabbos Chanukah.
Rosh Hashanah begins in Tishrei yet we are told in parshas HaChodesh that Nissan is the first of the months of the year. So which month is the first and what lesson does it teach us in our service of Hashem?
The word for a year, shana, means to repeat. This is reflected in the non-changing repetitiveness of the solar calendar. The solar calendar is 365 days a year, year in year out. It doesn’t fluctuate. Each day the sun rises and then sets and then repeats itself. The word for a month, chodesh, means new (chadash), which is the opposite of repetition; it represents change. This is reflected in the lunar cycle. The moon appears anew as if reborn every month. It increases in strength and visibility until after the 15th of the month when wanes only to be renewed and reborn yet again.
Rosh Hashana is in Tishrei, the time of the creation and of nature. This is represented in the solar calendar, which just like nature itself is non-changing. Nissan is a time of miracles and wonders such as the miracles of yetzias Mitzrayim. Pesach, always celebrated in Nissan and in the spring is a time of rebirth and renewal. Therefore Nissan is the beginning of the chodashim, the months, the lunar cycle.
From our perspective we see Tishrei and Nissan, the solar and the lunar as two separate cycles or as differing frequencies (as in radio waves). On one frequency we experience the power of Hashem in miracles and on the other the power of Hashem in nature. In truth they are one and the same. They both reveal the power of the one and only Hashem, which is infinite and unlimited and within everything, including the limited laws of nature.
When we observe this great creation that we live within and then reflect on the infinite power behind everything that keeps it all alive and functioning in all it’s strength, never changing or waning, we experience Hashem’s infinite power from the vantage point of nature. Once a doctor, the head of the department of neonatal care told me that every time a child is born healthy, it’s a miracle. When we remember and relive the miracles of Pesach we see the power of Hashem in miracles that transcend, suspend and break nature. The miracles of Purim are miracles that do not break nature but work through nature. No matter what frequency we tune into or from which angle we prefer to perceive, both reveal the power and goodness of the one and only Hashem.
These two perspectives can also been seen in our daily lives in the way we connect in our service of Hashem. We incorporate the miraculous in our service of Hashem through kabbolas ohl accepting Hashem and the Torah and mitzvos as the centerpiece of lives. Also, when we have mesirus nefesh, sacrifice and bitul, which is being awake and active in all aspects of the service of Hashem, we break out of our limitations and we serve Hashem in a miraculous way. When we learn and understand and then feel with our natural senses and talents and then incorporate what we learn and feel into our personal lives we serve Hashem though nature. They are two separate services. In Russia, mesirus nefesh was in the forefront. In America it’s on a back burner and intellect and understanding is in the forefront. They are two discreet frequencies that make up one service but ultimately they are one and the same. Every one of us can say that I was created to serve Hashem, the one Hashem that is in nature and beyond nature. Our job is to infuse what is beyond nature into nature, to bring the Shabbos into the week and the sense of miracles into daily routine. Through our service in both areas and uniting both as one may we merit the ultimate miracle, the revelation of Mashiach in the most revealed, practical and tangible way.
A Good Shabbos A Good Chodesh