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The First Mitzvah and The Jewish Months
Shortly before sundown on the 1st of Nissan (acknowledged this year on March 24, 2012), G-d commanded Moses regarding the mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon and establishing a lunar calendar. This is the first mitzvah the Jews were given as a nation.
Moses had difficulty determining the moon's appearance at the exact moment of its monthly rebirth. After the sun set, G-d showed Moses the crescent new moon of the new month of Nissan, showing him the precise dimensions of the moon at the moment the new month is to be consecrated.
Knowing exactly when the month begins has always been important in Jewish practice because the Torah schedules the Jewish festivals according to the days of the month.
The Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles. The entire cycle takes approximately 29.5 days. Since a month needs to consist of complete days, a month is sometimes twenty-nine days long (such a month is known as chaser, "missing"), and sometimes thirty (malei, "full").
Nissan is the first month on the Jewish calendar. Before the Jews left Egypt, on the first day of the month of Nissan, G-d told Moses and Aaron: "This Chodesh (new moon or month) shall be to you the head of months." Exodus 12:2 Thus the peculiarity of the Jewish calendar: the year begins on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the month of Tishrei -- the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve -- but Tishrei is not the first month. Rosh Hashanah is actually referred to in the Torah as "the first day of the seventh month."
The month of Nissan is also known as the month of redemption, and is considered even greater than Tishrei, the month of that the universe came into being. The world was created with a purpose, which is that we humans imbue it with purpose, in order to rectify ourselves individually and the world at large. Nissan is the month in which our people emerged with this goal as their national definition.
In Song of Songs, King Solomon's epic poem in which he depicts the love that bonds us to G-d, redemption is symbolically referred to as "the time that the buds were seen in our land," which means that the inarticulate earth gave birth to a people who soon would flower.
Moses had difficulty determining the moon's appearance at the exact moment of its monthly rebirth. After the sun set, G-d showed Moses the crescent new moon of the new month of Nissan, showing him the precise dimensions of the moon at the moment the new month is to be consecrated.
Knowing exactly when the month begins has always been important in Jewish practice because the Torah schedules the Jewish festivals according to the days of the month.
The Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles. The entire cycle takes approximately 29.5 days. Since a month needs to consist of complete days, a month is sometimes twenty-nine days long (such a month is known as chaser, "missing"), and sometimes thirty (malei, "full").
Nissan is the first month on the Jewish calendar. Before the Jews left Egypt, on the first day of the month of Nissan, G-d told Moses and Aaron: "This Chodesh (new moon or month) shall be to you the head of months." Exodus 12:2 Thus the peculiarity of the Jewish calendar: the year begins on Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the month of Tishrei -- the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve -- but Tishrei is not the first month. Rosh Hashanah is actually referred to in the Torah as "the first day of the seventh month."
The month of Nissan is also known as the month of redemption, and is considered even greater than Tishrei, the month of that the universe came into being. The world was created with a purpose, which is that we humans imbue it with purpose, in order to rectify ourselves individually and the world at large. Nissan is the month in which our people emerged with this goal as their national definition.
In Song of Songs, King Solomon's epic poem in which he depicts the love that bonds us to G-d, redemption is symbolically referred to as "the time that the buds were seen in our land," which means that the inarticulate earth gave birth to a people who soon would flower.
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