Bo - The Month, the Moon, and the Light

you're listening to the weekly partial podcast with larry goldwag recorded with hashem's neverending assistance in ramaphishmichi israel 57 81 2021. this week's parashat is purchased bow in our parsha baruch takes the jewish people out of slavery takes them to himself to be his nation and in what way does he do so in what way does he take us to be his nation by giving us commandments just as any king proves to his nation that they are his by commanding them certain commandments and they follow those commandments so too the jewish people were taken by hashem with the first of the mitzus that the jewish people received collectively which was the mitzvah to make the brand new moon holy to recognize that the new moon is the beginning of the month the jewish people we have our calendar based on the months on the lunar cycle as well as the solar cycle also connected to pesach it needs to be in vive needs to be in the spring this is in chapter 12 verse 2. this month is yours the first of the months the first of the months of the year for you the month of nisan which is the month of the spring which is the month of renewal is the month that belongs to the jewish people it is the representation of who the jewish people are a people of renewal despite the long hard winter the jews constantly are renewed but not just that doesn't just refer to the first month of the year but refers to the concept of the month the lunar cycle the fact that the jewish people count based upon the months now there's an extensive command not just about the concept of counting the years by the months by the lunar months and not just the obligation to for the for that generation which was to take their personal carbon pesach their sacrifice that they were to bring but rather there's an obligation the torah tells us for all generations that on the 14th day of that month so there's an obligation to remember what happened in verse 14 this day will be a day for you to remember you shall celebrate it as a celebration to god second for all generations how do we celebrate very interesting how do we celebrate this exodus from egypt this holiday on the day that we were released from our bondage from slavery we were released from our exile we experienced the awesome revelation of the exodus how do we celebrate it by not eating we don't eat comets we eat matzah we eat that unleavened bread the poor man's bread lechamani we have a seven-day holiday etc now what i'd like to address is something which i find to be very interesting a few things actually i'd like to share with you a message i'd like to share with you a gemara the idea is the kumar psalm tells us speaking about how long before a holiday is one obligated to begin speaking about the holiday learning about the laws of the holidays refreshing oneself about that holiday there's a there's a machokas there's an argument between two different time no i'm in the gemara one of them says we start 30 days before one of them says we start two weeks before now generally speaking i believe we pascan the one who says we start 30 days before which means that you want to know when we start talking about the halakhas of pesach we start on purim around porn time a month before but i want to address and i'm trying to understand the up the opinion that says that we start two weeks before based on what does he say that we started two weeks before right here this is in the simple understanding he was standing in front of this book when god commanded him on the first day of the month he showed him the new moon and he commanded on the 14th day certainly we can understand we can deduce that from that the very verses themselves that hashem is commanding about the new moon the concept of consecration of the new month and turkey day within that conversation hashem also commands about the obligations of the month it starts on the first day of the month obviously continues on to the 14th of the month the 15th of the month when we celebrate our exodus from egypt continues through the holiday continues through the following seven days and indeed the entire month has a certain celebratory feel as we find when it comes to takhan and we don't say the entire month of nisan okay but what we see is an amazing thing an important thing we need to understand from the fact that we see that already at the beginning of the month we start to discuss pesach we start to talk about peso we start to talk about passover so clearly there's a connection between the first day of the month of nisan and the 15th day of nisan the first day of the month we don't yet have that holiday we don't yet have the exodus we have the beginnings of it we have hints to it we have the fact that it's coming we have the obligations that in that are involved the bringing of the carbon pace of the setting aside of that animal the paschal lamb etc leading up to the obligation to check our homes or our buzzsaws the first mishnah in them says and this is an important one so listen carefully to it all the leavened bread from our homes when do we begin to check to make sure that there's nothing left we've spent perhaps weeks perhaps months cleaning our homes when do we do that final check or at our boss or interestingly the language of which means literally the light of the fourteenth but as our sages tell us as igumar discusses the beginning of doesn't mean the light as in the day it actually means the night now the night before it's referred to as a it's a language we refer to something which would seem negative we refer to it in a positive way we refer to the night time as de nagi the word nagi in aramaic means nagi notice the letters n-g-h and on ghd the word night nagi noon gimel hey so the word actually means brightness light right so even in english we refer to the night time with the same root of nagi which means light we refer to the night time that's when we are checking for comments that's when we are looking to see to check out and make sure that we have nothing left of the forbidden type of food that we're not allowed to eat on pesach what i'd like to understand is a few things first of all what is the connection clearly there's a connection between the first day of the month and the 15th day of the month what is the idea behind it what is the concept what do we learn from that second of all i want to understand in the gemara when we speak about the url our boss or when do we check for comments we check on the night the night before we refer to it in a positive way the kumar goes on to say extensively speaking about how the torah goes out of its way to speak in a positive way we are to go out of our way to speak in a positive way when when even if we have to refer to something negative bad news we still want to talk positively we want to talk we want to refer to it in a in a hint if we can we if we can refer to a bad situation by hinting to it without being explicit about the bad situation that's what we try to do talks a lot of a lot of different cases of that what is the idea of that what is the idea behind this positivity that we need to have when we speak about darkness we don't talk about darkness we talk about light we speak about the night we talk about light the night of the 14th the light of the 14th what is the idea behind that and how does it connect the the ula happens at night the redemption happens at midnight the brim the firstborns of the egyptians are killed by that's when the redemption occurs and power says get out of here sends the jewish people packing what is the idea that the redemption happens at night in the middle of the night what is idea that we refer to something dark the nighttime as light what is the idea that the first of the month which clearly is also connected to the 15th of the month the first of the month is when the moon is is invisible right the first beginnings of the moon the crescent moon are what we're able to see but it's dark and yet it's connected clearly to the 15th of the month to the time when the moon is full when the moon is fully reflecting what is the idea behind all these concepts i'd like to share with you a madrish which perhaps can shed some light on to this idea there's two parts to the majority both michelle and both analogies it's analogous to a king he has his storehouses he has his treasure house houses full of all kinds of precious stones gold and silver pearls etc and he has a he has an only son shall you have been caught on your own as long as his son was young as long as his son was small so he was he had everything hidden and everything saved the way higla been vomit then the sun grew up the prince grew up he developed he matured um his father said to him cause mancha you so cut on as long as you were small so i was protecting everything for you i had it all saved away from but now but now says the madrish that you have matured you've developed into or you're already a person you're already your own person everything is is there for you here's the key walk into the storehouse and see all the treasures that are awaiting you in a similar way hashem also had everything stored away stored away for the jewish people tells us that hashem created the sun and the moon and the stars and all of these celestial bodies were created for what purpose it was in order that there would be signs that there be that there be that there be the the cycle of the calendar okay but the jewish people are not yet ready to stealth so to speak to to associate and be able to use these things that were at their disposal they were stored away by hashem kevin shaw um when the jewish people were now mature and the jewish people had now been forged as a nation about to be taken by god about to become the jewish people the the chosen nation of hashem god would be their king and they would be his people so as that moment occurred so that's when gave them this brand new moon the the stars the sun the the the cycles of the of the calendar was given to them to be able to use an amazing treasure so that's muscle number one muscle number two and this is where we get into the guts what i want to say of what the idea is that i would like to bring about bring out because it's comparable to a king who married a woman and when he he didn't marry her yet i'm sorry he became betrothed to her he was going to be the queen and when he first was engaged so he gave her he gave her some presents he didn't give her the full extent of the presence he wanted to give her yet kevin shabbat so then when he actually consummated the marriage he completed the marriage brought her into his home and gave her unending amounts of presence like her husband an amazing thing a beautiful thing powerful thing so important to understand this world the the experience that we've had until now the experience of the last 3 300 years starting from the time that hashem gave the torah they took us out of egypt exodus on through history first based on their second base something the goddess the entire exile of the jewish people that period represents hashem's betrothed to us hashem gave us small presents he gave us the sun the moon the stars or let's refer to it as just the moon that's the measure says i shall be betrothed to you forever meaning as long as we're in the world as we currently know it in our current situation before mashiach has arrived before we've entered that new stage of reality so that's referred to as the moon the relationship that we have with hashem is like the small gifts so it's very interesting in the previous analogy so this was the the exodus and the gifts of the of the of the maya days the the calendar which was represented by the moon that's the climax but here in this version of the magish so or this understanding of it it was a true it may have been a climax but it was the beginning it was the first stage it was the stage where hashem gives us the moon the moon it's just a doesn't have such a bright light the moon cycles the moon is at the beginning of the month very small when the messiah arrives the times of mashiach the jewish people are returned the entire jewish people are returned to their land we have a temple standing in the third base amigdas the third temple so what happens that's considered hashem has taken us and married us all the way not just the first stage not just the irishman not just the betrothal but rather the marriages consummated between god and the jewish people is the verse in isaiah chapter 54 refers to the fact of the jewish people hashem will become our bowel he will become our husband the one who interacts with us deeply in in an intimate way in a private way hashem is going to give us everything not just the moon right those who have merited to have a spiritual understanding they will shine like the shine of the heavens and those who have caused others to do righteous deeds so they will be like the stars forever and ever again stage is betrothal that's the moon the completion of the stage is the sun the sun and the other special beings that's the marriage that's when the messiah arrives and we have the completion the completion of those two stages so now what i'd like to offer you is that you see everywhere always in every situation there are two stages there's the initial stage and there's the completion stage there's the stage where it's the beginning of the relationship there's a stage where it's it's dark it's the first stage it's the heir soon it's the moon at the beginning of the month and in that stage the beginning of the month in that stage at the beginning of the month it's the beginning it's the beginning but it's not the completion it's the dark stage it's the stage where the relationship is not complete the the maturities are small the gifts are small and we're waiting for that time the middle of the month which represents which corresponds to when the sun is when we have the sun so to speak as in the second analogy the middle of the month is when the moon is full we have that full relationship what i'd like to explain though and that's the the essence of what i'd like to bring out of the medrash and bring out of these bring out of the concepts that we've spoken about until now is that in essence these are two parts of a complete whole right we have one full month the month is called nissan it's the month of pesach but it doesn't start in the middle of the month it starts at the beginning of the month we start speaking about it two weeks before why because they're all part of one cycle they're all part of one complete whole the entire month is yours the entire thing from the beginning which is the darkness until the middle of the month which is that full light on through as the moon wanes this whole month is yours you have a full cycle you can't ignore the night when you have a when you have a day the day begins at night right the beginning of the day is in the night that's the way the cycles always go our relationships start always with a with a with a certain darkness with a certain distance we don't yet have that full relationship yet at the beginning it develops over time and as we get into the deeper aspect that's when it is constantly that's when it's completed but we can't get to the middle of the month if we haven't started at the beginning of the month we can't get to the day without having gone through the night and so we we are checking for comments we're checking for comments when or our boss are we refer to it as the the light why refresh the light because it's an acknowledgement of the fact that the darkness the darkness the night of the night before is part of the light the the occurs the redemption itself occurs at midnight when the when the bahrain die of the egyptians that's when para says get out of here but when do we leave we leave egypt in full in the daylight in in the full view of the egyptians not like we're running out of there like robbers in the night but the idea is that the night the darkness we think of the night and the darkness is it's something that we have to get through in order to get to the day what is what the gemara is telling us is that we refer to the night as as light because the night itself is also an essential component it's not a separate entity from the day it's a unit the day is a 24-hour unit that consists and starts off with night but you got to get through that it's not just you have to get through that night the night itself is what brings us to the day the darkness itself is what brings us to the light the the exile itself is what brings us to the redemption from the exile it's this three thousand years that we've experienced three thousand three hundred years since the jewish people began or we could go back even three thousand seven hundred years if we want to go back to avraham avinu when that promise of of the exile redemption was made to him this darkness the exile the long exiled from the from the from the time of the second temple until now almost 2 000 years this long exile this long darkness it's not really dark we can't refer to it as darkness that's what ghazal are teaching us we need to refer to it as light we start talking about the daytime we start talking about pesach at the beginning of the month when it's dark when the when the moon is not yet full that's when we start talking about pesach we start checking for the for the comets we start preparing ourselves in the night lord haner we light up the darkness with a little candle in order to recognize that the darkness itself is part of the light you can't separate it you have to focus on the light aspect of the darkness to remember we we never forget the exodus from egypt why we was talking about avondama you know the bar mission we were slaves in egypt why we was talking about that because the darkness itself is what produces the light we can't the the darkness itself that seems so dark is really light it's a different kind of light it's never kind of relationship it's an arizona yes it's a betrothal yes we don't have that full closeness we don't have that full relationship but that's part of the relationship you can't get to step b if you haven't gone through step a i'd like to bless you and i ask you to bless me hashem should help us to be able to see the darkness for what it is see the the the night night for nagi the and the noon gimmel the the light that it really is because it's what brings us to that to that real light hashem should help us to be able to be zaika to see the fulfillment of these verses just like we've gone through all of these years counting by the moon hashem should help us to be able to reach that day so soon when we experience the awesome light that he has in store for us that never-ending light that no longer waxes and wanes but rather is as bright as the light of the sun thank you so much for listening have a wonderful shamas this podcast was made possible 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