Certainly, the moon is not dissatisfied in that its light emanates from the sun. But what then is the “diminution” that will be rectified in the End of Days? What is “painful” for Hashem in relation to the moon?
I believe it is very clear.
* * * * *
The moon never remains the same. Each night it assumes a different shape. At the end of the month it disappears completely. Then, on Rosh Chodesh, a tiny crescent-shaped sliver glows in the sky. The moon has returned. And we rejoice at its reappearance. In fact, Rosh Chodesh celebrates the moon’s renewal. Then it grows until it becomes full on the fifteenth of the month, a glowing ball of light in the night sky. Amazingly, the day of the full moon is the one day of the month when the moon rises at precisely sunset and sets at precisely sunrise.
This indicates that the day of the full moon is a day when both luminaries in fact exist in harmony; one exits in order for the other to have a grand solo entrance. They give kavod for each other on the day of the full moon, which is the fifteenth day of the month.
What else happens on the fifteenth of the month?
Both Pesach and Sukkos begin on the fifteenth. As we sit at the Pesach Seder, a full moon watches over the house. As we sit in the sukkah on the first night of Yom Tov, a full moon is visible through the sechach.
And why all this glory on the fifteenth? The sun and the moon are giving kavod to each other. One exits while the other enters.
Is this not the secret of Am Yisrael’s simcha on Pesach and Sukkos? All our simcha is based on shalom bayis, the kavod we give to each other as one united mishpachah. Did we not stand at Mount Sinai “k’ish echad b’lev echad – like one man with one heart” (Rashi on Shemos 19:2)?
We are in exile because of sinas chinam; we will be saved by ahavas chinam. Am Yisrael will be redeemed in the merit of our achdus, and we know this from the sun and the moon on the fifteenth day of the month, the day the moon is full.
From this we can learn what it was about the moon that was diminished at the beginning of time and what will be rectified in the End of Days.
What will be rectified in Acharis Hayamim is the fact that the moon changes shape every day. The phases of the moon parallel the story of Am Yisrael and this is the reason for our celebration on Rosh Chodesh. When the moon disappears at the end of every month, it is likened to the phases in the life of Am Yisrael and our relationship with Hashem during the times of exile.
Yes, the phases of the moon reflect the situation of Israel during galus, before Mashiach comes to restore our eternal luster and brilliance. It is quite clear that the moon’s cycles – its reappearance on Rosh Chodesh, its increasing fullness until the fifteenth of the month, its diminution until it disappears entirely at the end of the month, and then its reappearance once again – represent the history of Am Yisrael throughout history.
Israel views the monthly renascence of the moon as the guarantee, permanently written into natural law, as it were, that Israel…will ever be reborn [despite our setbacks when it seems as if we have disappeared, God forbid, from history], and [we] will be constantly and miraculously delivered from threatening destruction and restored to life eternal. – Rabbi Dr. Elie Munk, The World of Prayer, Volume II, p. 140-1
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