Parshat Va’eira & Shabbat M’vorchim
Let’s start with Shabbat M’vorchim. This coming Shabbat, Parshat Va’eira, is the 28th of Tevet. Tevet, in our fixed calendar, has 29 days. That makes the following day – Monday – the one day of Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat.
In addition to announcing the upcoming Rosh Chodesh, and asking Hashem to bless the coming month, we also announce the molad. The molad is the moment when the Moon is positioned between Earth and the Sun, so its illuminated side faces away from us and the Moon is not visible in the sky. This marks the beginning of a new lunar cycle. The molad is also known as the New Moon.
For our calendar purpose, the calculation of the molad each month uses the average time it takes the Moon to cycle through its phases. That’s called a lunation – the period from one molad to the next. But again, it is based on the average – not the actual time it takes each month, which differs from the average due to the change in speed of the Moon’s revolution around the Earth (and the Earth-and-Moon’s revolution around the Sun).
The molad for Sh’vat 5786 – as will be announced during Rosh Chodesh bentching this coming Shabbat – is on Sunday, six minutes and eleven chalakim after three in the afternoon. The molad is announced everywhere in the world according to what is called Jerusalem Solar Time. This is not a clock time, but is calculated as if the Sun in Jerusalem were at its highest point in the sky at 12:00 (noon). This month’s molad converts to 14:56 (four minutes before 3:00 p.m.) Israel Winter Time.
The announced molad does not get changed anywhere to local time but, for informational purposes, the time equivalent can be expressed in local time. For example, the molad of Sh’vat will be announced in New York as Sunday, six minutes and eleven chalakim after three in the afternoon – but converts to 7:56 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The actual molad – the astronomical New Moon – will be on Sunday night at 9:53 p.m. This takes into account the variation in orbital speed of the Moon, which can be less or more than the average. The average timing does not take into account the result of what the world calls Kepler’s Second Law of Planetary Motion – which I prefer to call “G-d’s Second Law of Planetary Motion which Kepler discovered.” That rule states: A planet (or moon) moves faster in its orbit when it is closer to the Sun and slower when it is farther away.
If the Moon’s orbit around the Earth were a perfect circle, then a lunation would be the same length of time every month. But the Moon’s orbit is slightly elliptical; hence the variation.
Thus, Yom Rishon (Sunday) at six minutes and eleven chalakim after three in the afternoon – which will be announced on Shabbat as the molad for Sh’vat – as well as 2:56 p.m. Israel Winter Time and 7:56 a.m. Eastern Standard Time are all the same moment, just expressed differently. The actual (astronomical) molad – 9:53 p.m. Israel Winter Time (equivalent to 2:53 p.m. EST, 11:53 a.m. PST, and so on) is not the same time as the halachic molad, but falls about two hours later this month. The actual molad varies from month to month and can be several hours earlier or later than the announced molad.
Do we have to know all this? Not really. It is enough to hear and participate in Rosh Chodesh bentching. But knowing how the Jewish Calendar works (both the fixed calendar of today, when we have no Sanhedrin, as well as the way it worked – and will work – when we have a sitting Sanhedrin) is in the spirit of the mitzvah of “HaChodesh hazeh lachem…” – the mitzvah which we will read about in next week’s sedra of Bo. That mitzvah is the first mitzvah commanded to the new Nation of Israel, while we were still in Egypt.
Our calendar is an ongoing gift from G-d, through which He lovingly made us His partners in sanctifying time. That is no small thing. The twice used term “lachem” (for you) in the pasuk giving us our own calendar forges a special bond between G-d and us. It behooves us to know and appreciate how it works.
More on this, IY”H, next week.
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Now, speaking of Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat…
It is a Rosh Chodesh which has two claims to fame, making it more than a run-in-the-mill Rosh Chodesh (as if any Rosh Chodesh is ordinary).
In the opening p’sukim of the Book of D’varim, the Torah tells us that Moshe commenced his “farewell address” to the People of Israel. He would review and explain all of the mitzvot of the Torah and the hashkafa of a Torah life. This process began in the fortieth year of their wandering, in the 11th month, on the first of the month – namely, Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat.
This review by Moshe Rabbeinu took 37 days, lasting until the 7th of Adar, when he died.
Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat joins three other days on our calendar that can all be seen as days of Matan Torah/Kabbalat HaTorah (the Giving or Receiving of the Torah).
The first date is the sixth of Sivan – or more accurately, the 50th day following the first day of Pesach, which is the festival of Shavuot, Z’man Matan Torateinu.
The second date is Yom Kippur, the 10th of Tishrei. It was on that day that we received the second set of Tablets which replaced the Luchot that Moshe had broken on the 17th of Tammuz, when he descended Mount Sinai after 40 days and 40 nights of learning all of the Written Torah and the Oral Law. Since the first Luchot were broken, Yom Kippur can also be seen as a day of Matan Torah.
Then comes Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat, as described above.
The fourth date is Purim, the day of “Kiymu v’kiblu,” the day we joyously committed ourselves to freely fulfill what we had previously received under coercion with the mountain (Mt. Sinai) held above our heads. This time it was free will and joyous acceptance of mitzvot.
Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat is a good day to commit oneself to a little more Torah learning, going to a new shiur, or checking out YouTube for some interesting videos of Divrei Torah and shiurim. Really, any day is good for the above, but let Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat inspire you to increased learning experiences.
Another connection: In the first mishna of Masechet Rosh Hashanah, we learn that the New Year for fruit is Tu BiSh’vat, the 15th of Sh’vat. However, the mishna also gives us Beit Shammai’s opinion that Rosh Hashanah La-Ilanot is the first of Sh’vat.
It seems that this particular dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel was based on whether the starting point for certain agricultural halachot should be when changes (with fruit trees) begin or when they become more evident. Bottom line: We follow Beit Hillel, which puts Rosh Hashanah La-Ilanot in the middle of the middle month of the winter (the winter months being Tevet, Sh’vat, and Adar): Tu BiSh’vat.
However, with a nod to Beit Shammai, take a fruit to lunch on Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat this coming Monday.
Before we look at this week’s sedra of Va’eira, let me review: Sh’vat has 30 days. Its days each have two days of the week on which they cannot fall and five days of the week on which they can fall.
Rosh Chodesh Sh’vat and Tu BiShvat (as well as the 8th, 22nd, and 29th of the month) cannot fall on a Sunday or a Friday. They most often fall on Shabbat (30% of the time), with Monday (as in this year) coming in a close second (28%). Wednesday’s and Thursday’s frequencies are 18% and 20%, respectively, with Tuesday in last place, occurring less than 4% of the time.
And now let’s look at some of the numbers in Va’eira.
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As we read/learn/hear the opening p’sukim in this week’s sedra, we find the famous Four Terms of Redemption – Arba L’Shonot Geulah. They are part of G-d’s prophecy to Moshe, that which he was to transmit to Bnei Yisrael.
They are one of the reasons we have the (Rabbinic) mitzvah of drinking the Four Cups of wine at the Seder (also referred to as the Sedarim, outside of Israel).
There is also a Fifth Term – we’ll get to it shortly. But in fact, there are actually eight terms – at least the way I see the p’sukim. So, let’s look closely.
Va’eira begins with the 2nd pasuk of the 6th perek of Sefer Sh’mot. The sedra’s 121 p’sukim are from Perek 6 (29 p’sukim), 7 (29 p’sukim), 8 (28 p’sukim), and 9 (35 p’sukim).
Hashem said to Moshe that He has “remembered” His promises to the Avot and has heard the cries of the people. Therefore, He says, tell Bnei Yisrael, “I am Hashem, and I will take you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will save you from their labor, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments” (Sh’mot 6:6).
Without going into further details, these three terms relate directly to the Exodus from Egypt. The Fourth Term is found at the beginning of 6:7: “And I will take you to Me as a people…” That happened after the Exodus, after the crossing of the Sea, yet it is added to the three Terms of Redemption to include the reason for G-d’s having taken us out of Egypt. It wasn’t just to take us out and free us from slavery. It was to free us to be Avdei Hashem, servants of G-d.
But let’s look at the rest of this pasuk: “…and I will be a G-d to you and you will know that I am the L-rd your G-d, Who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”
The idea is not necessarily to add cups at the Seder, nor to take the focus off the Exodus and that special night – but to flesh out the significance of what happened at Har Sinai. We find in this pasuk a fifth and sixth term to add to V’lakachti: G-d’s taking us to Him as a nation is half of a mutual covenant between G-d and the Jewish People. Our side of that covenant is that we accept G-d to be Elokeinu, our G-d. We are His people; He is our G-d.
And what results from that is the clear understanding that it was He Who took us out of Egypt. Not Par’o freeing us. Not even Moshe taking us out. G-d makes this crystal clear with His first words to the people at Sinai – one pasuk of the two which we heard from G-d at the Revelation at Sinai: “I am Hashem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Sh’mot 20:2).
We then come to the third pasuk of this covenantal prophecy, Sh’mot 6:8: “I will bring you to the Land, concerning which I raised My hand to give to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Yaakov, and I will give it to you as a heritage…”
What most people see as the fifth term has now become the Seventh Term of Redemption (because I counted two further terms from 6:7): V’heiveiti, and I will bring you to the future Eretz Yisrael.
This promise has a significant second half. G-d says not only that He will bring us to the Promised Land which He promised to our Patriarchs but also that He will give that Land to us – V’natati.
The prophecies/promises in these three p’sukim are bracketed with the same words – “Ani Hashem,” I am G-d.
This is the sum total of G-d’s Plan for the Jewish People: Take us out of Egypt; give us the Torah; bring us into Eretz Yisrael.
Not all the Israelites came out of Egypt. There’s nothing we can do about the ones who didn’t leave.
Not all Jews are committed to the Torah and its mitzvot. We can do something about that. Increase our commitment and share it with our fellow Jews. Teach and encourage, in a pleasant way, the beauty of a spiritual life of Torah and mitzvot.
And, not all Jews are committed to living in Eretz Yisrael. We can do something about that, too. Encourage aliyah and facilitate absorption into Israeli society.
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We’ll finish with another significant number from Parshat Va’eira: Seven of the Ten Plagues are described in this sedra. (The final three will be presented in next week’s sedra, Bo.)
Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov.