"And the L-rd spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying. This month shall be to you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you."
In the book of Genesis, Rashi begins his commentary by telling us that the Torah should have opened up with the first commandment in Exodus, from this week's reading, that of declaring the new month. The Torah is in essence a book to teach us about the 613 commandments which we are obligated to fulfill, so why did it go though the entire story of Creation, Noah and the flood, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Rashi explains that all this history came to teach us that G-d is Master of His world, He created it and it is His to do with as He sees fit. He took out the nations that lived in the Land of Israel and replaced them with the Jewish people. Sometimes, one hears claims that a particular Arab's grandfather lived here or that another Arab's family has been in the Land for the past 1,000 years - that may be so, but the world is G-d's to do with as He sees fit, and He gave this Land to the Jewish people. Others may live here, but it belongs to us.
Declaring the new month, the first commandment given over to the Jewish people, is unique in that it gives the power to the Jewish people to say when the new month will be and when the holidays will fall. Simply put, it is done by having two people who saw the new moon come before the court in Jerusalem and give testimony to the 
The power to declare a new month can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel.
fact that they saw the new moon, after which the court declares the New Moon (Month). Since in our day we do not have the court to declare the New Moon, we rely on the calendar which has been pre-programmed to inform us of the arrival of the months and holidays.
The power to declare a new month can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel. The Talmud relates to us an attempt by the leading Rabbis of their time to proclaim the new month in Babylon; they were threatened with excommunication if they continued, and their community was told to go out and build a foreign altar and proclaim that they have no portion in the G-d of Israel. The question is asked, why? What did we do that was so terrible? The Talmud answers because it states: "From Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of G-d from Jerusalem."
The Midrash relates that even if you have heads of yeshivas, academics and leaders outside the Land, and only simpletons and farmers in the Land of Israel, the declaration of the new month can only be done in the Land of Israel. Even prophets outside the Land are secondary in this matter to the simple man inside the Land. They take preference over the Rabbinical Court in the diaspora. The Chatam Sofer adds that there can never be a situation where there are no Jews in the Land, even if there are Jews living outside of the Land, for if that were the case - the world would go back to "Tohu vaVohu" - emptiness and nothingness.
This, then, is the higher level of the Land of Israel, its holiness and greatness are part of the Divine plan for the nation of Israel to be in its Land. Who would not want to take part in this redemption of land and people taking place today? But lo and behold, we find in our Torah reading that during the plague of thick darkness, the 9th plague,
Their sin was that they did not want to be redeemed, and the Torah calls them wicked. 
some Jews were "taken out" by G-d because, as Rashi informs us, they were wicked. And what was their wickedness? One might think that they were murderers, rapist or adulterers. No, none of the above. Rather, their wickedness was that they did not want to leave Egypt. Their sin was that they did not want to be redeemed, and the Torah calls them wicked for that sin.
Do we hear what the Torah is saying? The Jews who did not want to be redeemed and leave Egypt were called wicked and written off. This is not only a lesson for yesteryear, but a relevant reminder for today, as the Redemption clock ticks away.
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A Cut Above the Rest
by Levi Chazen
"And the L-rd spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying. This month shall be to you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you."
In the book of Genesis, Rashi opened up his commentary by telling us that in reality the Torah should have opened up with this first commandment from our Torah reading declaring the new month. The Torah is in essence a book to teach us about the 613 commandments which we are obligated to fulfill, so why did the Torah go though the entire story of Creation, Noah and the flood, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Rashi explains that all of the history came to teach us that G-d is Master of His world, He created it and it is His to do with as He sees fit. He took out the nations that lived in the Land of Israel and replaced them with the Jewish people. So, too, today one hears claims that this Arab's grandfather lived here or that Arab has been in the Land for the past 5,000 years - to all of them we say it's G-d's world to do with as He sees fit, He will take them out and bring the Jewish people in .
Declaring the new month, the first commandment given over to the Jewish people, is unique in that it gives the power to the Jewish people to say when the new month will be and when the holidays will fall. Simply put, it is done by having two people who saw the new moon come before the court in Jerusalem and give testimony to the fact that they saw the new moon, after which the court declares the New Moon (Month). Since in our day we do not have the court to declare the New Moon, we rely on the calendar which has been pre-programmed to inform us of the new months and holidays.
The power to declare a new month can only be fulfilled in the Land of Israel. The Talmud relates to us an attempt by the leading Rabbis of their time to proclaim the new month in Babylon; they were threatened with excommunication if they continued, and their community was told to go out and build a foreign altar and proclaim that they have no portion in the G-d of Israel. The question is asked, why? What did we do that was so terrible? The Talmud answers because it states: "From Zion shall come forth Torah and the word of G-d from Jerusalem."
The Midrash relates that even if you have heads of yeshivas, academics and leaders outside the Land, and only simpletons and farmers in the Land of Israel, the declaration of the new month can only be done in the Land of Israel. Even prophets outside the Land are secondary in this matter to the simple man inside the Land. They take preference over the Rabbinical Court in the diaspora. The Chatam Sofer adds that there can never be a situation where there are no Jews in the Land, even if there are Jews living outside of the Land, for if that were the case - the world would go back to "Tohu vaVohu" - emptiness and nothingness.
This, then, is the higher level of the Land of Israel, its holiness and greatness are part of the Divine plan for the nation of Israel to be in its Land. Who would not want to take part in this redemption of land and people taking place today? But lo and behold, we find in our Torah reading that in the plague of thick darkness, the 9th plague, that many Jews were "taken out" by G-d because, as Rashi informs us, they were wicked. And what was their wickedness? One might think that they were murderers, rapist or adulterers. No, none of the above. Rather, their wickedness was that they did not want to leave Egypt. Their sin was that they did not want to be redeemed, and the Torah calls them wicked.
Do we hear what the Torah is saying? The Jews who did not want to be redeemed and leave Egypt were called wicked and written off. This is not only a lesson for yesteryear, but also relevant for today, as the Redemption clock ticks away.
Do you want to be left behind?
I am using the Free version of SPAMfighter.
We are a community of 6 million users fighting spam.
SPAMfighter has removed 5825 of my spam emails to date.
The Professional version does not have this message.