Rosh Chodesh Nissan is not only the beginning of a new month, but is the commencement of our lunar "החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים ראשון הוא לחדשי השנה of mitzvah The. birthday national our and calendar "“This month (renewal of the moon) shall be unto you the beginning of New Moons, it shall be unto you the first of the months of the year” (Shemot 12,2) is the first commandment instructed to Bnei Yisrael while still in Egypt, as preparation for their process of redemption.
Particularly at the time of the spring equinox, when agriculturally-based societies such as Egypt celebrated the beginning of the solar-agricultural season, Hashem commanded Bnei Yisrael to identify themselves differently. Although they will also be cognizant of G-d in nature, they will identify themselves with a lunar calendar – with a different sense of time.
As they leave a state of slavery, they will recognize G-d in their particular history, through the vicissitudes of galut and geula, darkness, and light, forever present though not always reflecting brightly.
A moon-based calendar teaches us numerous messages beyond independence from a solely solar based lifestyle. As opposed to the constant and static sun, the moon rotates, it waxes and wanes, reminding us of the opportunity of a new חדש - literally renewal, on a monthly basis.
Rav S.R. Hirsch elucidates the subjective nature of establishing a calendar based on the sighting of the moon as a reminder that we are not to be bound by the unalterable laws of Nature. “It is not to be the conjunction of the moon with the sun; not the moon receiving the rays of illumination afresh, that is to induce the beginnings of our months, it is not that, to which our celebration of the New Moon is to be dedicated. But each time the moon finds the sun again, each time it receives its rays of light afresh, God wants his people to find Him again and to be illuminated with fresh rays of His light, wherever and however, in running their course, they have had to pass through periods of darkness and obscurity. The moon, finding itself again in conjunction with the sun is only to be a model for our finding ourselves again with God, the rejuvenation of the moon a picture of, and an incentive to, our own rejuvenation.” (Hirsch, Exodus 12,2)
This is the first mitzvah that serves to identify and build us as a nation as it sharply differentiates us from the Egyptian culture of an immutable caste system. The sanctification of a New Moon serves as a model for personal and national rejuvenation and development in the spiritual and social realms. It reminds us that Hashem has given us the possibility of being able to start afresh and determine our moral and physical fate.
Perhaps that is why exactly a year later, as we read this past Shabbat in Parshat Pekudei (Shemot 40), the Mishkan is inaugurated on the same date – Rosh Chodesh Nissan. On the anniversary date of our national birth and onset of determining our destinies through renewal, we are afforded an opportunity to renew our relationship with Hashem and restart what was lost through the sin of the golden calf.
The inauguration of the Mishkan on Rosh Chodesh Nissan also complements the creation of the world; the universal-solar based natural world created by Hashem in Tishrei is complemented and completed by Bnei Yisrael’s construction of the Mishkan on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the anniversary of the particularlunar based calendar determined by man. (Manifest through the debate between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua concerning the beginning of creation in Tishrei or Nissan respectively - (Rosh Hashana 10b-11a))
On Rosh Chodesh Nissan, through the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh, we are reminded to be mindful of the moon – to appreciate the passage of time as affording us opportunities to redirect and develop; to productively use the past to immerse ourselves in our present and future. ChazaL teach us (Chagiga 3a) - "חידוש ללא מדרש בית אין - "There is no house of study without innovation! The capacity for hitchadshut (renewal) enables us to discover and formulate insights in the study of Torah as we strengthen our commitment to Torah values.
May this Rosh Chodesh Nissan provide for us to be reenergized and persevere in the face of personal and national adversity, and inspire us for the upcoming months to “find ourselves again with God” in the Beit Midrash and beyond.