Tzvi Moshe On The Meaning Of Renewal

The goal of this essay is to analyze one aspect of what it means to enter into redemption by means of the moon. It can be read in two parts:

The first Mitzva that we receive as a nation upon our redemption is Kiddush HaChodesh. This Mitzva consists of looking up at the moon, seeing that it is no longer visible, and marking that point as Rosh Chodesh, the first day of the new month. The Passuk says HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem. This month shall be for you. The Sages of our generations gave us a timeless interpretation of the Passuk. Instead of HaChodesh - This month, read the first word HaChiddush - This Renewal shall be for you.

The first Mitzvah of redemption, the commandment that thus encapsulates Geula is marking the new month, seeing a new moon, the power of renewal.

It would therefore make sense that the other side of the coin. The way that we go into exile is when this power of renewal is taken away from us. When the Goyim become empowered with Chiddush that means that they have the upper hand. How do we see this? At the very start of the Galus, when the exile beings the Passuk says VaYakam Melech Chadash Al Mitzrayim, A new king rose up over Egypt. The Egyptians took the power of newness, and with that they enslaved us.

So it looks like everything lines up cleanly. Exile beings with the nations take the power of Chiddush and we go into redemption when we take it back with HaChiddush HaZeh Lachem
But this is problematic on both fronts of our model. The “Melech Chadash” was not a new king at all. Chazal tell us that it was really the same king just that he revealed a more empowered side of himself, but really it was the same guy. And the moon as well is not new. It’s the same exact moon as it was just a day before when we could see it. So how does the moon become the axiomatic example of new, if it’s never really new?

Comes the Sfas Emes and redefines ‘new.’ New doesn’t mean something that has never been before. New means revealing something that was always there, just that it was covered up until now. This is the Melech Chadash, it was the same guy. But he revealed a new aspect of himself, a new facet that was so powerful that he was a totally new person. This applies to the moon as well. Now that it has reappeared, it can bring in with it a new month, and with that a totally new identity.

Two examples to make the idea more clear: We know that Hashem told Moshe every piece of Torah while he was at Har Sinai. Everything. Every future conversation, every book, and every logical twist - everything. So then how can one ever come along and claim to have a Chiddush, an original thought in Torah? It’s not original, it was already said over to Moshe! The answer is that, while it is true that the idea was given to Moshe, you have uncovered it. And because you have revealed this previously covered facet of Torah, it is your Chiddush.

A second example: An archeologist who uncovers a massive dinosaur attributes the find to himself and his team. When the skeleton arrives at the museum it has the archeologist’s name on the plaque outside the case. It is his. But this is not really true is it? After all, the fossil was really there the whole time. But now we see how to understand this. Based on our definition when the archeologist makes this discovery he revealed something that had been previously stored away in the recesses of the earth. Thereby, by all counts, his find is totally new.

Let’s take this a small step deeper. The Passuk in Koheles says Ein Chadash Tachas HaShemesh. There is nothing new under the sun. Thus when do we deem the moon ‘new’? When in the sky it is no longer visible. When the light of the sun no longer influences the moon it can now be considered ‘new’ again. What is the deeper meaning of this? The light of the sun is the apparent reality. Everything that the sun shines on is the definition of the world that I live in. Only when something escapes that influence of the physical reality – the expectations of the world around it can it become empowered to refresh itself and become new.