Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

The ancient custom in Israel was to complete the Torah every three years between Purim and Pesach. This custom was supplanted by the annual completion which took place at the end of Sukkot, and it became known as Simchat Torah. The earlier custom was meant to complete the Torah right after Moshe Rabbeinu’s Yahrzeit, (7^th of Adar), to be followed by the reading of the 4 Parshiyot, Parshat Shekalim, to remind the Jews of their communal obligations prior to the new fiscal year of Rosh Chodesh Nissan, Parshat Zachor, to connect Amalek’s murderous hatred of the Jews with Haman, Parshat Parah, to remind the Jews that Pesach was approaching, and to be prepared for the ritual purity a pilgrimage and the Korban Pesach would require, and the fourth Parsha will be read this coming Shabbat. That Parsha is known as Parshat Hachodesh, and is a reminder that Pesach is coming.

The question is obvious. We already read a Parsha to remind us that Pesach is approaching. What does Parshat Hachodesh add? Perhaps we can answer that it is another reminder of a holiday that requires more preparation than any other. We need to finish all our Shalach Manot leftovers and start clearing out chametz form open areas. We need to prepare the shopping, the Shmura Matzas, perhaps purchase a new Haggadah, learn good Divrei Torah to share at the Seder, catch up on some of the intricate Halachot of Pesach, and much more. This year, Nissan is the very next day after Parshat Hachodesh, and Pesach, falling on a Sunday (Saturday Night), as it does this year, adds its own detailed and rare cases of Halacha and custom.

Nissan has another dimension to all of this. Shevat is the month of chirping birds and sprouting buds. Adar is the month of miracles. Nissan is the month of renewal, and that is coming just in time. In a few weeks, the vast majority of us will be given protection that will hopefully allow us to return to some type of life that resembles normalcy. By the time we’ll be able to make this year’s blossom blessing (there is a blossoming pear tree on the Southeast corner of 75^th St. and Riverside Drive), we will hopefully feel the full effects of the promise of Nissan. Life will be refreshed and renewed, in a month that God set aside for us as our first Mitzva as a nation, Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon.  

Chodesh Tov!

Be safe. Be healthy.   Be excellent.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Rabbi Allen Schwartz

Congregation Ohab Zedek

118 West 95^th Street | New York, NY  10025-6604

Phone 212.749-5150, ext 200 | Fax 212.663-3635

E-mail ras@ozny.org

Website:  www.ozny.org