Serving Hashem with authenticity

Rosh Chodesh is the topic of this week’s additional Torah reading: “The L-rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: ‘This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year’.” (Shemot 12:1- 2) According to the Mechilta d’Rabbi Yishmael, the halachic Midrash to Shemot, Rosh Chodesh was one of three or four cases, wherein it was necessary for the Master of the Universe to teach Moshe by example. The other instances were sheratzim (the forbidden creeping animals), the menorah in the mishkan and, according to some, the laws of schechitah:

“Rabbi Akiva said: This [Rosh Chodesh] was one of three subjects that proved quite difficult for Moshe, and necessitated the Omnipresent One’s demonstration by example (b’etzba) [of all details pursuant to each topic]. This is similar in kind to, “And this is unclean for you among creeping creatures that creep on the ground…” (Vayikra 11:29). So, too, do we find regarding the construction of the menorah: “This was the form of the Menorah…” (Bamidbar 8:4). There are those that say that this was the case, as well, [that Moshe needed to be taught directly by Hashem], in regard to the innate difficulties surrounding schechitah. As the verse states: ‘And this is what you shall offer upon the altar…’ (Shemot 8:29).

[Torah translations from The Judaica Press Complete Tanach; brackets my own.]

The Mechilta determined that these commandments involved direct instruction by Hashem to Moshe based upon the occurrence of the word zeh (this) in the cited proof texts. Zeh, it should be noted, is an expression that always connotes a sense of immediacy and of seeing something of great import. Therefore, at the miracle of Kriyat Yam Suf (the Splitting of the Sea of Reeds), our ancestors proclaimed, “Zeh kali v’anvahu” (“This is my G-d, and I will glorify Him”) (Shemot 15:2).