Parashat Bo- Reflecting the Light of the Sun
We read in Parashat Bo of the Misva of "Kiddush Ha’hodesh," the institution of the Jewish calendar. God commanded Moshe to determine new months based on the sighting of the new moon. Other nations follow the solar cycle, the period of the earth’s revolution around the sun. We, however, follow a lunar calendar, whereby the year is determined based on twelve revolutions of the moon around the earth.
The Rabbis offered many different theories to explain the significance of our calendar system, to identify the broader message that might underlie this focus upon the lunar cycle.
Some Rabbis pointed to the fact that the moon does not produce any light of its own, and merely reflects the light of the sun. The moon appears to us in different sizes at different points of the month, because it reflects a greater or lesser amount of light depending on its position vis-à-vis the sun. It doesn’t have any light of its own, and can therefore produce only as much light as it receives from the sun.
By commanding us to follow a lunar-based calendar, God indicates to us that we must resemble the moon. Our job is to receive the "light," the religious tradition, from our predecessors, without adding any "light" of our own. We do not have the right to tinker with our Torah tradition, to come up with our own innovations to replace the customs and beliefs of our ancestors. Just as the moon’s only light is the light it receives from the sun, similarly, our only religion is the religion that we have received through tradition – no more and no less.
The Jewish movements that assumed the right to produce their own "light," to discard the parts of Torah they didn’t like and come up with their own "improved" version, have veered very far off course and are now rapidly assimilating. When Jews try to produce their own "light," rather than reflecting the "light" of earlier generations, their religion quickly become something bearing little or no resemblance to authentic Judaism. We must remain loyal to the religion of our ancestors, and realize that it does not need any modification. We will then shine upon the world the glorious "light" of our ancestral heritage, and succeed in passing that heritage on to the next generation, exactly how it had been passed on to us.
