Rule Over Time

Why is kiddush hachodesh the first mitzva given to Klal Yisroel?  The possuk says החדש הזה לכם, what is the meaning of the word לכם?  The Sforno explains that before, you were slaves and weren’t able decide what to do with your time.  However, now, you will be free and will have free reign to decide what to do with your time.  לכם means that time is now yours. The Sforno is telling us that slavery means that your time isn’t yours.  The symbol of freedom is to have one’s time in their own hands.  Why was this the freedom message given to Klal Yisroel?  How does having time in their own hands sum up the advantage of being free from the Egyptians?

Time is the ultimate boundary of this world for everything in existence is subject to the boundaries of time.    Mitzraim comes from the word מצר-constraint.  Egypt represents the constraints of the physical world.  They were the epitome of life devoid of kedusha, where one can lift themselves above the world’s boundaries.  The Egyptian’s constraint on Klal Yisroel within their time frame didn’t just mean that they controlled the actions of Klal Yisroel.  It also reflected that Klal Yisroel were subjects of the coarse nature of the Egyptians.  The Rebbe asks how can it say (1:14) וימררו את חייהם if a Jew’s life is his ruchnious?  The Egyptians physically overworked us, but how did they embitter us spiritually?  He explains that the servitude embittered their lives because it wasn’t a work that served any purpose in avodas Hashem, rather was just useless work.  It wasn’t the physical acts themselves which embittered their lives, rather the emptiness of it.  Their lives were embittered because they were working on the Egyptian’s time table, not in a time table which enhanced their ability to serve Hashem.   When Klal Yisroel went free they broke out of the boundaries of time which were superimposed upon them.  They now were able to use their time for Hashem and bring kedusha to time.  The mitzvah of kiddush hachodesh represents this ability to bring kedusha to the constraints of the physical world.  Therefore, it was the first mitzvah given in order to teach Klal Yisroel that as a new nation they have the ability to break the physical boundaries of the world by infusing it with kedusha.  The escape of the boundary of time is to connect it holy purposes which are above time (see Pachad Yitzchak Pesach essay 1.)

Hashem gave an exact time for when maccas bechoros was going to happen.  Why was it necessary to give the exact time of the maccah?  Since the human mind can’t calculate the exact moment of chatzos (as Rashi explains that’s why Moshe told Pharaoh around chatzos) by having the maccah occur at a specific time it showed that Hashem is above time barriers.  Not only is Hashem not bound by the limitation of time, but he has complete control over them.  This was the complete nullification of the Egyptian’s way of thinking and therefore was expressed in the final plague (based upon Likutay Sichos volume 3.)    

  

Why was there a need to eat the korban pesach in a rush, ready to go if Klal Yisroel weren’t going to leave until the next day?  Why was there an emphasis on leaving Egypt in such a rush?  Klal Yisroel had to get out of the boundaries as fast as possible.  Therefore, even though they wouldn’t be leaving immediately, they still needed to show that they were rushing to get out of Egypt (see Rav Tzodok on Rosh Chodesh Nisson.)  That’s why Hashem emphasized that they leave in such a rush.  Rushing out (not following normal time constraints) was the way of breaking free from the confines of Egypt.  The leaving of Egypt had to be done in a way which was as much above time as is humanly possible.  (Possibly this is the intent of the Maharal in Gevuros Hashem chapter 35 who says “Klal Yisroel went out with a madraga kelokis where there is no concept of time”.)

The Greeks made a decree not to be mekadash the chodesh.  Why did they find this mitzvah specifically worthy of making a decree against?  The Greeks believed the human intellect reigned.  Since the human intellect is bound by time they couldn’t fathom that there could be an existence above time.  The mitzvah of kiddush hachodesh is a recognition that there is a power over time.  It is a demonstration that time is controlled by Hashem. 

The Emes Le’Yaakov asks why is a pidyon haben celebrated with a festive meal? It would seem to be a sad event for beforehand the child was completely reserved for holy purposes only, but now he loses that holiness?  He explains that for Jews holiness is not to remain separated from the world, but rather to able to infuse the physical world with holiness.  Therefore, by being redeemed and being able to bring holiness even to mundane activities is an event worth celebrating.  This idea is the common thread which unites all the mitzvot given to Klal Yisroel at the end of the parsha.  The mitzvah of tefillin represents that we will use our mind and strength to serve Hashem.  Even the tefillin themselves are made of animal parts.  We take the physical makeup of a cow and elevate it into an object of a mitzva.  Rashi says one of the reasons that a first-born donkey has kedusha to be redeemed is because the first born of the Egyptians are called donkeys.  The mitzvah is to show that even in the most physical animal, the chamor which is related to the word chumri- physicality, we understand that there is kedusha to it.  This is the antithesis of the Egyptians who believed that this world was completely devoid of kedusha, therefore, we received these mitzvot as we left Egypt.