The First Mitzvah
Judaism is not about religion. It is about transforming the world; making every year, month, week, day, hour, minute and second count. Today is not just today. It is the accumulation of sanctified segments of time that represent a powerful surge of unprecedented energy. The weekdays that we sanctify with our Mitzvos make the Shabbos that much more meaningful and holy—in addition to the natural sanctity the Shabbos possesses. And all of the sanctified “weekdays” of our past come together to create the ultimate Sabbath of existence—the era of Moshiach.
Faith, Procreation and Establishing the Calendar
What was the first commandment, the Jewish people were given as a nation?
Most people would answer by citing the first of the Ten Commandments: “I am the L-rd your G-d, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt from the House of Bondage.” Indeed, Maimonides lists this commandment to believe and know G-d as his first in his Book of Commandments and in his Mishneh Torah.
Others might have answered that the first commandment was to “be fruitful and multiply,” for it is the first commandment mentioned in the Torah. Indeed, the medieval classic work on the 613 Mitzvos known as the Chinuch, lists this commandment as the very first.
Rashi, in his opening commentary on the Torah says that the first Mitzvah the Jews were given as a people, is one that appears in this week’s Torah portion:
“This month is to you the head of all the months.”
From this verse we derive the mitzvah for the Jewish people, through the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Court), to convene every month and declare when the new month should begin.
In other words, the first Mitzvah the Jewish people were given was to set up a system of determining the months and the Jewish Holidays.
One may raise the obvious question: why was this Mitzvah the first one the Jewish people were introduced to as a nation. What is so special about this mitzvah?
We can appreciate why Maimonides considers the belief in and knowledge of G-d as the first commandment because it was the first commandment they heard directly from G-d when He spoke – the one and only time in history – to the entire Jewish people.
Furthermore, the mitzvah to believe and know G-d is the foundation of all the other commandments. If one does not accept the existence of a G-d, the Commander of the Mitzvos, there is no basis for any of the other commandments. Hence, as Maimonides himself notes, this mitzvah is listed first because it is the most fundamental of all.
We can also appreciate why the Chinuch lists the obligation of procreation as the first commandment. Not only is it literally the first Mitzvah that appears in the Torah, but, moreover, observance of this mitzvah facilitates the observance of all others. For Judaism to survive, there must be a Jewish people.
Indeed, the Chinuch seems to be justifying the fact that this is the Torah’s very first Mitzvah by stating:
“This great Mitzvah through which all the other Mitzvos are performed, for they were given to humans and not to angels.”
In other words, without this Mitzvah there can be no humanity; and without humanity there is no purpose in having these commandments, since the only other intelligent beings are angels and they don’t need the Torah.
This explains (see notes of Rabbi Chavel on Chinuch there) why the general prohibition of selling a Torah scroll, even for the sake of observing a Mitzvah, does not apply to the Mitzvah of marriage. The only other exception is Torah study. Now, the exception made for Torah study is understandable. What use is a Torah scroll of one cannot afford to study the Torah? But, what reason is there for selling a Torah scroll for the sake of marriage? Why would marriage—more than any other Mitzvah—override the prohibition of selling a Torah scroll?
The rationale for marriage is that one cannot perpetuate the Torah without the introduction of new life. Of what avail is a Torah scroll if there is no one to pass it on to in the next generation? Hence selling a Torah scroll for the sakeof marriage—as is the case with selling it for the sake of Torah study—actually facilitates Torah study and observance of its precepts.
To summarize the question:
Belief in G-d is the foundation of Judaism. Propagating the species preserves the viability of Judaism. But what overarching theme is conveyed by the Mitzvah of establishing the calendar?
As we shall see, the establishment of a Jewish calendar by the Jewish people, epitomizes Judaism’s philosophy and purpose.
Sanctifying Time: Foundation of the Mitzvos
When G-d gave us the Torah at Mount Sinai, His objective was to provide us with a means to change the world and transform it into a G-dly world. Every time we do a mitzvah that involves a physical object, we instill holiness into that object as well as into ourselves.
For example: When a Jew puts on Tefillin, for example, the leather boxes, the parchment upon which the scrolls contained within the Tefillin are written, and the arm and head of the person who wears them, all become holy. The same is true of giving tzedakah, lighting a Shabbos candle et al.
Now, while this concept applies to all Mitzvos, it is most vividly expressed in this first Mitzvah of establishing the calendar.
When the Rabbinical court would declare the New Month (Rosh Chodesh) they were actually transforming time itself. By declaring the new month, they transformed an ordinary weekday into a holy day (Rosh Chodesh). Indeed the very words the Jewish court used to sanctify the New Moon was: “mekudash (it is sanctified”). Once Rosh Chodesh was determined, all Jewish Holy Days which follow the lunar calendar could be scheduled. In other words, it were the Jewish people, through their Sanhedrin, that were responsible for the very establishment of the Holy Days.
By giving the Jewish people the mitzvah of establishing the calendar first, the Torah wished to underscore that the whole purpose of Judaism is to bring holiness into the mundane.
Moreover, this process of making the world holy begins with the transformation of time. When we make time holy, through the observance of Rosh Chodesh and Jewish Holidays, we have the capacity to also bring holiness into space, since time and space are inextricably bound, as Maimonides writes. When time is seen as something that has intrinsic value, it instills value into everything else. If we can affect something as elusive as time, we can certainly affect our own bodies and the world around us.
We have the Power to Change the World
And most importantly, perhaps, the lesson that we can derive from placing the establishment of the Jewish calendar by the courts as the first Mitzvah is that we have the power to change the world. Knowing this at the outset is crucial because it set the tone for all the other Mitzvos that involve refining and changing the world.
‘Contrary to other philosophies that minimize our role in effecting drastic changes in the world, Judaism believes, unequivocally, that G-d gave us mere mortals the ability ad responsibility to make the world a good and holy place. This process begins by valuing each and every day, instilling time itself with meaning, purpose and holiness.
Moshiach’s Coming Imminent
With this premise that Judaism is about endowing time with meaning and sanctity, we can gain some insight into the belief in the coming of Moshiach and into the belief in the imminence of his coming.
There are those who cannot accept the possibility of the coming of Moshiach and the ultimate Redemption. They find it still harder to imagine that Moshiach’s coming is imminent. How can the world change so drastically and precipitously? Certainly, they muse, it will have to take centuries, perhaps even millennia for it to occur if it can occur at all.
The answer to their “challenge” lies in the uniqueness of Judaism. It is not about religion. It is about transforming the world; making every year, month, week, day, hour, minute and second count. Today is therefore not just today. It is the accumulation of sanctified segments of time that represent a powerful surge of unprecedented energy. And just as the weekdays that we sanctify with our Mitzvos make the Shabbos that much more meaningful and holy—in addition to the natural sanctity the Shabbos possesses—all of the sanctified “weekdays” of our past come together to create the ultimate Sabbath of existence—the era of Moshiach.
And through our cumulative efforts at transforming the world, the world will finally realize the Divine purpose for which it was created - to become G-d’s dwelling place. This ultimate goal is reflected in the first Mitzvah of bringing holiness into time, the ultimate result of which is the realization of a time when even the weekdays will be visibly and palpably holy.
Three Firsts: Foundation, Means and Objective
Let us return to the other two “firsts”: According to Maimonides the first and most fundamental Mitzvah is belief in G-d. According to the Chinuch it is the Mitzvah to procreate. And the third “first,” according to Rashi is the establishment of a system for reckoning time.
Each of these pivotal Mitzvos focuses on a different aspect of Judaism:
Belief in G-d is the foundation of all of Judaism.
Procreation is the means through which all of Judaism is communicated and implemented.
The establishment of the calendar, however, epitomizes Judaism’s thrust and objective—for us to bring G-dly meaning to the entire world; to make the world a dwelling place for G-d and the transformation of all time into holy days.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Bo by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
