“Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Mitzrayim … ‘This month shall be the first of the months for you’ ” (Shemos 12:1-2).
G-d began the construction of the inner life of His people by the institution of a sign that would be repeated at regular intervals … call[ing] on it for a rebirth from the murkiness of confusion and corruption.
It is neither the coming together of celestial bodies nor the renewed contact between the moon and the sun with the corresponding outpouring of the sun’s light on the moon that causes the beginning of the month and the festivity of Rosh Chodesh. Rather whenever the moon meets the sun again and receives its light anew G-d asks only one thing — that His nation return to Him and let Him shine His light on it again…. The moon’s approach to the sun is a symbol of our renewed connection with Hashem. The new moon symbolizes our reconnection with Hashem with leads to our own renewal. (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch)
Tonight there is no moon and even the stars’ shine has been dulled. People’s homes are dark — many bereft of their own moons others bereft of hope. They believe that neither they nor their situation will ever be able to change.
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