In this week’s Parsha, Parshat Bo, the Jewish People are nearing the culmination of the long enslavement and exile in Egypt. Seemingly out of nowhere, Hashem gives the Jewish People their first mitzvah, the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh, declaring and sanctifying the new month. 

 הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחׇדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה׃ (שמות י”ב, ב’) 

We have to stop and ask ourselves, why is the mitzvah commanded smack in the middle of all the makot, as the Jews are headed out of Egypt? 

The Sfat Emet has a beautiful answer. He explains that slavery, of any kind, drains people of their ability to revive or renew themselves. Life in servitude is endlessly repetitive. Today is the same as yesterday, and will be the same as tomorrow. There is no vibrancy or vitality within the life of servitude. Therefore, our redemption from slavery depends on our ability to renew and revive our spirits! 

According to this idea, the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh, given specifically to the Jewish People while still in Egypt, could not be more fitting! HaShem is telling the Jewish People through this mitzvah: “You are about to leave, I am taking you out of Egypt! There is one thing you need to do for yourselves – and that is to enter the mindset of renewal. Be like the moon. No one day is like the previous one. To fully leave exile you need to leave the exile mindset behind. You need to revive your soul, ignite the spark within.” 

This is why HaShem tells us specifically, “HaChodesh hazeh lachem,” “This month shall mark for you.” Our ability to be mechadesh, to renew ourselves, rests in our hands. We need to be the ones who put in the effort. HaShem can physically take us out of Egypt, but mentally and emotionally – that is our part. Through emunah, belief in Hashem and belief in our own selves, we can constantly revive ourselves, and bring vitality into our lives! 

The essence of the redemption mindset is the belief and understanding that you are in full control of your life. A person who is an exile, a person who is a slave, is constantly affected by others. Other people affect his life, other people tell him what to do, other people get on his nerves. A free person is in control of his life, chooses how to react, decides he wants to start over, or let things go.

This message is so profound to us, as Jews, in a modern 21st century world. The absolute first thing that we must know as Jews, is that we need to live a life of vitality. A life of excitement! Our relationship with HaShem, and with the world, cannot be a relationship with an exile mindset, a relationship that is simply routine and mechanical. Rather, the relationship needs to be alive, a relationship of constant renewal, just like the moon. Today, we live in a reality where everything is happening so fast. HaShem gives us this first mitzvah, a mitzvah that is a gift, to teach us that we are in complete control of our lives, our decisions, our reactions, our time. 

I want to give us all a blessing, that we have the koach, energy, and ratzon, desire, to leave behind our own personal exile mindsets this year, and journey towards a life of redemption!

Each and everyone of us, on a personal level, and the Jewish People, on a communal level, should merit to have the awakening towards a life of renewal and vitality. 

Shabbat Shalom!