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Sponsored in memory of Fay and Nathan Holzman.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Thank you.
So, first of all, I'm very honored to be part of this series. I've only had a chance to listen to a couple of the other Rosh Chodesh recordings, but they were beautiful, Shiorim, and I'm really honored to be part of that group.
I'd like to talk today about Mustaf Rosh Chodesh, A Time of Kappara. Now, when I got the topic of Mustafa, I found it very difficult. And in fact, this has been one of the most difficult talks I've had to put together because as you'll see, there's a lot of textual things involved. And the question is, how do you convey that and in addition, bring home the points you want to.
So I worked a lot on it, and I actually fell in love with Mosef of Roshkodesh. So I hope y'all convey that to you as well. Normally when I speak, I have it in my mind, and I really don't want to tell it to other people beforehand because I feel like I want to give it fresh. And this time I really felt that I needed to express it to others and get their feedback. So I did to many people. But in this community, Dvorivka Gelfand, Flo Zifra, Lea Margolis and Cheryl Mitnick all heard this and gave me some of their impressions.
So Mustaf of Rosh Chodesh is the closest to our having the Musa prayer in general is the closest to Nishama Paramsvasenu that our mouths that what we say will take the place of the Karban, because there's only Musaf when there was a Karbon Musaf. And it's really directed. The center part of it is about the Karbon that was brought Musaf and the Carbonos. I'm going to be comparing the Musaf of Rosh Chodesh versus the Musaf of Yomtif. And by Yomtif, I mean Shavuos and Pesach, because Sukkos has its own different kind of carbonos.
Pesach Shavuos and Rosh Chodesh all have the identical carbonos, but the packaging but what's around them, you'll see is quite different.
And Mustafa, Rosh Chodesh in particular is considered a time of Kapar, a time of atonement, a time for asking forgiveness from Hashem and the Sholas. Hakadar said Rawikola Damiso el Lahar her B'shuva. It's worthy, it's appropriate for every person in Israel to think about Teshuvah ulasakein Masov and to fix his deeds, correct his deeds, be'rosh Chodesh on Rosh Chodesh Yehuzman Kapara, because it is a time of forgiveness, of atonement. Okay, and I'm just going to interrupt one more minute to say that this, as Leah said, this series is in memory of Fay and Nathan Holzman. And I'd also like to dedicate it in memory of my beloved parents, Morris and Sylvia Stoltz. A lot of the text that you're going to see was pasted in from Sepharia, which is a tremendous resource. And a lot of the things I'm going to convey are from Siach Yitzchak, which was a commentary in the Siddhur of the gra. Okay, so what I'm going to try to do in this talk is first of all, talk about the concept of Ka para for lessening the moon. Then talk about the central part of Musaf, the introduction, the middle and the conclusion, the differences between the Musaf of Yomtov and Rosh Chodesh, and the differences between the brachos in Musaf to the brachos of Birkas Hakodesh in the Chodesh benching we said yesterday, and then talk about the differences, how Musaf Shabas Rosh Chodesh differs, and then come back for Kapara for the moon, and see if we can understand that a little better. We're in a good time for doing it because we spent much of the last couple of weeks saying the Musa for Yantif, and tomorrow we're going to say the Musa for Rosh Chodesh. So everything. And yesterday was so everything is sort of fresh for us. Okay. Rosh Chodesh is intertwined with Kaphora, with atonement, forgiveness, from its origin in Bamid Bar, Pashas Pinchas, all the different carbonos are laid out. And in the carbon for Rosh Chodesh it says, and the kabanos are a number of OLOs. And it's the same as I said, for each for Rosh Chodesh as for Yontif. And then there's a seir ezem, a goat for a chatas offering, a sin offering, but unique for is the fact that it says it's for Hashem. So Rashi comments from the Gemara and in Hulin.
Just one second. I just have to.
I'm blocking my slides with my picture. So, okay, so Amar kadashbara allyach. So Rashi says Hashem said, bring an offering for my sake, because I diminished the size of the moon.
And the backstory for that is, as many of us know, is that in Beresh, it says about the fourth day of creation, vayas elokim es shine hamaoros hagadolim Hashem made the two large luminaries, es hama or hagadolim shell, Esayom, the large one to rule in the day and the small luminary to rule at night and have the stars with it. So the question is, there were two large luminaries. How did we end up with one large and one small?
So this is a combination, sort of the way Rashi and Hulin express it. Shavim niveru. The sun and the moon were created equal, vinisma ta halvana. But the moon was made small, Alshekitragar, because she complained and she said, e f shar, it's impossible for two kings to serve with one crown. And the one of us must be subservient to the other. We can't have both of us the same. So Amarla Hashem said to her, to the moon, so go and make yourself smaller, diminish yourself. Now, this is where we got the concept of a rosh chodesh, right? Of a.
Because the. The year, as you know, is not broken up to months. What makes months is. Is what we see, the cycle of the moon. So my question had always been, how is it possible? We're saying Hashem needs kapara for.
For making the moon small, but if the moon wasn't small, we wouldn't have had rosh chodesh. And rosh chodesh is the mitzvah that Hashem gave us. And so how do you. How do you put all that together? And it's. It's a hard question, and I'm going to try to address it more at the end. But. But in any event, we see from the beginning there was. There was a notion of kapara, there was some kampara that was needed. And that's going to be reflected, as you'll see, in the shmona esre of Moses.
The structure of the mossaf shmona esre is familiar to us. The first three brachos are in every the same. The brachos praising Hashem. The last three brachos. The brachos, thank you, Hashem are the same. They're in the same ashachres, min chamarv. They're all the same. But we're missing in the daily ones, we have all those bakashos, all those requests in the Middle instead, on Iyanta, for an Rosh Chodesh, we have a central portion that's about the specific day. And that portion has an introduction, a middle, and a conclusion, which is what I'm going to focus on.
So it's very interesting. Okay. When you look at the introductory section where this was said every day during Pesach, so we're familiar with it.
This is what we say, you've chosen us over all other nations. Then there's a section you gave to us these holidays. And then because of our sins, we were exiled from our land, and the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed, and so forth. And then there's a request, you should return and have mercy on us for Almetashka and on your temple Vasivnehu Mehram, rebuild it quickly. Now, what's interesting is if you look at the Rosh Chodesh introductory section, it's very, very different. The Ataba Khartana Vatitenlanu, that structure is not there at all, although those concepts are going to be later in the section of Rosh Chodesh. But the glaring difference is there is no mention of sin in Rosh Chodesh. There's no. We were. It was sin and we were exiled. There's none of that. And the. The way that we ask for the third base, Hamikdashen and hashem returning is different in Rishodesh. And I'm going to show you that. Okay, so. So the.
The prayer of the middle part of the Mosaf. So the first part of the. Of the central section is you have given Rosh Chodesh to your nation.
It's a time of atonement for all, all their generations.
So we have Zaman, just like we have Zaman Kheru seina, the time of our freedom for Pesach. Here it's Zaman Kaporah. Rosh Chodesh is a time of Kaporah, of forgiveness. And the to the word told, the sum leads us both backwards and forward. So we're asking for hashem to forgive all the sins we've done in the past. And one of the reasons Roshec chadashim is plural is we're asking for kapara for atonement for everything we've done in the past. And also it's for the future. We're asking for our children and forward from there.
Now, the time of Kapphara was when we brought before you the carbonos. So it's different.
Rosh Chodesh is a time of Kappara And Yom Kippur, of course, is a time of Kippura. But one of the differences is that on Yom Kippur, the day itself that they call Yom, the day itself brings kappara, whereas Rosh Chodesh, it's the Karbon itself that's bringing it. So when we brought Zivche ratzon, the offerings that were pleasant, that were the will of Hashem, and we brought goats for a chata as a sin offering to atone for them. And I've highlighted this because we're going to see a transformation of that Zikaron Lukulam Yihiu. It will be a memory for all of them, and it will be a salvation of their soul from the hand of the enemy. And they say this applies both to the outer enemy.
People who wanted to go against the Jews, go against us individually, and also the inner enemy, the Yetzer Har is called the Soneh as well. So, so one of the things that I realized as I was preparing all this is that for the most part, I thought about the Mustafa Chodesh as being relating to Am Yisrael. I didn't put it so much together as. As a personal thing, but it is a personal thing. In other words, it's. It's a kapara for each of us. It's a time for each of us to do teshuvah for ourselves as well as for. For the whole nation.
Okay, then it says, you should set up a new Mizbeach in Sion.
Now, what is new? What is Chadash? This we don't hear. We didn't hear in the. In the Musaf of Yom, but a new Mizbek. And so they give. There's a mushal that there's a king, and he banishes his son for some wrongdoing and says, don't come back to this palace.
But then the king wants him to come back. So the king builds a new palace and he comes back to that palace. So similarly, Hashem said, it's Tehillimish, Bati B'API mi vo and El Menuchasi. I swore in my wrath that they won't come to my temple, but we're building a new temple. Rosh Chodesh is about newness. It's about refreshing. It's about. It's not just a reliving of what was there. It's not just a restoring of what was there. It's new. And you can see now the transformation.
Love will bring the olos and we will bring the, the goats with again with will, with Hashem's acceptance of it, it's no longer the siireism at that time are no longer for chatas, because in the, at the time when Mashiach comes, there are not going to be these sins again. So this, the siirim also becomes a ratto, not. Not just a sin offering, okay? And then we will all rejoice in the work, in the service of the Beis Hamikdash. And they point out that when, when the second Beis Hamikdash was inaugurated and it's reported Nezru nehemia, so the younger people rejoiced, but the Zakinim, the older people who had experienced the previous Beis Ham Mikdash, they were crying because they saw how the was no longer there the same way as it was, and so forth. But at the time, and again, the Rosh Chodesh is emphasizing the newness and the different and the restoring. Not restoring, but the obtaining of a totally new connection to Hashem. So at that time we will all be able to rejoice. And then we're going to hear that Tehillim said hamurim lifnei mizbechecha, that is said before the Mizbeach, ahavas olam tavilahem. You'll bring an eternal love to them and you'll remember the covenant of fathers to sons. So they say that, you know, sometimes they say the merit of our forefathers may. May end. In other words, we may exceed what. What that can deal with. But the brisa of Usoban, the covenant that Hashem made in the Brisbane Hapsaram and other, other covenants, that remains. And that's going to be there. Okay, so that's the first section. So again, the differences are pretty distinct. I think the first is that the. In the Yaf, there's. There's the sin because we sinned, we were exiled. In Rosh Chodesh, there is no mention of exile, there is no mention of sin. There is a mention of Kappa, of atonement. And secondly, in the Yuntif Mosef, we hear about things being restored, whereas in the Rosh Chodesh Mosef, it's being renewed. It's new. Okay, the middle section is almost identical.
Bring us to Tzion with eternal happiness, and there we will bring the carbonose, and it describes the carbon. So that's. That's pretty much the same. And then we get to the end of the. The last part of this central Musaf section. And this is again for Yom tovat Chila build your house as it was originally.
Restore the kohanim to their service and the to their songs and to and b'nai Israel to their where they they're dwelling There we will go and be seen and bow before you. Bishlosh PA me regalen with the three types of regalim. Now, obviously, this is a difference between Yontif and Rosh Chodesh. And on the Regalim, the people came and they were seen and they brought karbonos. That's not what happened on Rosh Chodesh.
And one could say maybe that that's the sense of needing to restore. That is what brings saying, let it be the way it was before, when we could do that. But in any event, the emphasis here again is let's go back to the past and restore what's there. There's no, there's no concluding section like that in the Rosh Chodesh dominion. Instead, we switched gears, so to speak, and we list things that we would like hashem to bless us with during the coming month. And there are 12 items representing the 12 months of the year. And then there's a 13th for when there's a leap year. Okay, and what I want to do here is I want to compare the listing in Mossaf with the listing that we said yesterday in Birchasachodesh. You know, we ask. And so it turns out, so it's elokenu velokevasinuchadesh alenos hachodeshaze renew this month for us Latova of Levracha for good and blessing Le sasson lesimcha for joy and happiness, salvation and comfort. Lefar Nasso lechalkala for sustenance for us, for life and for peace, and then for hashem to forgive our sins. And then in the. The leaper you say ulacha paras Pasha to atone for our deliberate sins.
So all of the ones that are not highlighted are present in the Rosh Chodesh benching that we said yesterday, the ones that are not present are the ones asking for hashem to forgive us. Now, if we go the other way, what else is in the birkas Haodesh that's not in the Musaf of Rosh Chodesh. Okay, there's one that's surprising to me, and I. I couldn't honestly find much at all about this, no matter how hard I look. But, you know, a life of having strength, having health, is in.
And it's not in the. In the Musaf. I'm not sure why? But the others we can understand a life that. That contains the fear of heaven and sin, a life that has love of Torah and fear of heaven. So I think that the, the reason this Yer etc is not in Roshodesh is, you know, we always say that we can't ask Hashem to give us Yura or to give us Ahava that comes from ourselves, that. That has to be drawn from ourselves. So that's not something that Hashem could be mechadesh in us. And you could go the other way that, that in Birchasachodesh, we're considering it as though, you know, past what's done is done, so to speak. So we're not talking about to. To forgive our sins. Although in general, in Rosh Chodesh, as we've seen already in the Mustaf, we're dealing with past sins as well that we need Kappara for.
So, okay, and now when we get to Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh, it's very interesting.
Okay, so it restores most of the details of Yomtev, and it's very different in that sense from.
From Rosh Chodesh. I just want to get it for one second.
So we don't have the words.
So first of all, it starts with you created the world from old, you ended your work on the seventh day. So that's sort of a. A tie in from Shabbos to Chodesh, because the Chodesh is again something that has to do with creation. And Hashem stopped with the creation and that led to Shab is fine. Now the next thing you know, in the Yant Mosf we have.
So we don't have the words, but we have everything else here you loved us for atisa on and on, the same as okay, and it's distinctly different from regular.
Then we have titen lanu hashem aloken Shabbos.
We have vatitenlanu. Okay, and then we have regret for sins also then and saying that that's why, that's why everything, you know, got destroyed and we were exiled.
Of course we sinned lefanecha before you. Anachnu ravasenu kharva irenu. Our cities were destroyed with shamain based and our baish miktosh was destroyed and our honor was exiled and so forth.
We cannot do what we're obligated to do.
And then we go into the Hiratson, which is the same as the others of Shamnasa, et cetera. So the question is, why is it different? What makes Rosh chodesh, Shabbos different from regular Muslim. And they seem to say that it's basically like Shabbos sort of raises Rosh Chodesh up a notch. You know, Rosh Chodesh is sort of this in between. Right. Because it's. Obviously we can do work, although women may not for part or some of the time, but. But we can do work on Rosh Chodesh. It's similar to Cholhomoid in the sense that there are four aliyos for aliyah. So chol hamoid.
But it doesn't have the status of a full Yuntif. But when you add Shabbos to now becomes to the status of a full Yuntif. And what I was thinking is that, you know, since there are so many obligations that there are things that people had to do to come on Yomtif, to come to the Beis Hamikdash. So you can understand there's in a sense, even greater regret. We have really lost some something, and we did it because of our S and Shabbos. Rosh chodesh means you're more connected to the Beis Hamikdash. So that appears more prominent also.
Okay, so Rosh Chodesh is a time for kappara, for newness, for joy, for building forward, looking forward, not trying to repeat what was there in the past. And it's there for individuals and for B'nai Israel as well.
Okay, so now we're going to try to understand what it means that it says that Hashem says haviyu kaparl. I bring an atonement, a lie for me, or on my behalf, or a lie to me. There are different approaches, and I asked a number of people about this, and Rabbi Goldberger helped me with some of it, and I got some input from others also.
Okay, so one way of understanding it is Hashem had to make the world incomplete. In other words, once there was. Once there was jealousy in the world, once the world was not behaving as it should, then you had the moon being smaller. So you have. When something is first created or first discussed in the Chumash, that's the way it should be, and then that might be taken away. So you have Adam is placed in Ghanaian, but ends up having to go out. And the idea is to get back to it.
The moon and sun are created the same, and then the moon is minimized. And the goal is for the moon to come back to where it was, but in order. In this world, which is not a complete world, you have to have the moon smaller in the sense. What that means is that there's a Yetzer Hara, there's free will. And when there's free will, then it's not. Free will is a wonderful thing. And bechira is what, you know, Rav Destler says is the. Is the main thing of our lives. But the ultimate goal is, so to speak, not to have free will anymore. In other words, to be so.
So sure of Hashem and so. So devoted to him that. That the Yetzer hara doesn't really have power anymore.
But that's not in the state we're in. We are in a state of gullus. We are in a state where we have to try to move forward and get back to where we were. And that is compatible with the moon being narrowed so the moon being lessened. So the moon represents often B'nai Israel, right? Because there's a rising phase. We always attach ourselves to the rising phase. Bene Israel will rise. And even though we wane again, but we're going to rise again. So.
So it becomes a symbol of what goes on with us. But this is basically the approach of the ramchal in dasa bunos in 1700s, then in Imre Devash, and I'm not sure who that is or what it's from, but he cites Yun Tefillah. It says, you forced me. You forced me by your sins to leave the moon small. Had you been zocha, there would have been gulas olam. We would have gotten to Mashiach already, and the light of the moon would be like the light of the sun. So bring a kapara to me because of you are not being able to. And we're not able to end this lessening of the moon. Okay?
And then again, the. The waxing and waning of the moon gives B'n Israel hope. So that's a reason that the moon was made smaller, because it gives us hope. It gives us a feeling that things don't have to stay the way they are, that they can come forward. And there's a sense of his chaotic, of things being new, of renewal that's given to us now. My. My grandson in Lakewood, we were there for Pesach, and he showed me that he, you know, they have a novel subhanim there, just as they do here, where the fathers and sons learn together. And he had attended everyone, and because of that, he got a sefer called Matnas Chaim by Rav Matas Yochayim Solomon, who's the Mashkiachet at Lakewood and the book is called Shabbos Chodesh. So automatically I said, you know, can I borrow this book? So I have the book, and sure enough, it's very. It has a beautiful development of this. And I want to end with this. Okay? So the section is called Rosh Chodesh V'kidush halavana takhlista o matarasa. The Rosh Chodesh and the sanctification of the moon and its goal, its purpose and goal.
From the looking in delving into the essence of the mitzvahs of Rosh Chodesh and sanctifying the moon, it becomes clear that the purpose and the goal of creation is that we will reach through the Torah and mitzvahs to the essence, the main part of the intention of creation.
Just like Hashem, as it were intended originally, that there could be two kings ruling with one crown without any jealousy or competition. Okay, but that's not our world.
But because this world is still a world that's lacking things. It's not complete.
It hasn't reached completion yet. EF Sharlahagi Alikach. It's impossible to reach that stage of lack of kin, a lack of jealousy.
You could only get there by working intensively on it, concentrating on it and seeking the truth.
So certain special, distinct and distinguished individuals like Moshe and Aaron, they could reach this level.
So he's saying these were Moshe and Aaron, in a sense, represented that 2. 2 Kings sharing 1 crown, right? That. That the deep or the. The word of Hashem came from both.
And each of them rejoiced in the greatness of the other, to the point where the. The posse of the. The Torah testifies about Yaakov when. About Aharon. I'm sorry, when Moshe is coming back from Midian to go to. To go to Mitzrayim. And he was very reluctant to.
To become the leader. And he had many, many things, you know, many excuses, he couldn't speak well, etc. But one of them. And then he says, Moshe says, shlachna beat Tishlach. Send through the one you usually send with meaning that my brother is the one that. That represented the B'nai Yisrael while I was away. So do it through him. And Hashem said to him, effectively, don't worry about that, because when Aharon sees you coming, Vera achavis hamachbalibo, he will see you and he will be happy in his heart. And the Peru say that Samach balibo, he. He earned having the Choshen, having The Urim vitumim on him, on his chest, because he. He rejoiced in his heart for what happened to his brother without any jealousy or competition.
And then finally he says, omnam la asid lavo. But in the future, after Hashem fills this defect of the moon, the.
And its light will be like the light of the sun and like the light of the seven days of Gracious. Now, you know they talk about the Or Hagon was the hidden light, that there was a special supernal light at the time of. Of creation. And that light was felt people were not worthy to have all of it. And it was. It was put away for later. And Rav Schwab says that that light, the Or Haganos, is actually the light that was taken out of the moon. So when the. When the light comes back to the moon, we will also have this special light of the seven days of creation as Yagiyu Kal Yisrael.
Then all Yisrael will reach that level of living without. Without this jealousy, without this competition. Limuzer harola no Hakadosh Baruch hu. This Hashem taught us be Itziras Hamaoros with creating the. The luminaries and suspending them in the heavens. So that's the lesson Hashem's trying to give us, that that's not the way that we have to try to make things whole. We have to try to get back to a time when there's no jealousy.
And this is the work. This is what Rosh Chodesh comes for, Shalonishkach, that we don't forget and we don't distract ourselves. We don't not pay attention to. We pay attention to this goal. So I found again, I sort of fell in love with after all this. It's a time of Kapura, a time of forgiveness. It's a time when you're able to look forward without necessarily invoking all the sins of the past. You can look forward and you can do things in a new sense. And you can hope, as he says, that we can the point when, like the moon, we too will be complete and we'll be able to. To be with, you know, with Hashem, with. With Moshiach, behavior of Yemene. Thanks very much.
Amen.
[00:33:25] Speaker B: Thank you so much for that incredibly comprehensive Shir. And you've certainly given us a lot to think about as we welcome Rosh Chodesh. In a few minutes. Does anyone have any questions or comments for Dr. Sannis?
[00:33:41] Speaker A: I thought it was beautiful and very thorough. Thank you very much. Dr. Sana. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: Magnificent. Thank you.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Very enlightening.
That's. Good night, everyone.
[00:34:00] Speaker B: Good night, everyone.
Thank you, Dr. Sanis.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: It's okay. Good night.
