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Childhood and Adulthood are like Autumn and Spring - Parashat Bo 5778 - January 19, 2018

In this week’s parasha, Parashat Bo (Shemot 12:2), Hashem commands Moshe and Aharon, hachodesh ha’ze la’chem rosh chodashim – this new moon is to you, the head of the months. In this verse, Hashem reveals to b’nei yisrael the mitzvah of kiddush hachodesh – the sanctification of the new month. Hashem also fixes Nissan chodesh ha’geulah – as the first of the months. That Nissan is fixed as the first of the months is puzzling. After all, the first of Tishre is Rosh HaShana – the New Year. Is Tishre not the first of the months? Why does the year have two beginnings?

This “dual-beginning” phenomenon is not unique to the Jewish year. Indeed, a Jewish day also has a dual-beginning. The Jewish day begins at night. Shabbat and holidays begin at night. However, sunrise is also a meaningful halachic event. It also marks the beginning of a day. In the Beit HaMikdash, two korbanot were brought daily – one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Korbanot were not offered at night. Furthermore, many positive commandments become obligatory at sunrise. Why do these time units – year and day – have dual-beginnings?

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch offers an interpretation to answer this question. Rav Hirsch notes a similarity between the two primary units of measurement of time in human life – the year and the day. The year and the day are each made up of a light and dark cycle. A year has a six-month light cycle and a six-month dark cycle. A day has a twelve-hour light cycle and a twelve-hour dark cycle. The month of Nissan (the beginning of Spring) and the daily rising of the sun, respectively, mark the beginning of the annual and daily light cycles. The month of Tishre (the beginning of Autumn) and the daily setting of the sun, respectively, mark the beginning of the annual and daily dark cycles. Therefore, Nissan, Tishre, sunrise and sunset are each a beginning. Nissan and Tishre are the beginning of the light and dark cycles of each year and sunrise and sunset are the beginning of the light and dark cycle of each day. Halacha recognizes each of these beginnings as starting points for different mitzvot.

Rav Hirsch explains that these annual and daily halachic cycles serve as a metaphor for the life of the human being. “Dark” – the Earth – represents human physicality and “Light” – the Sun – represents the soul. Like the year and day, the span of human life has two beginnings – birth and the onset of adulthood. Human life begins with the animation of a vital physical body. Adulthood marks the ascendancy of the soul as the source for a person’s thoughts and decision-making. At birth, the baby is a purely physical being whose relationship with the soul is obscured and only in-potential. The infant physically matures into a child and then into an adult. Through childhood and adolescence, the interconnection between the physical body and the neshama slowly develops. Only at the dawn of adulthood is the physical body fully formed and does the neshama become the focal point of personal growth and development.

According to Rav Hirsch, childhood is analogous to night and to the dark months of the year - Autumn and Winter. The onset of adulthood is the dawning of a new day – it is comparable to sunrise and to the beginning of Spring. Adulthood is analogous to daytime and to the light months of the year.

Nissan is the month of freedom. As we explained, Rabbi Hirsch compares the dawning of Spring to the ascendancy of the soul as the focus of human growth. When we develop a connection with our soul, we access the source of true freedom and we become able to tap into our humanity and become able to act accordingly.

Nissan is two months off. However, Rav Hirsch’s message is an inspirational message for parents at any point in the year. Childhood is the time in a person’s life set aside for healthy and age-appropriate physical growth. Parents have an invaluable role in teaching our children to use their bodies constructively and to create physically and spiritually healthy habits which will serve them well into adulthood. When we teach our children to eat, sleep well, exercise, study, learn Torah and do mitzvot, parents help their children maximize their physical growth and help them prepare for adulthood – the time in life in which the neshama becomes ascendant.

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