A few weeks ago, there was major news in the Jewish
Sports World! The Yeshiva University men’s basketball team, for the first time
in its history, made it to the NCAA tournament! Of course, when the tournament
schedule was announced, their first game was scheduled for Friday Night (on
shabbat). If you want to know how this got resolved and some other fascinating
issues that came up, stay tuned till the end of the sermon!
This shabbos is Parshat Hachodesh. Why do we read
this section on this shabbat, two weeks prior to Pesach? Well Rashi (Megilah
29a) tells is that we read Parshat Hachodesh on this week because it includes
the description of the Korban Pesach (Pesach Sacrifice). The problem is that if
this would be the only reason, why is it called Parshat Hachodesh and not
Parshat HaPesach? It must be that there is some connection between the first
verse “החדש הזה לכם - this month is for
you the first month” that relates to Pesach and is the reason we read it now.
If I would ask an random jew (or maybe even non-jew) what
is the “jewish new year”? What would the answer be? Most people would probably
say Rosh Hashana. But, they would be wrong! Rosh Hashana (1st of Tishrei) is
actually the beginning of the universal new year. The first Mishna in Rosh Hashana
tells us that the first of Tishrei (i.e. what we call Rosh Hashana) is new year
for years (non jewish kings) for shmita, yovel and all of the agricultural
laws. Tishrei is the beginning of the rainy season when all farmers (Jewish and
non-jewish ask for rain). On Rosh Hashana, כל באי עולם
עוברין לפניך - all inhabitants of the world (jews and non-jews) come before
G-d. In other words, Rosh Hashana is not the Jewish new year (it is a universal
newyear) and the calendar year that follows is not the Jewish year.
So when does the Jewish year begin? Well this is Parshat
Hachodesh. As the Jews are about to leave Egypt and become their own nation,
they are given a new calendar. A uniquely Jewish Calendar. “החדש הזה לכם - this month is for you.” לכם ולא לאומות העולם - for you and not for the nations of the
world. Our holidays, which represent G-d’s unique relationship with the Jewish
people, all flow from the month of Nisan. Note that every time the torah lists
the holidays, Rosh Hashana is not first. It is almost at the end because the
list begins with the month of Nisan and the holiday of Pesach.
The idea of living with multiple calendars is not foreign
to us. Think about your own lives. You have your school calendar, your work
calendar, hobby calendars, sports calendars, tax calendar, secular
calendar etc etc. And of course we have our Jewish Calendar. For me, I have
them all overlapping on my google calendar neatly color coordinated. The
challenge is, what happens when two of my calendars conflict with each other?
What happens when it is the 7th game of the world series and I have ticket but
it is also the the first day of Sukkot. What happens when I have a very
important work event and it is shabbos. Which calendar is החדש הזה לכם - which calendar is “Yours.” Which one
wins out? Which calendar is is the primary one around which all the others
revolve?
We as Jews in the Modern World are supposed to fully
engage. We are supposed to work and participate in the arts and culture and
even sports. We are supposed to have all of these overlapping calendars but we
have to remember which one is לכם - “Yours”.
When I study with conversion candidates, we primarily use
three texts. One - the Torah, they must study the entire Torah; parshah by
parshah. Two - a book on jewish law as they must become conversant in the Laws
of shabbat, Kashrut and family purity. Three and maybe most important, I
literally take out the Jewish calendar and go through it with them. The dates,
the times (for prayer and shabbat etc), the special occasions. If the
conversion candidate cannot make the Jewish calendar the rhythm of their lives,
they will not be successful jews. We are not expected to give up the other
calendars, but we must make the Jewish calendar לכם
- “Yours”.
Now back to the Yeshiva University basketball team. So
the game was supposed to be on Shabbat. After a time change request, the NCAA
and the opposing team agreed to have the game on Friday afternoon. But there
was another problem. That week (thursday) was Purim. Which means that Wednesday
was Taanit Esther (Fast of Esther). All the players fasted and they were not
able to hold a practice just two days before the most important game of their
lives! Wednesday night and thursday were Purim so I am sure they got a quick practice
in but they also had to hear the megilah (two times), do the other mitzvot of
the day and maybe even get drunk!
So think about it. The basketball team had a very
important calendar, the NCAA calendar. They started months before with tryouts,
the regular season, practices and now their calendar extended into the
tournament for the first time in history. But when the NCAA calendar conflicted
with the Jewish calendar, they knew which one was their most important
calendar. Which one was לכם.
So what happened. We would hope for the fairytale ending
which would go something linek this: Because they did not play on shabbos and
fasted on Taanis Esther, they won in the final seconds with a buzzer beating
3-pointer! Wouldnt that be great! But that is not what happened. They lost by
14.
But that is ok. Judaism is not a fairytale. We don’t keep
shabbat, to win the game. We don’t fast to make the three-pointer. We do these
things because they are reflections of the most profound values of our
tradition. We do it because our Jewish Calendar is לכם
- “yours.”
As we go into serious Pesach preparation, let us all
remember the lesson of the Jewish Calendar. We left Egypt but in order to
actualize our values and make Torah the guiding force of our lives, we need the
Jewish Calendar. And we need the Jewish calendar not to be just one of many
overlapping calendars on our google calendar app. It must be לכם - yours. And if it is, may G-d help us make our commitment to
Torah and Mitzvot stronger every day.
