Sedra of the Week: Vayikra and Hachodesh
Rabbi Naftali Schiff looks at the forthcoming week’s portion of the Torah
The days are getting longer, trees are blossoming and birds chirping. The season of renewal is upon us.
This Shabbat we add the extra passage of Parshat HaChodesh, formally ushering in the month of Nissan, starting with the words, hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chodashim, this month is for you the head of the year.
The Jewish calendar is unique in that it is not purely lunar, like the Muslim calendar, nor is it purely solar like the Gregorian calendar; rather it is a combination of both.
Our months are defined by the cycle of the moon, with the word for month, chodesh, being derived from the word chadash, new. This is qualified by ensuring it remains in sync with the solar cycle, so that the month of Nissan always remains in the spring.
The tension between these two cycles is obvious. The sun remains static while the moon moves in cycles of growth and regression. In life, we have a constant tension between the need for consistency and spontaneity.
We humans are creatures of habit; we thrive on the familiar, but at the same time, familiarity can breed contempt, or at the very least boredom or resentment.
We therefore need to inject our lives, relationships and experiences with a sense of chiddush, renewal, in order that we remain fresh and vibrant.
Pesach is a time when we re-engage with the familiar, after an intense period of preparation.
We sit down with family and friends and reconnect with our national memory, recommitting to our individual and collective destiny.
We enjoy the familiar tastes and tunes and discuss our history with a view to applying its lessons to our lives.
The way to keep this season fresh and exciting is to proactively use the next couple of weeks to develop and apply new and relevant insights, thereby injecting the familiar with a sense of chiddush renewal.
Good luck and good chodesh!
Rabbi Naftali Schiff is founder and CEO of Jewish Futures
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
