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The following is a small part of RSRH's commentary on Shemos 12 : 1 -
2. There is much more that and it is all worth reading.<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=6><b>12</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>1
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>And
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>God
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>said to Moshe and Aharon
in the land of Egypt as follows:<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>2
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>This renewal of the moon
shall be for you a beginning of new moons; it shall be for you the first
among the months of the year.<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Chodesh</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>thus proclaims redemption
from sin and from evil</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>,
and that is<br>
why this institution is placed at the commencement of our national<br>
upbuilding. The truth that it teaches forms the foundation stone of
our<br>
Jewish consciousness and sharply distinguishes this consciousness
from<br>
all paganism.<br><br>
Paganism knows no
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Chidush</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, neither in the world, nor in man,
nor in<br>
its God or gods which it sets over world and man. Everything is
determined<br>
by ironclad necessity. Today evolves from yesterday, and tomorrow<br>
from today — by ironclad necessity. Just as paganism denies
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yesh Ma
Ayin</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, <br>
the free creation by the free will of a Creator, it also denies the<br>
possibility of </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yesh Ma
Ayin</i> </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>in man’s moral
nature and in his destiny. Guilt<br>
and evil are bound to beget only guilt and evil, in an endless
procession.<br>
To paganism, no godlike freedom dwells in the human breast, no free<br>
God holds sway in and over the world. Everything is swept along in a<br>
blind stream of unchanging necessity, all freedom is but an
illusion,<br>
anything </font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>new
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>was already present in
the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>old</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.<br><br>
<Snip><br><br>
This
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Chidush</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, however, is nothing but the direct
corollary of the meaning<br>
of the Name <i>Ha Shem</i>: the God Who freely fashions each coming
moment.<br>
By this Name every Jew, in the depths of his heart, silently
worships<br>
his God.<br><br>
<Snip><br><br>
Thus we have two beginnings to our year, just as we have two
beginnings<br>
to our day. We have a year that begins in the fall, and though<br>
it also has a spring and a summer, it ends again in the fall; and we
have<br>
a year that begins in the spring, and though it also has a fall and a
winter,<br>
it ends again in the spring. So, too, we have a day that begins in
the<br>
evening, and though it rises to morning and to noon, it ends again
in<br>
the evening; and we have a day that begins in the morning, and
though<br>
it sinks into evening and night, it ends again in the morning.
Outside<br>
the Sanctuary the day begins and ends with night; inside the
Sanctuary<br>
the day begins and ends with morning (see Commentary to
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Vayikra
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>6:2).</font></body>
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