The Power of Words That Shape Time

The very first commandment given to the Children of Israel — even before they left the land of Egypt, is the mitzvah of Sanctifying the New Moon, presented in our parashah: “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you” (Shemot 12:1)

Through this commandment, Israel was instructed to calculate the calendar according to the lunar cycle.

Unlike the sun, the moon is dynamic and ever-changing in the way it appears. At times it is full and radiant, while at other times it disappears entirely. God teaches Moshe that when the moon can no longer be seen, a month has ended, and when it begins to appear again — at the molad, when the moon is “reborn,” a new month begins.

How the New Month Was Sanctified

To declare the start of a new month, testimony from two witnesses was required. They would appear before the court and testify that they had seen the new moon. The judges would carefully examine their testimony, and if it was accepted, the head of the court would proclaim “Sanctified”, to which the people would respond, “Sanctified, sanctified” (Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 2:7). Only then did the new month officially begin.

Until the head of the court declared “Sanctified,” the month did not start. This was the method of sanctifying the months for hundreds of years, and its implications were immense, since all festivals and sacred times depend on the calendar.

Toward the end of the Talmudic era, Hillel the Nasi, recognized that due to exile, persecution, and instability, it was no longer possible to continue sanctifying the months through a central court in the Land of Israel. As the hereditary head of the court, he possessed the authority to act. Hillel and his court therefore calculated and fixed the months and years for all future generations. From the year 4119 from Creation (359 CE), the Jewish people began following the fixed Hebrew calendar established by Hillel.

Why This Commandment Was Given Before Redemption

The fact that the mitzvah of sanctifying the new month was given while Israel was still in Egypt, before the redemption, contains a profound and timely message. There is a deep connection between this commandment and the redemption itself.

To understand that connection, let us consider one of the signs Moshe performed three times during the redemption process: the transformation of the staff into a serpent.

The Meaning of the Serpent

One of the principles of Torah interpretation is that the first appearance of a word or concept in the Torah defines its essential meaning throughout Scripture. To understand the serpent, we must therefore return to its first appearance — the primordial serpent in the Garden of Eden, who tempted Chava to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.

Without delving deeply into the sin of Adam and Chava, it is clear that sin caused a profound spiritual decline for all of humanity. According to many sources, the Egyptian exile itself was, in part, a rectification of that primordial sin (see Ramchal, Derech Hashem, Part IV, ch. 4).

The Core Sin of the Primordial Serpent: Corrupt Speech

What was the defining trait of the primordial serpent? Evil speech.

The serpent spoke slander about God, telling Adam and Chava that God forbade the fruit only to prevent them from becoming like Him: “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You will surely not die. For God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Bereishit 3:4–5)

This corrupt speech poisoned Adam and Chava — and through them, all of humanity. The exile in Egypt was intended to repair this flaw. Egypt, led by Pharaoh, was deeply afflicted with corrupt speech, and only in such an environment could the rectification of speech take place. Israel needed to confront and resist this trait in order to refine and purify their own power of speech.

Pharaoh: The Rule of the “Evil Mouth”

The very name Pharaoh (Par‘oh) can be read as peh-ra — “an evil mouth.” Egypt was ruled by corrupt speech. Pharaoh repeatedly made promises to Moshe and Aaron and then reneged on them, because words, to him, carried no real meaning or obligation.

Since the primordial serpent was the root cause of the Egyptian exile, it follows that as long as speech remained corrupted, redemption was impossible.

This explains why the sign of the serpent appeared three times, as it symbolized the fundamental cause of Israel’s bondage.

Sanctifying the Month: When Speech Rules Time

We now return to the mitzvah of sanctifying the new month.

Israel was commanded to sanctify the month before leaving Egypt because this mitzvah signaled that they had successfully repaired the flaw of corrupt speech. In this commandment, the power of speech is revealed in its most profound form: speech determines time itself. Through verbal declaration, the court controlled sacred time.

God was announcing to Israel that they had reached an ideal state of speech. This was the ultimate rectification of the serpent’s corrupt speech — the very flaw that had led them into exile.

Redemption as the Redemption of Speech

Our parashah commands “You shall tell your son” (Shemot 13:8) and establishes the mitzvah of recounting the Exodus. The redemption from Egypt is, at its core, the redemption of speech.

From here, the name of the festival itself becomes clear: Pesach—peh sach, “the mouth that speaks.”

In the Kedushah prayer we say: “I will redeem you in the end as in the beginning.” The final redemption will mirror the first — and the first redemption dawned only once speech had been repaired.

Let us repair our speech, and speak only good about one another. Hillel sanctified the months, and we must sanctify our speech.

Through this, we will merit an everlasting redemption.