God’s First Command to the Jewish People in Egypt

Before the Exodus has even happened, before the sea splits or the Torah is given, God issues the Jewish people their very first national commandment: take ownership of time.

This is the first commandment given to the Jewish people as a nation. Before the Exodus, before the splitting of the sea, before the giving of the Torah, God commands Israel to establish the calendar and sanctify the new month.

We commemorate this commandment this Shabbat when we read Parshat HaChodesh ("the portion of the month"), which opens with these words: "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first for you of the months of the year." (Exodus 12:2)

Why would the first national commandment concern time? The answer reveals something profound about the nature of freedom.

In Egypt, the Israelites lived as slaves. A slave does not control his own time. His days are dictated by his master. Time does not belong to him.

Freedom begins when a person reclaims ownership of time. By commanding Kiddush HaChodesh (sanctifying the new month), God gave the Jewish people something revolutionary: the authority to shape sacred time itself. The calendar would no longer be imposed by kings or empires. The Jewish court would determine when the new month begins, and therefore when the festivals occur.

God handed the Jewish people the keys to Jewish time.

God handed the Jewish people the keys to Jewish time. Jewish holidays don't arrive automatically. They depend on the declaration of the Jewish people. As the Talmud teaches, when the court sanctifies the month, heaven itself follows.

Redemption, then, is not only a physical escape. It's a transformation in how we live. A free person doesn't merely flee oppression; he learns to use time with purpose. "The portion of the Month" prepares us for upcoming Passover holiday by teaching that before redemption can happen, people must first understand that time itself can become holy.

There's also something striking in the verse's phrasing: "This month is for you." The emphasis on "for you" is deliberate. Time in Judaism is not abstract. It is meant to be experienced and sanctified by human beings. Holiness emerges not only from heaven but from what we do within time.

This resonates today. The world is shifting fast. Political structures, alliances, and assumptions that seemed permanent just a few years ago are crumbling. It's easy to feel like events are simply happening to us, that we're passengers with no say.

But Parshat HaChodesh pushes back on that. The Jewish people were given the power to shape time through their choices and actions. Just as the first step toward redemption in Egypt was reclaiming time, every generation must reclaim its sense of purpose within history.

There's also a beautiful symbol in the moon, whose renewal defines the Jewish month. The moon disappears, grows dark, then gradually returns until it lights up the sky. Jewish history has followed a similar pattern. Dark periods come, and yet renewal always follows.

Just as the moon is reborn each month, the Jewish people possess a unique capacity for renewal and resilience.

As we approach Passover, the message is clear: true freedom means more than escaping oppression. It means taking responsibility for our time, living with purpose, and knowing that even in a world that won't sit still, we have the power to turn ordinary days into something meaningful.