Every year, just before Passover, the Jewish people read the special Torah portion of Parashat HaChodesh. Its message is simple yet revolutionary:

“This month shall be for you the beginning of months.”

These words were spoken to Moses and Aaron while the Israelites were still enslaved in Egypt. Before freedom arrived, before the sea split, and before the nation was born, God gave them a command about time.

Why begin the journey to redemption with a calendar? Because leadership begins with the power to imagine a new future—even in the middle of darkness.

When this command was given, the Israelites were still surrounded by oppression and uncertainty. Nothing around them suggested that redemption was near. Yet the Torah tells them to mark the first new moon, the smallest sliver of light in the sky represents hope.

In moments like today, with all what happens in the world, the message of Parashat HaChodesh becomes deeply relevant. It reminds us that even when the world feels unstable, history is not frozen in darkness. Renewal can begin with the smallest spark.

When Moses taught the Israelites about the new month, he was doing more than teaching astronomy. He was teaching a new way of thinking. Slaves live according to someone else’s time. Free people define their own time.

The mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon gave the Jewish people responsibility over their calendar. In other words, it gave them ownership of their future.

In times of war and instability, the easiest emotion is despair. But the Torah’s leadership model insists on something other than hope. The moon disappears every month before it returns again. For a moment, the sky seems completely dark. Then a thin moon appears.

The Torah deliberately chose this symbol to represent the Jewish people and their journey through history. There have been times when darkness seemed overwhelming—wars, exile, and suffering. Yet the nation always reemerged, just like the moon.

In a world witnessing conflict and uncertainty, the message of Parashat HaChodesh is profoundly relevant:

* Darkness does not last forever.

* Renewal begins small.

* Hope often appears when it is hardest to see.

Because real leadership is not only about power. It is about the courage to believe that a new beginning is possible—and to guide humanity toward it. The moon begins each month as a faint light in the sky. But night after night, it grows brighter.

So too with hope. So too with redemption. So too with humanity.

And that is the timeless message of Parashat HaChodesh: Even in the darkest moment, the first light of renewal has already begun to rise.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Refael Cohen