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Time Your Walk Series – Part 3 Study Notes
All Crescent and Accounted For
Introduction
In week one we established the importance of time in our walk and how there is a time and a place for everything that we should do. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens (Ecclesiastes 3:1)” The rotations of the heavenly bodies attest to this. “And Elohim said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years. (Genesis 1:14)’” We saw how the mundane aspects of our lives, such as sleep and labour are usually divided up by the night and the day. “The sun rises… Then people go out to their work, to their labour until evening. (Psalm 104:23)” Most cultures who work a six day week with a seventh day of rest, consciously or unconsciously abide by Scripture which says, “Six days you shall labour and do all your work but the seventh day is a Shabbat to Yahweh your Elohim. On it you shall not do any work, (Exodus 20:9-10a)” Most cultures observe a thirty to thirty-one day month, with each month recurring twelve times within a three hundred and sixty-five day year. The Hebrew calendar is slightly different, reckoning a twenty-nine or thirty day month recurring twelve times in a three-hundred and fifty-four day year. “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. (Exodus 12:2)”
Sometimes Rosh Chodesh is observed for two days due to the variation of the twenty-nine or thirty day month. If one month is thirty days, Rosh Chodesh is two days long and if another month has twenty-nine days Rosh Chodesh is observed for only one day. The following months always have two days of Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the month plus the last day of the previous month): Cheshvan, Adar (and Adar II), Iyar, Tammuz, and Elul. The following months always have one day of Rosh Chodesh: Tishrei,1 Shevat, Nisan, Sivan, and Av. The months of Kislev and Tevet fluctuate; some years they both have one day of Rosh Chodesh, some years both have two days, and some years Kislev has one day and Tevet has two days of Rosh Chodesh.
We learnt that the nature of the Hebrew calendar being “luna-Solar” causes the months to occur 11 days earlier each year, which presents a problem with a number of seasonally dependant Pilgrimage Feasts (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot). For example Pesach is commanded to be observed annually in the springtime according to Deuteronomy 16:1. So the only solution was to make a man-made adjustment every so often to preserve two of Yahweh’s commands. Without this adjustment, observing Pesach in springtime will eventually be transgressed. The solution took the form of adding a thirteenth month (Adar Sheni [Second Adar]) seven times in every nineteen years.
Yahweh is all about working with us within the framework of time by revealing His glory to man by stages in time. This is evident with the revealing of the seven covenants, the Edenic Covenant, the Adamic covenant, the Noahide covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the Sinai covenant, the Davidic covenant and the Renewed covenant, with each unfolding at particular waypoints in time. Within these covenants is the gift of the Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and the High Holidays of the Biblical calendar, which are all dependent on time. Circumcision is also dependant on time, being commanded to take place on the eighth day.
The Torah contains the words “In the beginning,” and then segments the process of creation within a deliberate timeframe and the Talmud, man’s most authoritative Divine response to the Torah itself, starts with the question, “From what time may one recite the evening Shema?” So both the Word of Elohim and the Word of Man in response to Elohim start with a focus on time.
Yahweh created and set time. He set a time for man to be born, for man to live and He set a time for man to die. There is…“a time to be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 1:1)” “Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. (Job 14:5)” Elohim determines the length of man’s days. “My Ruach will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years. (Genesis 6:3)”
He commanded man to take ownership of time and use it wisely. “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)” A man who obeys Yahweh’s times will be blessed with a long and prosperous life. “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. (Proverbs 3:1-2)”
Yahweh does not keep the length of a man’s days secret from him if he enquires. “Show me, Yahweh, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. (Psalm 39:4)”
The restoration of the Kingdom of Israel however is sealed. When the multitude gathered around John and asked him when this would take place, he said, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. (Acts 1:7)” The passing away of all things is also withheld. “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Mark 13:32)”
There is even the passing of time in heaven. “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. (Revelation 8:1)” The very concept of eternity is not timelessness, but time with no beginning and no foreseeable end.
We looked at the nature of the Hebrew calendar, its features, with its months symbolising each tribe and how they carry various unique moods and characteristics of their own. We looked at how Rosh Chodesh was observed with the Sanhedrin and how it is observed without a functioning Sanhedrin. We also looked at when it was observed and saw that there are many who claim it was on the crescent moon and some who claim it was on the molad (dark moon ).
We looked at how, “Originally, the New Moon was not fixed by astronomical calculation, but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the reappearance of the crescent of the moon,” Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vol. 12, p. 1039. The switchover from watching for the first visible crescent to calculating conjunctions to determine the month’s beginning came with Hillel II’s calendar revisions in the 4th century C.E. “By the middle of the fourth century, the sages had established a permanent calendar and the public proclamation of the New Moon was discontinued” (Ibid). And though we are commanded to actually observe the moon (Deuteronomy 16:1), even in those times not everyone actually had to and currently there is no Sanhedrin and no authoritative body to report the sighting to. We are living in diaspora conditions and not all the Torah can be adequately observed. The Hillel II calendar resolves this difficulty and enables observers to plan a day off work if they so choose. Few employers would accept an absence every month with no prior notice. It is however still expected that able parties go out and witness the new moon in this dispensation, although whether it is sighted or not, the holiday is still to be observed.
With the molad, the covered or dark moon, we argued that it is at the precise conjunction of the moon, referred to as the New Moon in modern calendars and we cited Psalm 81:3, which instructs the blowing of the shofar at this time. We also cited the Book of Enoch, referenced in the Book of Jude, and noted that it called the New Moon a time when the heaven receives the moon’s entire light, when it appears completely blanketed by darkness and unseen to the human eye. But we also mentioned how Rosh HaShanah or Yom Teruah, which occurs on the first month (Tishrei) of the Hebrew calendar, was observed on the dark moon, because the blowing of the shofar when the moon is concealed represents the covering of sins and also confuses HaSatan who seeks to bring accusations against us at that time.
We also looked at how the crescent symbolised the horns of a calf or a bull symbolising idolatry and how it’s also observed and venerated in Islam. But it’s important to add that a similar accusation can be levelled at the Shield of David, used by various occult circles, but originates from two inverted Hebrew Dalets and is perfectly kosher. So too, the refrain from eating pork, which is a Torah ordained observance is also observed within Islam.
In part 2 we looked at the case for keeping the molad and this week we will be concluding with a counter case as to why it should be observed on the crescent, where a small sliver of curved light becomes visible.
First up we’ll start with the testimony of Philo of Alexandria
The First Century Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria gives a very specific explanation of the New Moon as it was understood in the First Century. He writes:
(140) Following the order which we have adopted, we proceed to speak of the third festival, that of the new moon. First of all, because it is the beginning of the month, and the beginning, whether of number or of time, is honourable. Secondly, because at this time there is nothing in the whole of heaven destitute of light. (141) Thirdly, because at that period the more powerful and important body gives a portion of necessary assistance to the less important and weaker body; for, at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses, and then she displays her own beauty to the beholders. And this is, as it seems, an evident lesson of kindness and humanity to men, to teach them that they should never grudge to impart their own good things to others, but, imitating the heavenly bodies, should drive envy away and banish it from the Soul (Special Laws 2, 140-141)
Notice Philo says of the time of the New Moon “time there is nothing in the whole of heaven destitute of light” (140) and “, at the time of the new moon, the sun begins to illuminate the moon with a light which is visible to the outward senses” (141) eliminating any doubt whatsoever. Philo did not recognize the invisible dark moon as Rosh Chodesh, but the crescent moon as it first begins to reflect the sun’s light again as Rosh Chodesh.
The Testimony of the Mishnah
The Mishnah discusses the sighting of the New Moon by witnesses in detail (m.Rosh HaShanna 1:3-3:1). This portion of the Mishnah discusses when messengers would be sent to the diaspera to notify them of the siting of the New Moon (1:3) when the Sabbath is loosed for the witnesses to testify (1:4) questions at to how clearly the new moon appeared (1:5) whether a father and son could both serve as witnesses (1:7) who could serve as a valid witness (1:8) what to do when a witness was unable to walk (1:9) a system of flare signals once used to send a signal of the siting to the diaspera (2:1-4) where the witnesses would be gathered (2:5) how the witnesses were questioned (2:6) and how they were shown a chart of moon phases for comparison (2:8). All of this makes it clear that witnesses were seeing the new moon and giving testimony of what they saw to the Sanhedrin which would then officially designate the day of the New Moon.
Of particular interest are two particular passages from this portion of Mishnah. The first discusses the orientation of the new moon:
How do they test the witnesses? The pair who arrive first are tested first. The senior of them is brought in and they say to him, tell us how you saw the moon in front of the sun or behind the sun? To the North of it or the South? How big was it, and in which direction was it inclined? And how broad was it? If he says [He saw it] in front of the sun, his evidence is rejected. After that they would bring in the second and test him. If their accounts tallied, their evidence was accepted, and the other pairs were only questioned briefly, not because they were required at all, but so that they should not be disappointed, [and] so that they should not be dissuaded from coming.
(m.Rosh HaShanna 2:6)
The second speaks of a chart showing moon phases that the witnesses were shown for comparison:
(Rabban Gamliel had diagrams of the shapes of the moon on a tablet and on the wall of the upper chamber. These he sued to show the ordinary people asking, "Did you see the moon like this or like that?" It once happened that two came and said, "We saw it in the east in the morning and in the west in the evening". Rabbi Yochannen ben Nuri said, "they are false witnesses." But, when they arrived in Yavneh, Rabban Gamliel accepted them. And on another occasion, two came and said, "We saw it at its proper time, but on the following night, we did not see it"; and Rabban Gamliel accepted them. Rabbi Dose ben Hyrcanus said, "They are false witnesses", and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya replied, "I agree with you."
(m.Rosh HaShanna 2:8)
These passages make it clear that the Rosh Chodesh was not an invisible dark new moon.
The Secrets of the Dreidel
Video Teaching Part 1
Video Teaching Part 2
Study notes and Slides
(Slide 1) One of the customs done on the holiday of Chanukah, in addition to lighting the menorah and eating ladakahs, is spinning the dreidel. A dreidel is a top, made of clay or wood.
The Hebrew word for dreidel is sevivon, which means “to turn around.” Dreidel is a Yiddish word that comes from the German word drehen. Drehen means “to spin.” On the dreidel are four Hebrew letters, which are nun (נ), gimel (ג), hey (ה) and shin (ש).
(Slide 2) The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in many European cultures. A teetotum (or T-totum) was known across Europe from Roman times. The name originates from Latin Totum meaning 'all' which was marked by a T on one of the four sides, indicated that the winning player could take all the played tokens.
Until recently the best explanation you’d get from me about the custom of playing dreidel on Chanukah was an answer about it being played as a ruse to trick the oppressors of the Jews into thinking they were playing games instead of studying Torah. The problem is that this is only the surface meaning behind the custom.
The Pashot
(Slide) What is the reason that we should play dreidel on Chanukah? On the p’shot level, the plain meaning, we play dreidel games to remember a time when the Jews were forbidden to study Torah in the Holy Land. The Syrian-Greeks had outlawed any form of studying Torah and anyone found doing so was killed mercilessly. In those days, Torah teachers would go into the mountains with students and study the Torah in caves. When the Syrian-Greek soldiers found them, they would hide their Torah scrolls and produce the dreidels in order to trick their occupiers into thinking they were just playing harmless games.
(Slide) The Al Hanisim prayer, a special benediction we recite on Chanukah, says, “L’hashkicham toretecha ul’haviram me’chukei retzonecha,” which roughly translates as “They tried to make us forget Your Torah and transgress Your will.” The Greeks wanted the Jews to forget the Torah and transgress the will of Yahweh.
After the miracle of Chanukah, the one day’s supply of oil lasting eight days, the Hebrew letters were added to the Dreidel. The letters stand for the expression, “Nes gadol hayah sham,” which means “A great miracle happened there.” (In Israel, the letters that appear on dreidels are nun, gimmel, hey, and pey, for “Nes gadol hayah poh,” which means “A great miracle happened here.”)
The Rules
(Slide) The game play consists of turns between players at spins of the dreidel. Each play begins with an equal number of Chanukah gelt, playing chips or pennies. At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center. In addition, every time the centre is empty or has only one game piece left, every player should put one in the centre.
If a player gets a Nun, this means “nisht” or “nothing” in Yiddish. The player does nothing.
Gimmel means “gantz” or “everything” in Yiddish. The player gets everything in the centre.
Hay means “halb” or “half” in Yiddish. The player gets half of the centre pieces (If there is an odd number of pieces in the pot, the player takes half of the total plus one.)
If a player gets a Shin, which means “shtel” or “put in” in Yiddish, he adds a game piece to the centre.
If you find that you have no game pieces left, you are out. When one person has won everything, that round of the game is over!
So this is the p’shot of the dreidel, to remember that there was a time when studying Torah was a capital offense.
The Remez
(Slide) On the level of remez, the hint is this. When Moshiach comes, all of the holidays will be absorbed. What does that mean? They will become minor holidays and Chanukah and Purim will become the major High Holidays. Chanukah and Puram are victory celebrations, while the other High Holidays are not so much about victory but removal from sin and receiving nearness, maintenance and atonement. (Click) Purim and Chanukah are about self-sacrifice and it is for this reason that their significance takes on an even more special quality in the Messianic age. They grab the Almighty’s supreme attention. These Holidays were created by man and sanctified by Yahweh and represent celebratory bond that all the other High Holidays do not possess. The whole idea that these holidays are separate from the Moadim of the Torah, an observation that causes their rejection by some, are their actual strengths and is the reason why they are so important to celebrate.
(Slide) The letters nun (נ), gimel (ג), hey (ה) and shin (ש) can also be read as Goshna, “to Goshen.” Goshen was a type of Promised Land and represents the Messianic era, after a state of exile. So as the dreidel spins and lands on each letter, it represents that spinning sensation of exile that eventually comes to a halt and makes us arrive in stages into the Promised Land, the age of redemption, the Messianic era. The numerical value, the gematria of Goshna is 358. This is the same numerical value as the Hebrew word “Moshiach” (Messiah). We play this game to remind us that there will be a future that will be better than today.
With the addition of the letter pey, instead of a shin that equals 138 is the gematria of Menachem, one of the names of Moshiach, which means “comforter.” This is the greatest name of Moshiach, even over rescuer, because it’s the revelation of being saved that comforts us greatly.
The Drush (Homiletics)
(Slide) The rabbis tell us that the four sides of the dreidel and the four letters are symbolic of the four exiles the Children of Israel. Through the years, the enemy has tried to destroy the righteous seed through assimilation and separation from the Land of Israel and the ways of Yahweh. The first captivity was from Babylon. The end of that 70 year exile brought about the time when the Persians ruled. Haman and his wicked henchmen sought to exterminate the Hebrews. Later the Greeks developed their competitive culture with sporting events and philosophy to sway the Israelites from spirituality. Then finally the Romans adopted all three approaches. But after each exile, comes a point where we are brought closer to Elohim.
(Slide) The four exiles are alluded to in the very beginning of the Torah in the second passage of the Book of Genesis. In English it is usually rendered, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of Elohim was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)”
The Babylonians - Formless
The expression “formless and empty (void)” is rendered in Hebrew as “אֶרֶץ erets הָיָה hayah וּהתֹּ tohuw וּהבֹּ bahuw.” The word tohuw means “formless” and bahuw means “empty.”
This is linked to Jeremiah 4:23 where it says “I looked at the earth, and it was formless and empty; and at the heavens, and their light was gone.” This passage speaks of the Babylonian exile, using the rhetoric of Genesis 1. So the Hebrew word for “formless” tohuw represents the Babylon exile.
The Persians – Empty (Void)
(Slide) The word “void” (empty) also used in Jeremiah 4 is alluded to in the book of Esther where it says in Esther 6:14 that “they rushed Haman to come” in that the word for rushed is להַבְּ bahal which represents alarm and has the same root as the Hebrew word for void or empty. So bahuw represents the Persian exile.
The Greeks - Darkness
(Slide) Then, where it says “the world was dark,” represents the Greeks, who wanted the Jews to deny their Creator. The Hebrew word for darkness is ךְשֶׁחֹ choshek. As it says in Midrash Rabbah – Bereishit 2:4, “And darkness symbolizes Greece, which darkened the eyes of Israel with its decrees, ordering Israel to, 'write on the horn of an ox that they have no portion in the portion of Israel.’”
(Slide) According to Sfat Emet Chanukah 5636, “The Greeks rejected the idea of Creation, thus the idea of Shabbat was an absurdity to their way of thinking. Similarly, the idea of a "new month" was absurd: For Jews, the new month indicates renewal and a testimony to Creation. The Greeks clearly rejected this notion. Moreover, the Torah teaches us this process of renewal and the testimony it bears are within the domain of the Jew: The new moon occurs only when declared by the Rabbinic court, indicating that the so-called forces of nature are placed under our control. This tenet of Jewish philosophy is encapsulated in the midrash in which the angels ask Elohim when the new moon is and Elohim responds, "Ask the Jews." Elohim, as it were, is seen to have abdicated the right to declare the new moon, which is a physical reality, and given it over to the courts, making it a religious act. This idea must have been particularly offensive to the Greeks, for whom natural phenomena were sacrosanct, not influenced or dictated by man, and certainly not by the Jews.”
By outlawing the sanctification of the New Moon it caused Israel to descend into darkness, hence ךְשֶׁחֹ choshek.
The Romans – An Abyss
(Slide) Then there is the expression “over the face of the abyss.” This represents the Roman exile, which was the worst, because it appeared to have no end like an abyss. The Hebrew word for abyss is םוֹהתְּ tĕhowm, which comes from a Hebrew root that means “to distract” and “discomfit.”
(Slide) But the verse concludes with the Ruach of Elohim hovering over each of these exiles.
So the verse reads, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of Elohim was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2)” But it can be rendered “Now the earth was subject to a formless exile, an empty exile, a dark exile and a deep exile, but Elohim hovered over them all.” Now as one continues to read on, he sees that Yahweh creates a good land, inhabiting it with all good things and populates it with His people. This light is the light of Moshiach, which vanquishes the exiles. This is the blueprint of all creation, right there in the second verse of the Torah. So this is the drush of the dreidel.
The Sod
(Slide) What is the Sod? The esoteric level. Again we look at the four letters. These letters represent the four forms of exile.
The nun represents the nefesh, the soul. The Babylonians destroyed the Holy Temple, which represented the connection point to the soul of Yahweh’s people.
The gimel represents guf, the body. Then Persia tried to destroy the body, whether they kept Torah or not, they wanted to kill the bodies of the Jews.
The shin is שָׂכַל sakhel (consideration) which is the intellect. The sakhel represents the Greeks, who tried to kill the Jews through intellect, through vain philosophy.
The hey stands for הקהל hakhel, everything (the entire assembly). The hakhel, the entire ensemble of exiles are encapsulated in the Roman exile. They tried all the former forms of exile on the Jews.
Conclusion
Each face of the dreidel symbolises the four basic modes of being. We all have our Gimmel days, when we feel that everything is going great, and we all have our Hei days, when things are going quite well. Then we have our Nun days when we feel like we’re not getting anywhere, and our Shin days when we feel we lose a little bit of who we are. Each of these letters represents only one face of the Dreidel -- only a single angle or perspective of the whole.
(Slide) The Maccabees did not dwell on the absolute dire consequences of their situation. They focused on the Gimmel that was on the other face of the Shin. We must remember that whenever we seem to be getting a lemon in life, it's all part of one Dreidel. And that Dreidel is telling us that miracles happen. We can transform the dark situations of life into the bright light of the Chanukah Menorah. This depends upon our faith in Elohim’s plan, and our commitment to create a vehicle for such a miracle to happen.
Though the beautiful land of Goshen was set within what would eventually be a hellhole for Israel, Ya’akov looked at all of the letters of the Dreidel, and realised that hidden in the exile are the seeds of redemption. Israel prospered, built on houses of Torah study, which taught them that no exile can hold sway over them while they help fast to Yahweh’s decrees.
This is the secret meaning of the dreidel. The letters represent the four major exiles, which after their endurance, bring us closer to the Messianic age and at the end of the Messianic age, the Olam Haba (The World-to-Come). The objective of exile is that the more we go down, the more we will eventually go up.
Through my own actions, I’ve put myself in one of the lowest places that I can ever remember being, but in that very low place, the lowest part of the womb, the birth canal, the most constrictive place, where the potential death of the mother and baby reaches its highest probability, there comes the birth, the elevation, the release. There comes true life.
(Slide) The miracle of Chanukah is the irony of a children’s game used to mask the true purpose of life, but in actually containing the true purpose of life concealed within its very make-up. At the time, the students may have thought that the game was a distraction from their true purpose in life, but Elohim conceals His countenance within the mundane and only through commitment to understand Yahweh within the ordinary facets of life do we make the deepest connection.
A dreidel can’t spin forever ladies and gentleman. Eventually it stops. Just keep playing and your reward will come.
Will this be the last Chanukah we have in the exile? Only Yahweh knows.
This is my message. Happy Chanukah everyone.