Now, what about after the sun sets? Does that mean it’s time to forget about the osos, the demonstrations of the luminaries? Oh no, the secrets of the world are too important of a subject to forget about at night. ר∆מֹ‡ ַיﬠּƒבַי םֹיו¿ל םֹיו – Each day is speaking to you important words, הּ∆וַח¿י הָל¿יַלּ¿ל הָל¿יַל¿ו ַ̇ﬠָּ„ – but the nights too are teaching you wisdom (Tehillim 19:3).
Everyone knows that once a month we go out of the shul into the street and we make a bracha on the new moon; and we say, רַמָ‡ הָנָבּ¿לַל¿ו – Hashem told the moon, ּׁ̆≈„ַח¿ ּ̇ƒ ׁ̇∆̆ – should become small and disappear at the end of the month and then at the beginning of the new month it should reappear. It means that He made it happen.
Now that’s not a chiddush to us. Only the atheists, the liars, so they’ll say that it’s an accident; but the frum Jews, we know that רַמָ‡ הָנָבּ¿לַל¿ו, that Hashem gave the command to the moon.
But even that is not the whole truth. Because why did He do it, that’s the question. So you’ll say it’s for important purposes. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has good reasons for the phenomenon of the phases of the moon; the waxing and waning of the moon is purposeful. When the moon changes its appearance, it helps us eat. It creates food. It facilitates many processes of life. And so what’s the question ‘Why did He command the moon to wax and wane’? There are so many beneficial reasons.
The Real Renewal Reason
The answer is that those aren’t the real reason. ּׁ̆≈„ַח¿ ּ̇ƒ ׁ̇∆̆ רַמָ‡ הָנָבּ¿לַל¿ו – Why did He give that command and create a system of the moon traveling around the earth so that sometimes it reflects more of the sunlight towards the earth and sometimes less? Not for all those reasons you thought. He did it so that it should be ̇∆ר∆‡¿פּƒ ̇ ̇∆ר∆טֲﬠ – be a crown of glory, י≈סּמוֲﬠַלן∆טָּב – to those whom Hakadosh Baruch Hu has carried since their birth. That’s the Jewish nation. Since we became a nation He has carried us like someone carries a child in His arms, taking care of us with an especial providence.
How is the moon a crown of glory for us? ם≈הׁ∆ּ̆הָ ֹ̇מוּ¿כ ּׁ̆≈„ַח¿ ̇ƒה¿ל יםƒ„יƒ ֲ̇ﬠ – because we are going to be renewed someday just like we see the moon being renewed. The moon you know is sometimes not visible. It disappears at the end of the month. It becomes smaller and smaller and disappears. But don’t give up hope; as sure as anything it's going to reappear. In a few days you’ll go out to the street and you’ll see it again.
And the Am Yisroel too, it may seem that they're disappearing. Forget about that. It’s never going to happen. As long as there's going to be a world, there's going to be an Am Yisroel. And not only they’re going to be, but they're going to reappear and get greater and greater.
