Announcing Rosh 'Hodesh — Parashat 'Hayé Sara
Announcing Rosh 'Hodesh
When announcing Rosh 'Hodesh on the preceding Shabat, the custom is to "beautify" the name of some of the months by proclaiming Adar HaNehdar (the Marvelous Adar), Nisan HaMe'utar (the Crowned Nisan), Iyar Ziv (the Illustrious Iyar), Sivan HaMukhtar BeKheter Tora Shetit'alé (the Tora-Crowned Sivan, may it rise up), Tamuz Yahe"l — Yehafkhu Ado-nai LeTova (the month of Tamuz — God shall turn Tamuz into a good month), Av HaRa'haman (the Merciful Av), and Elul HaMerutsé (the Auspicious Elul). (1)
During Birkat Ha'Hodesh some do not say the "Yehi Ratson" prayer printed in the sidurim, but rather "Me'hadesh 'hodashim umishe'asa nisim…." (2)
The custom is to sit for Birkat Ha'Hodesh. (3)
(1) See Nahagu Ha'Am (Rosh 'Hodesh, §2). This is also the custom of Algiers; see Zé HaShul'han (91:3).
(2) Nahagu Ha'Am (ibid.). Ribi Yosef BenOualid (Samo Yosef, §163) writes that this is customary only on the Shabat before Rosh 'Hodesh Av HaRa'haman.
(3) Magen Avraham (417:1) rules that one should stand for "Kidush Ha'Hodesh," as Ashkenazim refer to it. Ribi Moshé Feinstein (vol. 1, §142) explains that this is because in the Bet HaMikdash people stood when sanctifying the moon and the subsequent determination of whether Rosh 'Hodesh will be one or two days long. Sidur Avotenou (p. 507) writes that the Moroccan custom is to sit because in our times the purpose of Birkat Ha'Hodesh is no longer to sanctify the moon as the rabbinic court did in the times of the Bet HaMikdash. Rather, we are simply reminding everyone what day Rosh 'Hodesh will fall on.
Debar Tora — Parashat 'Hayé Sara
Ribi Meir Ouaknin, Zikhron Meir, 'Helek 2, p. 290
About Ribi Meir Ouaknin: Ribi Meir Ouaknin (1885–1975) was born in Tiberias, the son of Ribi David Ouaknin, av bet din of the city. According to family tradition, the family descends from Ribi Yosef ibn 'Aknin, one of the rabbis of Fez. From 1914 to 1920 he served in New York as chief rabbi of the Sephardic community of Aleppo (Aram Soba) Jews. In 1953 he became chief rabbi and av bet din of Tiberias. He was president of the Kolel Ribi Meir Ba'al HaNes and founded the "Meir Bat 'Ayin" yeshiva beside the tomb of Ribi Meir Ba'al HaNes. He wrote the responsa Vayomer Meir, and his derashot were published as Zikhron Meir.
"Vayihyu 'hayé Sara méa shana ve'esrim shana vesheva shanim shené 'hayé Sara." — "And the life of Sara was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, [these were] the years of the life of Sara." (Bereshit 23:1)
The commentators ask a simple question: why does the Tora speak this way?
First, the word 'hayé — "lives" — is plural. It sounds as if Sara had more than one life. Second, her years are counted in pieces: "one hundred years and twenty years and seven years," instead of simply "one hundred and twenty-seven years." What is the Tora telling us?
Ba'al HaTurim answers the first question. Sara Imenu had no child until she was ninety. That barren stretch of her life could not really be called "life." We know this from Rahel Imenu, who said to Ya'aqob (Bereshit 30:1), "haba li banim veim ayin meta anokhi" — "Give me children; and if not, I am dead." Only from the birth of Yishaq onward did Sara begin to live fully and rejoice in her lot. Those are the "lives" the verse hints at.
Rashi answers the second question. The numbers are separated because each one teaches something on its own:
"When she was one hundred years old, she was like a twenty-year-old with regard to sin. Just as a twenty-year-old has not yet sinned — for she is not yet liable to punishment — so too at one hundred she was without sin. And when she was twenty, she was like a seven-year-old with regard to beauty."
That praise regarding sin is enormous: Sara never sinned her whole life. But what do we gain from comparing her beauty to that of a seven-year-old? Why teach us what seems like a small point?
Our Sages explain: at seven, a girl does not yet know that she is beautiful. She does not understand beauty, nor how to cultivate it — that is the innocence of a child. In the last few parashiot the Tora tells us again and again that Sara Imenu was one of the most beautiful women who ever lived. One might think that someone so beautiful would at least be aware of it. The verse comes to teach the opposite: though kings themselves coveted her, Sara remained unaware of her beauty, with the innocence of a young child.
📖 Bring the customs of our fathers home
Every month our communities proclaimed the new month with beauty and joy. Every custom you just read, and many more like it, is explained in full in the book, with its sources.
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