What is the First Mitzvah in the Torah?

In this week’s Torah portion, as the final plagues bring Egypt to its knees and the laws of Passover make their debut, a profound moment unfolds – the giving of the very first mitzvah to the Jewish people.

Think about it – if you were crafting the perfect first commandment for a newly freed nation, what would you choose? Perhaps “Love your fellow as yourself” – the foundation of human relationships? Maybe Shabbat – the weekly reminder of God’s creation? Or possibly the study of Torah itself – the blueprint for Jewish life?

With such monumental options available, the actual first mitzvah might surprise you. It wasn’t about prayer, morality, or even belief in God. Instead, it was… Rosh Chodesh – the sanctification of the new moon.¹

Anticlimactic? It gets even more intriguing. Rashi, the foremost Torah commentator, makes a striking observation on the very first verse of the Torah. He explains that the Torah, as the guidebook for the Jewish people, could have legitimately begun with the command of Rosh Chodesh instead of the story of creation. This seemingly technical mitzvah wasn’t just chosen as our first command – it was actually considered worthy of being the Torah’s opening statement!

What elevated this mitzvah to such prominence, not just as our first command, but as a contender for the Torah’s very first verse? And why does God choose to give it now, right as the Jewish people are about to go free from Egypt? The answers reveal nothing less than the blueprint for Jewish identity and destiny.

Oppressed Slaves to Divine Partners

The Talmud² reveals something remarkable about this mitzvah. The words “This month shall be unto you” teach us that the Jewish court has the power to determine when each month begins, even if their declaration doesn’t perfectly align with the moon’s appearance. Consider the magnitude of this moment: For 210 years, every minute of Jewish life had been dictated by Egyptian taskmasters. Sunrise meant trudging to the brick pits, sunset meant collapsing in exhaustion, and every hour between belonged to Pharaoh. Now, in His first command to the newly emerging nation, God didn’t impose more rules – He granted power over time itself. We would determine the months, establish the holidays, and shape the spiritual energy of the year. This wasn’t just freedom from bondage; it was elevation to partners in Creation.

People of the Moon

God mirrored this profound new relationship in the very symbol He chose for the mitzvah – the moon. According to the Zohar, the moon represents the Jewish people. Accordingly, we can derive three profound truths about our destiny from its cycle:

First, just as the moon waxes and wanes, our nation will experience near constant fluctuation between periods of darkness and light. Yet, like the moon, we always have the potential to recreate ourselves. In fact, many people use Rosh Chodesh as a time to take a personal accounting and make the necessary changes to align their lives with their goals and higher vision of themselves. Furthermore, just as the moon’s essence remains constant behind its changing appearance, the Jewish people endure through every trial. After each destruction, we return, as brilliant as ever – Am Yisrael Chai! The Jewish People live!

Second, just as the moon reflects the sun’s light rather than generating its own, our strength comes from our connection to God.³ Even King David, our mightiest leader, attributed all his achievements to the Divine. It should come as no surprise that we proclaim “Dovid Melech Yisrael, Chai V’Kayam!” — David, King of Israel, lives forever — during the blessing of the new month!

Third, when the moon appears darkest to us, it’s actually closest to the sun – positioned directly between Earth and its source of light.⁴ What a powerful message: in our times of greatest darkness, when God seems most distant, He may be closest of all.

Celebrating Potential

But perhaps the deepest wisdom of Rosh Chodesh lies in its timing. Why celebrate the moon’s rebirth at the beginning of the month instead of its fullness in the middle? For the same reason we celebrate a Bar Mitzvah – not for the awkward Torah reading and canned sermon of a nervous teenager, but for his magnificent potential. We Jews always celebrate beginnings – bris, bar mitzvah, and wedding – because we understand that the journey toward greatness is as sacred as the achievement itself. On Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the moon’s cycle towards fullness, we look forward to the month ahead and arouse in ourselves the desire to achieve our utmost potential. This quest for self-actualization is the entire purpose of God’s Torah, making it the perfect choice for our first mitzvah.

The next time Rosh Chodesh comes around, take a moment to ponder these lessons. Remember that each month brings a fresh opportunity to partner with God in creation, to find light in darkness, and to begin again. Like the moon, we can always renew ourselves, drawing strength from our Source and reflecting divine light into the world.

Shabbat Shalom!
Avraham

1. Exodus 12:2
2. Tractate Rosh Hashana 22A
3. The Sforno points out that the pasuk in parshas Pinchas (Bamidbar 28:11) refers to Rosh Chodesh as “Roshei Chadsheichem” – YOUR Rosh Chodeshes. Why Your? It doesn’t say Your Sukkoses or Your Day of Bikurim (Shavuos)! Answer: Rosh Chodesh is ours because we as Klal Yisrael are metaphorically represented by the moon, in that we draw our light only from Hashem.
4. During the new moon (when we celebrate Rosh Chodesh), the moon is positioned between Earth and the sun. From our perspective on Earth, the moon appears dark because its illuminated side faces away from us. As the moon continues its orbit, we see more and more of its sunlit surface (waxing) until it reaches full moon, when Earth is between the moon and sun. Then the visible sunlit portion decreases (waning) until the moon returns to its position between Earth and sun, beginning the cycle anew.

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