8/9/2019 Hanna Perlberger Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5775

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The Key To Freedom - Knowing When To Be WhatJan 23, 2015

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Last week, we took a little 3-day family outing, bringing loads of luggage fit for a Sherpa, to NYC, the land

of everything. We left home an hour and a half past our estimated departure time (dont ask). Ten or

fifteen minutes into the trip we had to turn around and come back home to get a forgotten item (really dont

ask). And I couldnt help but wonder how Moses managed to get a few million Jews out the door carrying

all of their possessions, leaving Egypt in one fell swoop.

In this weeks Torah portion, Bo, we see the unfolding of the last three plagues, the laws of Passover, and

the leaving of Egypt. Thats a lot of stuff for Moses to be dealing with, and so I was curious about the

insertion of two lines that seemed out irrelevant, out of the blue, and frankly, a little off the wall. God said

to Moses and Aaron: This month shall be for you the beginning of the months. It shall be for you the first

of the months of the year.

Im going to cut to the chase (especially since I am writing this blog Friday afternoon) and tell you

embedded in these two cryptic lines is the command to sanctify the new moon (Rosh Chodesh) and also to

ensure that Passover always occurs in the spring season.

In essence, in the middle of one of the biggest craziest ballagons in history, God commanded Moses to

create a calendar and just any calendar but a really strange and unique calendar that is based on both

the lunar months and the solar year. After all, the Jewish calendar is the only calendar based on both the

sun and the moon. Only these two systems (lunar and solar) are not in sync, and thus it requires adding leap

months, and other adjustments to reconcile the two over a perpetual 19-year cycle. What was so important

that it had to be commanded on the eve of leaving Egypt and why make it so complicated?

The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzraim, from the word Metzar which means narrow and

constricted. In leaving Egypt, the Jewish people were going from narrowness to expansion, from a

bounded country to an open limitless dessert, from slavery to freedom.

One of the hallmarks of being a slave is the inability to control anything, specifically time. When God

commanded us to be in charge of publically announcing the new moon (Rosh Chodesh/the new month) we

were given the gift of being able to declare and sanctify time itself. And as the Jewish people were coming

into their newly liberated status, it was important that they understood that freedom is not the same as a

free-for-all, and that expansion and freedom must be approached in a balanced way.

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8/9/2019 Hanna Perlberger Rosh Chodesh Shevat 5775

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Jewish mysticism teaches us that the differences between the sun and the moon are not just physical but

spiritual, and that the spiritual masculine energy of giving (the sun) and the spiritual feminine energy of

receiving (the moon) are two cosmic forces that need to be brought into balance and harmony.

The characteristics of masculine energy are that it is top down, proactive, exerts will, imposes an external

solution, fixes a situation, overcomes, and emits. When masculine energy interacts with the world, the

predominant energy is the execution of the will of the giver or executor.

The characteristics of feminine energy, on the other hand, are that it is bottom up, that it sees potential,

cultivates, builds, reveals innate qualities, and transforms. When feminine energy interacts with the world

the emphasis is on the receiver not the giver.

This is not about being a man or a woman. These are energies and qualities that we all have, and it goes

back to the beginning, with the creation of Adam that occurs in two parts. First, as being created in the

image of God, Adam was given dominion over everything. If it crawled, walked, swam, or flew, Adam was

in charge. This was proactive masculine energy. Second, when God blew His breath into Adams nostrils,

placed him in Garden of Eden and told him to tend it, Adam was tasked with care-taking, cultivating, and

nurturing. This was feminine energy. We need both energies, both ways of being but to be a free and fully

functioning person, we need to know when to be what.

There are times when we need an immediate solution to something, where there is a crisis, calling for fast

and effective leadership in a top down strong way. And there are times when leadership serves by building

consensus, collaborative brainstorming, building relationships and cultivating talent. There are times when

we need to impart concepts and information, and times when we want to foster the process of learning.

There is a time to be active and a time to be passive. There is a time to be the conqueror and a time to be

the cultivator. There is a time to be Adam #1 and Adam #2.

In the book,Built to Last, authors Collins and Porras conducted a 6-year study at the Stanford University

Graduate School of Business, taking eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and their direct

competitors, to find an answer to the question: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from

the comparison companies and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies

followed throughout their history?" In other words, was there a secret to their success?

And what they found was that exceptionally visionary and enduring companies all shared this in common

they knew when to be what. They knew when to be hierarchical and when to be flat, when to micro-

manage and when to full-out delegate. They had a fixed core of values as well as the flexibility to change

on a dime. By being able to embrace both sides of the coin, they knew what to do when and when to be

what.

Jewish mysticism teaches that that the era of redemption will see the return of feminine energy. Masculine

energy can win a war and impose a cease-fire, but true peace is a bottom up and inside out process. In the

times of the Messiah, said the prophet Isaiah, the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun. Thus,

these cosmic forces and energies will be in balance and harmony.

When we left Egypt, we received the Torah and we are tasked with being the light unto nations. We have to

be conscious of our ability to receive and our strength to give. We must be conscious of our collective soul

as well as our individual missions, and to bring ourselves, our families, our communities, and ultimately the

world, into a state of balance. When the whole world knows when to be what, the sun and moon will be

equal. This is what freedom looks like and this is why we were freed from Egypt - for the purpose of

balance, harmony and ultimate redemption.