mitzvah of קידוש החודש קידוש החודש, that in the time when we had the Sanhedrin, every month they would have to decide which day is Rosh Chodesh, there is always a choice of two days. And it would depend on the witnesses that came and saw the new moon. So concerning עדות החודש, איז דא א פלוגתא צווישן רב שמעון און די רבנן. There is an argument in the Gemara between Rav Shimon and the Rabbanan. Rav Shimon האלט, Rav Shimon holds, אז אב ובניו וכל הקרובים כשרים לעדות החודש. Even though when you have witnesses, two brothers cannot be witnesses in any type of witnesses, any type of testimony. But when it comes to testify concerning the new moon, Rav Shimon holds relatives could be: father and a son, all relatives are allowed. ווייל עס שטייט אין פסוק, it says in the פסוק, ויאמר ה׳ אל משה ואל אהרן... החודש הזה לכם. ה׳ said to משה and אהרן about ראש חודש, וואס מיינט עדות זו תהא כשרה בכם. He learns that since Moshe and Aharon were brothers, and He says החודש הזה לכם, what do you mean לכם? This חודש is to you. That means it should be כשר like you are, Moshe and Aharon, ברידער. Even though you're two brothers, in the future also two brothers could be. So by קידוש החודש there is a din that relatives are allowed. Why not relatives? Why can't brothers be edim? We're going to go through this whole thing here. די רבנן האלטן, the Rabbanan hold, אז קרובים זענען פסול לעדות החודש, that relatives cannot testify by the moon. און דער פסוק מיינט אז עדות זו תהא מסורה לכם. When it says the word לכם, doesn't mean that it could be like you, it means that it's given over in your hands. That means אז א בית דין איז מקבל עדות ומקדש דעם חודש, and it has to be through a beit din. So the bottom line, there is a machloket whether relatives could be witnesses for חודש. איז מבאר דער רבי מהר״ש דעם טעם פון רב שמעון אז עדות החודש איז אנדערש פון כל עדיות. So the Rabbi Maharash explains what's the reason why according to Rav Shimon this testimony is different than everything else, and two witnesses are enough, and he says like this: ווייל אז אפילו אן די עדות ווייסט דאך בית דין על פי החשבון ווען ס'איז ראש חודש, since beit din, besides the witnesses they would keep they would calculate like we do nowadays, so they would know anyway when Rosh Chodesh has to be. על דרך ווי ס'איז ביי אונז, he says, like now, אז עכשיו שאין מקדשין על פי הראיה, אנו סומכין על החשבון. Now that we don't we don't make Rosh Chodesh based on seeing the the the moon, so we rely on the cheshbon, on the calculations, so they knew it then too. קומט אויס אז די עדות איז נישט א זאך וואס בלא דם לא היו יודעים כלל. So when they testify, it's not something that without them we wouldn't know. See, regular testimony means we don't know if this if he owes him money or not, let's say. We don't know! He says, \"You owe me,\" he says, \"I don't.\" The witnesses testify, but without the witnesses we wouldn't know. But this is something we'd know anyway! דערפאר זענען אויך קרובים כשרים לעדות, so that's why even relatives are allowed. So then we rely on anyone except the edim? Huh? So we don't rely on nature, except edim? I mean, we don't rely on edim, we have to see the moon. No, the eidus is the moon! The eidus is seeing the moon. Right. But besides that, we had the calculations to figure out when the new moon What is ראש חודש? When the new moon starts. Right. So they would calculate it, and then also have eidus, but the eidus was not the 100% that you needed them. So then, if if it's a cloudy night, four cloudy nights It's pushed off. Then what? It's pushed off to the next day, because they couldn't see it. You know, it could have been three cloudy nights, you'd have So, up to up to six. Up to six, six months. ...is not a ראיה, it's just like a סימן. No, farkert, it's only a ראיה. No, it's not a ראיה either, it's it's like an addition to... It's like a yeah, something extra. דארף מען פארשטיין, so the Rebbe says we have to understand: דער פסול פון קרובים איז דאך נישט מצד החשש שמא ישקרו. The reason why relatives are pasul is not because we're afraid they'll lie, נאר גזירת מלך היא. It's a halachah, the Torah says so. איז מה נשתנה דורך דעם וואס בית דין ווייסט על פי החשבון דעם אמת קענען זיי זיין עדים? So what difference does it make if they know or not? If the reason why normally brothers are not accepted, that they might lie, in the case where we know it without them, so then they wouldn't lie, or we don't care. But it's not because they might lie, there is a din that two brothers cannot be edim. איז דא א ביאור אין דאס, so the Rebbe explains it like this: עדות איז נישט נאר א בירור על פי שכל. Normally eidus, as we think of it, is just a verification. You don't know what happened, it verifies. It's not so. It's not just a verification על פי שכל that two people say, you trust them. נאר ס'איז א דין, it's a הלכה, עשיית גמר דבר, א גזירת הכתוב. You accomplish by the edim saying it, it's accomplished. פסוק says על פי שנים עדים יקום דבר, שני עדים יקום דבר. Two edim make up the thing. און ווי דער Rambam איז מבאר, the Rambam says very clearly, אז נצטוינו לחתוך על פי שני עדים כשרים, we were commanded to cut a din, to פסק׳ן, come to a verdict based on two עדים, אף על פי שאפשר שיהיה שקר, even though they might be lying. Two people, maybe they're lying. How do you know they're not lying? Even though they're two, usually two people don't lie, but you don't know, two people could lie. So the Rambam says, no makes a difference, it's just the Torah says so. Not two people, two relatives, two brothers. No, no, no. We're not talking about brothers now. We're talking about the עצם דין of eidus, regular case of eidus. A regular case of eidus, the peshat is that it's a halachah that the edim accomplish something. It's an interesting approach. It's not the peshat that the edim verify only. They make it. So if you say if you have two edim that say that you owe the money, besides that they verify that you borrowed, they make the chiyuv. Because of them it becomes a chiyuv. They are the kiyum. און די זעלבע זאך איז אין דעם צווייטן קצה. The same thing on the other end. דאס וואס קרובים זענען פסול לעדות, the fact that relatives are פסול, איז כנ״ל אפילו אז ס'איז ניטא קיין חשש אז זיי וועלן משקר זיין. Even if we're not afraid they're lying. See, if it's only to verify, so the only reason kerovim would be pasul cuz they might be lying. But that's, we know it's not because of that. ווייל דער תוקף פון עדות איז נישט נאר מסתמא דעם בירור השכלי וואס מ'האט צו זיי. The idea of edim is not just because of the verification, a logical idea that you know that if they said so, probably it's true. נאר דאס איז א תוקף פון א דין תורה. This is a halachah. דאך האט די תורה נישט געגעבן צו קרובים. The whole idea of edut is that it makes the din. The Torah makes the din. The Torah says relatives cannot do that, not because relatives are not trusted. כיון דאבער אזוי ווי די קביעות זיין דעם חודש איז נישט מוכרח דער תוקף פון עדות, since, this is what to explain the peshat what the Rabbi Maharash meant, since to establish the חודש you do not need, it's not a must to have the idea of עדות, ס'איז גענוג דער בירור ע״פ החשבון, it's enough if you have the verification through the חשבון, וואס דאס איז פאר כנ״ל אויך שבשמים, ע״פ הראיה און ע״פ החשבון, the best proof is that nowadays that we don't have the ראיה, we don't have the edut, we rely on the חשבון, דעריבער איז ע״ר ביי עדות החודש פארדעם ציט לדעת רב שמעון בלייבט דער בירור של העדות. So therefore Rav Shimon holds that the whole din of ראש חודש is not, there's no need of halachah of edut. Cuz if there would be a halachah of edut, nowadays we don't, we don't have the din of edut, we shouldn't have. אלא מאי, all we need is a בירור. And we have the בירור anyway. When is the karov, when are קרובים פסול? When the inyan of edut is a din. And the din says that קרובים are פסול. But when it's not a דין, והראיה we don't need a דין of עדות that nowadays we don't have them and it's still good, ממילא איז נאכפאלן אז ס'איז ניטא קיין חשש שמא ישקר. Therefore, if we're not afraid they're going to lie, ווי בנידון דידן וואס זיי זענען נישט נוגע בדבר, like in our case they're not נוגע, why should they lie? זענען אויך קרובים כשרים לעדות. So, so therefore relatives are also allowed for עדות. Are there other cases also where the עדים are like, huh? Are there other cases also where the עדים are just, another דין? What about, no, is this the only case? Yeah. Just think of where else could it be. ערכאות? I'd say saying someone passed away. No, there it's one, there it's not a דין עדות, והראיה one is enough. One is enough. Talking where you need two. Is there a מסירה by a get? By a get? In the, what do you say, מסירה by a get? Nu? It's also you can't have two brothers. אדרבה, there it's even more that you need a דין עדות. Okay, so this explains the opinion of Rav Shimon. Okay. Mit dem hesber, based on this, וועט אייך פארענטפערן נאך א שאלה וואס מען קען פרעגן לדעת רב שמעון. Another question you can ask according to Rav Shimon. The דין is אז גרים אין להם קורבה. Brothers are not related, converts are not related. אפילו שני אחים שנתגיירו מעידין זה על זה. If you have two brothers who converted, they could testify one for the other. גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד דמי, because if you convert, you're like a new person. So, you're a new person and you're a new person. Even though biologically they're, they're brothers, but they're not, הלכה they're not brothers. איז אויב מיר ווילן צו זאגן אז ביי יציאת מצרים האבן אידן געהאט א דין פון גרים, if we're going to say when אידן went out of מצרים they were all considered גרים, they all converted, that's when they became Jews, iz eynmol, so then we don't understand, וואס איז די ראיה פון דעם וואס עדות הזאת תהא כשרה בכם משה ואהרן, זיי האבן געהאט א דין פון גרים צו לאחרי מתן תורה קרובים. The ראיה that Rav Shimon brings that brothers are trusted, because Moshe and Aharon were trusted. But Moshe va'Aharon were גרים, because it was by יציאת מצרים, they were all מתגייר. So they all became converts. Converts are not relatives. So how is that a ראיה that when you have real two brothers that the same דין should be? They were not they were not supposed to to convert, because after all, they had Jewish parents. Doesn't matter. Everyone had to convert. The whole דין of conversion we learn out from Matan Torah. How do you know you have to go to the mikveh? Because before Matan Torah they went to the mikveh. How do you know you have to accept mitzvot? Because they said נעשה ונשמע. The whole din of of gerim, how you convert, learned out from Matan Torah. Because all the אידן were converted. Nobody was related to anybody anymore. Right. That's why there's a she'eilah, do they have to give new kiddushin to their wife? So their parents were parents, but in halachah they were not really related. So why were they בוכים למשפחותם? Huh? Why were they בוכים למשפחותם, they couldn't marry each other? Maybe from the future now. But from then on, when every Matan Torah, anyone who was born, any two children were born were brothers and sisters. Excuse me, when when Moshe Rabbeinu's mother father married His aunt. Yeah, there was no problem. There's no problem. Even as מצוות בני נח it was no problem. So the question is, how does the Gemara learn out that two brothers are allowed to be if because Moshe veAharon were? Moshe veAharon were gerim. But על פי הנ״ל, אבער קען מען זאגן, based on what we said before, the peshat is like this: דאס וואס גרים איינע די אנדערע, this that we say that converts are not relatives and therefore they could testify for each other, איז מצד דעם וואס פסול קורבה איז א דין גזירת הכתוב. That's because of the din. We said that edut has two things. On one hand, when you testify, you're verifying something. To make sure that you know, but then there's another thing, it has a din of edut. This that two relatives that the gerim are not relations, that's based that's connected to the din of עדות, און נישט מצד דעם קירוב הדעת וואס איז דא צווישן זיי. That's not when we talk about the the closeness that they have. וויבאלד גרים האבן נישט קיין דין קורבה, איז נישט חל אויף זיי דער פסול. Therefore, since gerim don't have the din of brothers, so they don't have the din of being pasul. מה שאין כן ווען עס רעדט זיך וועגן אן עדות וואס איז בלויז א בירור שעל פי שכל, but if we're talking about edut where we're not looking at the din, we're not looking at the din, when we're talking about קידוש החודש, the two the edut of קידוש החודש is not the din of עדות, איז דער חסרון פון קרובים אין דעם סוג עדות מצד דעם קירוב הדעת. Now, what would be the problem in this type of edut? Not because there's a din that two relatives can't. It's only because they're close to each other, so you don't trust them about each other, וואס איז דא ביי קרובים, that you have by relatives. און וויבאלד דאס קירוב הדעת צווישן אחים איז אויך דא ביי אחים שנתגיירו, כנראה במוחש, the closeness of the two minds of two brothers is there by by by converts also, as we actually see. קען מען אפלערנען פון דעם וואס משה ואהרן זענען כשר לעדות זו, אויף די אויף די שלאחר מתן תורה קרובים. So we could learn out from here. Because the problem that we have in this case of קרובים basically let's go like this: what's the reason why two relatives can two brothers can't be עדות? So two things: till now we said because there's a din. A din that two relatives two brothers can't be, that's it, finished, that's a din. But then there's another problem. The other problem is that two brothers, you know, you can't trust because you know, a brother will say for a brother. In a regular דין עדות, two brothers can't be for both reasons. Number one, there's a halacha of עדות, and that's a halacha two brothers can't be. Then there's another problem: two brothers might be too close to each other. In this case, there's only one problem. Not the problem of the דין עדות, because there's no דין עדות here, we just finished saying. The problem is the קירוב הדעת, maybe they're too close. That problem is there by gerim also. So Moshe vaAharon had that same problem. Moshe vaAharon were two brothers. אה they were gerim, but the problem of gerim the problem of brothers applies to gerim also, that problem. And since the Torah said that they could be, from that we learn out that regular two brothers could also. Just like they're not one family, since they're all gerim now they're all one family, one family of gerim, everybody. They're all related. No, no, no, not at all. No. Two biological brothers. Yeah. If they're not gerim, there's two problems why they cannot testify for each other. Number one, there's a din that by עדות you can't. Another thing is two brothers are too close. Gerim don't have the problem of of of the halacha, because they're not brothers. But they have the other problem. They're still biologically is still, yeah, and they care about each other. And since in this case the only din of עדות is not the halacha of עדות, the only din of עדות is that we have to verify, so the problem of of two brothers מצד ההלכה is not there. Of of of by, so gerim, as far as that problem, is no problem. The only problem is in this case of two brothers, is the דעת. Moshe Rabbeinu and Aharon had that problem too, even though they were gerim. And nevertheless, the Torah said they could, so from there we learn out that you could. די הלכה אבער בלייבט דאס רבנן. Halacha is not like R'' Shimon. די הלכה איז אז קרובים זיינען פסול לעדות החודש, that you cannot use relatives for the עדות החודש. דערפון איז פארשטאנדיק, אז זיי ביי קידוש החודש דארפן האבן דעם דין עדות. So that comes out that די הלכה איז that you have to have a דין עדות, and a דין עדות two brothers can't be. So R'' Shimon says there's no דין עדות by the קידוש החודש, it's only a birur. The חכמים hold there is a דין עדות, and therefore brothers are פסול. ויש לבאר הסברא, and what's the sevara? פון דעם גופא וואס תורה האט אנגעזאגט אז עס מוז זיין עדי ראיה, כזה ראה וקדש, since the Torah said that you do have to have witnesses, לכאורה, וויבאלד אז בית דין מוז sowieso וויסן, רעכענען דעם זמן פון דער לבנה, אויך על פי החשבון, since the בית דין anyway calculated it, און נאך מער, מייסטענס זיי זיך סומך אויף דעם חשבון, בית דין would rely on that חשבון, אפילו בזמן שמקדשין על פי ראיה, even when they used to find have the עדות, they would also use the חשבון. Where do we see they would use the חשבון? For אם אנו יודעים בחשבון שאינה נראה, באו עדים והעידו שנראה, אין סומכין על דבריהם. If according to the calculations it's impossible for the לבנה to be seen, and two עדים would come and say, \"We saw,\" they would not rely on them. Because they did use the חשבון. פאר וואס דארף מען אנקומען בכלל צו עדי ראיה? So if they used the חשבון, why did the Torah say that you have to have עדים to see it? איז דערפון געדרונגען, that proves אז תורה וויל מוסיף זיין אויפן ענין החשבון. Torah wants that in addition to the חשבון we should have the דין of עדות. און דערפאר לערנען רבנן אז תורה וויל צוגעבן אז די קביעות ראש חודש זאל זיין נישט נאר על פי חשבון, וואס איז בירור, נאר עס זאל אויך האבן דעם תוקף פון דין עדות, וואס איז על פי שנים עדים יקום דבר. The Torah wanted there should be two things. See, R'' Shimon learns the fact that you have the חשבון, a סימן that we don't need עדות. Ay, the Torah said need עדות, that's only like like the cheshbon. It's not real a דין עדות. And the רבנן said the opposite. If it would not be a דין עדות, why do we need them bichlal? You have the cheshbon. איז א ראיה the Torah wants a דין עדות. There's an exception. Huh? There's an exception. אבער ס'איז אבער נישט גלאטיק לויט די גיסא. Now we have a problem the other way. וויבאלד מ'איז מקדש על פי ראיה, אפשר שטייען כשרים, וואס על פי שני עדים יקום דבר, since l'poel we do have two witnesses, and the two witnesses accomplish, איז מה נשתנה דער ענין פון ראש חודש, וואס מ'פארלאזט זיך נישט אויף די עדות און חקירות ודרישות אליין, נאר מען מאכט א חשבון, און אויב די עדות שטימט נישט מיטן חשבון, איז אין סומכין על דבריהם. If the bottom line is that you need עדות, and we Why do we need the cheshbon? And we see that we need the cheshbon, we use the cheshbon, because if cheshbon doesn't fit, and we won't accept the עדות. But if you have עדות, and עדות there is a special דין of עדות, and the רבנן hold it's a דין of עדות, why is this different than everything else? By all other דינים, there's a דין עדות. Why do we need also the cheshbon? אך בגורל. Huh? אך בגורל. No, that has nothing to do with עדות. It's similar, I see it like this. Oh, that! Yeah, the Purim. Yeah, but you need a birur. Why? Over there גופא you need a birur. Why? Two different inyanim. Yeah, yeah, excuse. There you have three things. Right. ויש לומר הביאור בזה בפנימיות. So the Rebbe, I'll explain it al pi chassidus. In other words, what he's trying to explain why, when it came to establish ראש חודש, you needed two things. You needed witnesses to see the the moon, and also they had the calculations to figure out when the cycle of the moon would start over again. Why do we need both? So the explanation like this: In יעדער ענין פון די צוויי, יעדער פון די צוויי, עדי ראיה און חשבון, in both of these two, witnesses and the calculation, איז דא א מעלה שאין בזה. Each one has something that the other one doesn't have. און קביעות ראש חודש זייענדיק אן ענין כללי ביסוד התורה ומצוותיה, since establishing ראש חודש is such an important foundation in תורה, אידישקייט, דארף האבן ביידע מעלות, כדי לקמן. So it needs both, as the Rebbe says, \"I will explain.\" דערפאר, אין אנו סומכין אלא על שניהם כאחד, הראיה והחשבון. Therefore, we have to have both. Why? Because each one has something special, and and קידוש החודש is such an important issue that you have to have both. Quick cycle. So this is the first first mitzvah that is given, yeah? So what would say פרו ורבו, how does that fit? פרו ורבו is also the first mitzvah, so how's how does that work? It was You'll you'll learn the Sichah, חלק ט״ז. בכדי דאס פארשטיין, באהאפט מיט א מאמר הידוע. He says like this, we'll see here a little bit also. Rebbe brings the famous saying of פסוק, החודש הזה לכם, the pasuk that starts

off in this week's parashah, that the Torah says that you should establish Rosh Chodesh. So Rashi says in the beginning of חומש, לא היה צריך להתחיל את התורה מהחודש הזה לכם. Really, the Torah should have started from this din, from the din of how you make chodesh. און ווי רש״י איז מסביר, שמצוה ראשונה שנצטוו בה ישראל. Rashi calls it is the first mitzvah that the Yidden were given. לכאורה, ניט מובן. זאגט ער, understand, פאר וואס איז החודש הזה לכם the מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו בה ישראל? Why is takeh this the first mitzvah? לכאורה, האט די ערשטע מצוה געדארפט זיין אנכי ה׳ אלקיך. The first mitzvah should have been: I'm your God! Kabbalat ol malchut shamayim, accepting the ol of Hashem. וואס איז די התחלה און יסוד פון קיום כל המצוות? That's the foundation, all the mitzvot are based on the fact that you believe in Hashem. Why shouldn't that be the first? איז דער ביאור אין דעם, the explanation is like this: אנכי ה׳ אלקיך איז די התחלה און יסוד פון אלע מצוות נוגע דעם קיום המצוות בפועל. Saying that I am Hashem your God, to accept Hashem as God, that's the foundation of the all of the doing of all the mitzvot. You will not never do a mitzvah if you don't believe in God. So you have to believe in Hashem first. כדי דער מענטש זאל מקיים זיין מצוות כדבעי, מוז ביי אים פריער זיין קבלת עול מלכות שמים. You first accept the ol of Hashem, then you will do the mitzvot properly. החודש הזה לכם איז די מטרה און תכלית פון תורה ומצוות. This mitzvah of קידוש החודש, of establishing Rosh Chodesh, that's not the foundation. That's the goal of all the mitzvot. און דערפאר איז דאס די סברא וואס ס'איז געזאגט געווארן בהקדמה צו אלע מצוות, אלס מצוה ראשונה. That's why it's the first mitzvah. The first mitzvah means that this is hakdamah. Why? Because right in the beginning, when you start something, you, in your mind, know סוף מעשה במחשבה תחילה. What's going to, what is your goal? That's why this was the first, because this is the goal. In the actuality, when you go in the order of what you got to do, the first thing you got to do is accept Hashem, then you do next mitzvah. But before that yet, before you even accept Hashem, you got to know what's your goal now of of doing mitzvot. די כוונה פון תורה ומצוות איז אז יידן זאלן צוגעבן א חידוש אין די בריאה. The

whole purpose of Torah umitzvot is that Yidden should add something new in the creation. כידוע הביאור הפנימי דמאמר חז״ל גדולים מעשי צדיקים יותר ממעשה שמים וארץ. The Gemara says the action of tzadikim is greater than the creation of heaven and earth. Why? ווארעם מעשה שמים וארץ איז בריאה יש מאין. The creation of heaven, the creation of heaven and earth, Hashem created something out of nothing. So he made from nothing to something. מעשי צדיקים, וואס זיי טוען, איז ביטול היש לאין. What tzadikim do, they do the opposite, they take the some, the not, the something and make it into nothing. That means that we show how this something is really nothing. Der Aibershter took nothing and made it into this, and we're going to do by learning Torah and doing mitzvot, we elevate this back to Hashem. There's something Hashem cannot do. און דערפאר איז גדולים מעשי, it's bigger. על דרך מאמר חז״ל, אז גדול הוי׳, אז גדול נס האחרון יותר מן הראשון. The famous story we just learned in in Ein Yaakov, that when Rabbi Chanina ben Teradyon his an Chanina ben Dosa, ben Dosa. Yeah, yeah, Chanina ben Dosa. Yeah, Chanina ben Dosa, so his his wife, anyways, his wife asked him, they were poor, so he asked Hashem to give him. So all of a sudden, he got a leg, golden golden leg. And then they saw in a dream that all the tzadikim in Gan Eden sit with a table with four legs, they had a table with three legs. So he said, I take it back. So hand came and took it back. And the Gemara says the second miracle is greater than the first. Why? ווארעם מן השמים מיהב יהבי, מישקל לא שקלי. From shamayim, from heaven, they give, they don't take back. What does that mean? דער נס פון אומקערן א זאך צו אין, מישקל, איז גרעסער ווי דער נס פון מיהב יהבי, וואס ער ווענדט א זאך מאין ליש. So Hashem should give, should make something, that's one thing. To take something that's there and make it not something, that's a bigger nes. און דאס איז דער רמז אין החודש הזה לכם. This is the hint in the פסוק החודש הזה לכם. Hashem is doing it. He's doing it for us. Okay, so.

חודש איז מלשון חידוש. The word חודש, month, or קידוש החודש, is the word means chiddush, which is new. און דער כח פון חידוש איז איבערגעגעבן געווארן צו יידן: לכם. החודש הזה לכם, this chiddush is to you, means the power of making something new, meaning from something into nothing, that's the real new thing, that's in the hands of Yidden. וואס דורך תורה ומצוות מאכן זיי די וועלט פאר א דירה לו יתברך. Yidden through learning Torah and doing mitzvot make a dirah. How did I know? Huh? How did I know? Oh, yeah. I was thinking... Oh, obviously. דערמיט איז אויך צו פארשטיין דער מדרש אויף דער פסוק טובים השנים מן האחד. This explains a Midrash. The Midrash says there's a pasuk that says: Two are better than one. So the Midrash says the קישור מיט פרשת החודש, it says it's connected to this week's parsha, when Hashem said about Rosh Chodesh. וזה לשון המדרש, this is what the Midrash says: טובה פרשה שנאמרה על פי שנים מפרשה שנאמרה על פי אחד. When it says two are better than one, it says it refers to the parsha of the Torah that was said through two people better than one. Parsha of קידוש החודש was said by two. שנים שנאמר: ויאמר ה׳ אל משה ואל אהרן בארץ מצרים לאמר, החודש הזה לכם. This parsha was said by two people, and that's why it's so special. איז נישט קלאר, it's not so simple. ס'איז דאך פאראן כמה וכמה פרשיות תורה, וועלכע אמירה איז הקדוש ברוך הוא געווען צו משה ואהרן. There are many parshiyot in the Torah which were said to Moshe and Aharon. איז פאר וואס ברענגט דער מדרש דווקא די פרשה פון החודש? Why is this parsha the one that the Midrash mentions as the special parsha that because it was said by two? Why is this different? נאר דער ביאור אין דעם, the explanation is like this: החודש, מלשון חידוש, this idea of חודש, which means new, איז מברר די מטרה כללית פון כל התורה ומצוות כולא. That explains the goal of Torah. The goal of תורה ומצוות is to make something new. What's really new? Changing the יש, the גשמיות, the physicality, and changing it, transforming it into a holy thing by doing mitzvot. That's the chiddush. That's the new. And that's the goal of תורה ומצוות, the purpose. ובאלד אז דער חידוש פון תורה ומצוות איז אין צוויי נקודות כלליות, and since the idea of תורה ומצוות has two points, and we'll explain why: וואס איינע איז פארבונדן מיט די ענין של משה און איינע מיט אהרן, one is represented by Moshe and one by אהרן, איז אין דער פרשה מודגש די שייכות צו ביידע. So, the idea of connection to Moshe and Aharon is seen in this ענין, און דערפאר זאגט דער מדרש אויף דער פרשה דווקא טובים השנים מן האחד. That's why here it's two. Doesn't say yet what. תורה ומצוות has two ענינים. The goal of תורה ומצוות is החודש. The two ענינים are connected to Moshe and Aharon. That's why when it wants to show the מעלה of the two, it's this פרשה. What is it? מ'האט שוין גערעדט כמה פעמים, פירוש... This is a very deep deep sichah here fur further. He said, the Rebbe said, I spoke many times, in the פירוש הלשון דירה לו יתברך בתחתונים, says Hashem wants a dwelling place in this low world. אז דאס איז כולל צוויי נקודות כלליות, there are two points here. Number one: מצד התחתונים, אז מען דארף זיי מאכן ראוי אז עס זאל זיין א דירה לו יתברך. First of all, you got to work with low things. You got to work with this, with this. You got to work with all physicality, for all physical things to make it fit that Hashem should be able to dwell in it. Second thing is מצד למעלה, something has to do not from down here, but up. דירה לו יתברך מיינט אז עצמותו יתברך שטייט בגילוי דלמטה, wie an אדם, להבדיל, געפינט זיך אין די דירה מיט זיין גאנצע עצמות. We want Hashem to be down here. So, there's two things here. There is the down here that becomes a vessel to receive Hashem, and then there is Hashem, the essence of Hashem, we say דירה לו יתברך, the essence of Hashem comes down in it. און ביידע ענינים זענען א ענין של חידוש. Both is something special. ווארום כדי אז תחתונים זאלן ווערן ראוי צו זיין א דירה לו יתברך, מוז זיין דער ביטול יש לאין. How does something of גשמיות become a vessel to contain Hashem? As long as the physicality is strong, it will never happen. So, the first thing to do, you got to transform the physicality into more spiritual things, so now it becomes a כלי, a vessel to receive Hashem. און המשכת העצמות למטה איז א ענין של... And that's something special. To make the the גשמיות transform it into a into ruchniyus is a big chiddush, something special. Now, the second half, that Hashem the essence of Hashem comes down, is also something special. ווארום די התהוות מאין ליש איז בלויז פון הארה, בדבר השם שמים נעשו. The fact that there is a world, Hashem created a יש, that's only הארה, it's only a ray of Hashem, it's not the essence. און דווקא דורך דער עבודה פון ביטול יש לאין ווערט געטאן א חידוש. Only Yidden by working with the gashmiyus and changing it, that's when something special happens. המשכת העצמות למטה, Atzmus comes down. So if the table's still here, no matter what, it's solid, whatever, the substance of the table. It's how I perceive the table. What are you using it for? Not only how you perceive it, what are you using it for, but it's still a perception that... No, it's more than that. It's not only, no, no, it's like a pair of tefillin. A pair of tefillin is not only perception, it actually becomes holy. We don't see it with our eyes, that's true, but it is transformed. A table that you learn Torah on, why can't you sit on this table? It's, no one is allowed to sit on the table, why? Sefarim. No, there's no sefarim on the table. Because no, this table is holy. Even if you're done learning at the table? Oh no, this table is holy, because you learnt on it. If you didn't learn on it, you could. Or if you ate on it, which you made a berachah and you... I thought the table is holy even if you eat on the table. No, I'm saying if you eat on it also, because it's also, it's korbanot, it's an avodah. But you use it for something special, something holy, it becomes holy, it's transformed. That's something that is something special. To change gashmiyus, to make it into something holy, we don't see it. Mashiach will come, we'll look back and we'll see how holy it is, but it's there. So this is a chiddush. Making this into back into אין, into ruchniyus is something special. And the second part, that Hashem comes in, also comes a big chiddush, that's only by us changing the gashmiyus into ruchniyus is able to bring the עצם of Hashem down. Because the creation itself also came from Hashem, but only from a ray of Hashem. און דאס איז אויך דער טעם פאר וואס דער מדרש זאגט אויף דער פרשה דווקא טובים השנים מן האחד. That's why in this פרשה, in chodesh, which chodesh is chiddush, these two chiddushim, here we mention both, Moshe and Aharon. ווייל אין דער פרשה, וואס גיט, וואס איז די תכלית פון גאנץ תורה ומצוות, in this פרשה, which tells you the purpose and goal of תורה ומצוות, זיינען מודגש ביידע נקודות. In this פרשה you see both, סיי Moshe and then also Aharon. Why? Because it says, what's the difference between Moshe and Aharon? משה איז שושבינא דמלכא. בכלל, it says like this: just like by a chatunah, when you get married, you have two אונטערפירער. What's it called in English? Chaperones, escorts. You have one on the side of the chatan and one on the side of the kallah. When the אייבערשטער married us, Hashem married us, also it's a chatunah. You also have to have two escorts: one escort from the אייבערשטער'ס side, one from us.

Moshe is called the escort of the King's side. וואס טוט ער? המשכות אלקות ממעלה למטה. Hashem who's up there and comes down. Moshe is the one that causes Hashem to come down. ער גיט אים כח אין דעם חידוש פון המשכת העצמות למטה. He's the one that causes that chiddush of bringing down Hashem here. And then you say Aharon. In this פרשה we have Aharon too. He's שושבינא דמטרוניתא. He's the escort from the Queen, which is from the kallah. Which a Queen is העלאה ממטה למעלה. That's taking the gashmiyut and elevating it. וואס ער גיט אים כח אפצו מעלה זיין די דברים to bring it up. So the whole idea of קידוש החודש has two ענינים: bringing up the gashmiyut, bringing up, down Hashem. That's through Moshe and Aharon. Now this is going to answer why we need עדות and we need the חשבון. כשם ווי החודש הזה לכם גיט ארויס אין תכלית פון תורה ומצוות נוגע זייער פעולה אין וועלט, just like we said that the whole concept of החודש הזה לכם tells us what the purpose of learning Torah and doing mitzvot as far as the world is concerned, אזוי גיט עס אויך ארויס די פעולה פון תורה ומצוות אין יידן. It also proves what it accomplishes with the in יידן, not only what we do to the world, in יידן. יידן ווערן צוגעגליכן צו דער לבנה. We know יידן are compared to the moon, מאור הקטן, which is the small luminary. כמו שכתוב, like it says, מי יקום יעקב כי קטן הוא. It says Yaakov is called a קטן. Yidden are called קטן. Un chiddush Who could pick him up? What was it? Who could pick up Yaakov? לכאורה himself... כי קטן הוא. Yeah, a big person can pick himself up. A קטן, you got to help him. So it's like saying to the אייבערשטער, who could help, you got to help the Yidden, because we're קטן. So it's like the לבנה. און חידוש הלבנה ווי גדולתה ווייזט אויף דעם חידוש ועליה פון יידן דורך תורה ומצוות פון קטנות לגדלות. The fact that the לבנה, the moon, after it's small starts growing and growing and growing, becomes big, and since the moon represents the Yidden, because the Yidden are also called small, that represents the growth of the Yidden, that the Yidden elevate. Now, the עליה פון יידן טיילט זיך אין צוויי סוגיות. When the fact that the Yidden elevate themselves, there are two categories. Number one, די עבודה מצד הכוחות פנימיות של אדם, the elevation in a Yid from his inner כוחות, וואס בכלל איז דאס עבודה על פי טעם ודעת. It basically means when you serve Hashem and you elevate yourself based on your logic, די מעלה פון דער עבודה איז אין דער ענין הפנימיות. The fact that you do it with your brain shows that you really mean it because you really understand it. ס'נעמט דורך די מציאות האדם, then it penetrates into the person, it's internalized. זיין שכל און מדות דינען דעם אייבערשטער. Your brain and your heart serves Hashem. But then you have a second thing, די עבודה מצד הכוחות מקיפים של אדם, שזה בעצם מן הנשמה. Then a Yid serves Hashem not because he understands. His neshama! He has a soul, he has a neshama, he serves Hashem. דאס וואס זיכט זיך אויס אין ביטול צו רצון עליון למעלה מטעם ודעת, that's not because you understand, that's because you're mevatel yourself. Huh? Who this Tanya says that even though chochmah is the highest level, emunah Ah yeah, but then emunah is higher. Yeah. און דאס איז דער טעם הפנימי וואס ראש חודש ווערט נקבע דורך ביידע ענינים צוזאמען. Now we

said this is what Rosh Chodesh means, both ענינים. And that's why Rosh Chodesh, in order to become Rosh Chodesh, needs two things: סיי עדי ראיה און סיי חשבון. We need the witnesses and we need the calculation. Why? Because as we'll see, calculation is sechel, that's the עבודה ביי א ייד אין שכל. Edut is not sechel like we said, we don't know if they're saying the truth or not, it's a din, it's Hashem said so. This is the חיבור פון ביידע מעלות צוזאמען, because by Rosh Chodesh we have to have a combination of both maalot. עס איז דא די ענין פון ראיה, seeing, וואס איז העכער פון עבודה so the edim saw it and that's it, no sechel. איי די עדות וואס גיט אים אריין א תוקף של תורה מצד גזירת הכתוב and not edut which the Torah says and that's it, and then you have that's the bitul של מעלה מטעם ודעת, that's not sechel, that's beyond sechel. און עס איז דא אין דעם, און עס איז דא, און דאס שטימט מיט'ן חשבון, this also fits, and you have to make sure it fits with the calculations, and calculations is על פי טעם ודעת, דער ביטול של מעלה מטעם ודעת ווערט נמשך אין א פנימיות, that higher bitul gets nimshach and comes into penimiyut. Into sechel, yes. Translating into your sechel. And into מעשה בפועל. No, it could be channeled without sechel. You could have a person has emunah and does mitzvot, but we say no, that's Chabad. Chabad is you have to have emunah, the וועלט says צדיק באמונתו יחיה, אמונה, חסידות, but we say no, the emunah should be in sechel. What happens with, so what happens, huh? What happens with the edut when it's a cloudy day and you don't have, we can't fulfill Oh, not even a cloudy day. If the moon wasn't seen because it wasn't there, okay, then you don't need edut. Right. But it's also that the you have the edut coming, you have edut not coming. Because you have the inyan of the edut not coming. It's the chiyuv and the shlilah of the of of edut of this of the דין תורה, which is even which is in even higher in a sense, you might say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The shlilah might be the a higher darga that you can come onto. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. They, they hold it. It's true, it's true. That's only in חסי— that's only in Chabad.