Dancing with the Moon

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

Before every Rosh Chodesh, the moon completely disappears from our view for 24 hours. And then right afterward, on Rosh Chodesh, there's a rebirth of the new moon. And then each day, we see more and more of the moon. And we make a beracha called ברכת הלבנה , or otherwise known as Kiddush Levana. The Gemara says, when the amoraim used to make this beracha on the moon, they would dance afterward. The Rema writes, people should dance after saying it, just like they do at a wedding. What is so special about this beracha more than any other that it should get such a response? The Arugat HaBosem explains, based on the Gemara, that initially the moon complained to Hashem that it and the sun were both equals. The moon wanted to have a unique job and serve Hashem a different way. For that, the moon was diminished. Everybody is given the exact job that they need to do to be successful in this world. We are supposed to do our job with joy. Usually, a person's lack of satisfaction from his job comes from jealousy. He sees others with more than him and feels that if he had what they had, he would be a better Jew. The tikun that the moon needed to make was to be happy with whatever job Hashem would give it. And every day, Hashem gives it a different job. For 29 days out of the month, it appears differently each day until the last day. Then Hashem tells the moon that He wants a service done from it in complete darkness. Sometimes, people are asked to do similar jobs. They feel like they are completely in the dark. Nothing ever goes their way. Their prayers don't seem to be getting answered. They have a hard time wanting to serve Hashem. What they don't realize is that during those times, they can shine the brightest. Because when there is complete darkness, even the smallest amount of light makes a huge impact. Every avoda they do at that time is worth infinitely greater because of the difficulty involved. When we say Birkat HaLevana, we acknowledge that the moon made Teshuvah. We say חוק וזמן נתן להם שלא ישנו את תפקידם . The moon never deviates from the job that Hashem wants it to do. ששים ושמחים לעשות רצון קוניהם -Not only that, but the moon does its job with joy and satisfaction. We are supposed to take this lesson from the moon and do our jobs happily. This is one reason why there is a minhag to dance with joy when we say Birkat HaLevanah. We are saying that we are also going to do our jobs happily, and we dance to show it. When a person thinks to himself thoughts such as, "If only I were married, I would be such a better Jew"; or "If only I had children"..or "If only I had more parnasa…" or if only I had better health...then I would be the person I am capable of becoming." He should then tell himself, "at this moment, Hashem wants me to serve Him to the best of my ability the way He made the situation. For today He wants me to serve Him without a spouse or without children or without Parnasa or without good health." If the person can give himself chizuk and serve Hashem from where he is with joy, he would become so great. Yes, we can pray for things to change going forward. But until they do, our job is to serve Hashem the way He wants us to. And if we can do it happily, we can reach the highest levels. During this month called Elul- Rachamim, a month of mercy, we can work on this and b'ezrat Hashem, that will be a tremendous zechut for us for the upcoming year.