ChinuchAtHome

In this week's parshas Bo, we learn about the mitzvah of sanctifying the new moon. We haven't yet completed learning the weekly parsha as we embarked on our weekly science curriculum projects. Our son randomly picked the project on Moon phases. Is this a coincidence?

Hashem has guided our homeschooling before as well as our daily lives. This week's parashas Bo is not different. It's just that we didn't realize it until later. We currently use Explore Learning with Gizmos as our interactive and explorative Science curriculum online. My son in 5th grade started learning about the Solar system, gravity and all the good stuff this year. He has already learned about the lunar phases, but for some reason, this week, he decided to review it using Gizmo because he said he wasn't so comfortable with what he learned prior in a different curriculum and wants to do "chazarah" (review) to strengthen his understanding. Well, the Gizmo's interactive curriculum on Moon phases was just the perfect fit for us.

So we learned about the waning and waxing Moon phases as the moon revolves around the earth. We also learned from our Torah, that in Egypt, the Egyptians worship the Sun as one of their gods. So, Hashem instituted the mitzvah of sanctifying the moon, which is of little significance to the Egyptians. Yes, we also do have Birchas Hachama which we do once in every 28 years. But at the time of the exodus of Egypt, Hashem wanted to distinguish us as a nation apart from all the other nations, and the mitzvah of sanctifying the Moon, Kiddush Levanah, was chosen as our first mitzvah as a nation. If you go back to moon phases, when the moon is furthest away from the sun, what do we get out of the moon? We on earth, between the moon and the sun, gets the most reflected light out of the moon, i.e. the full moon, when the moon is furthest away from the sun. Hashem really wants the Jewish nation to not be assimilated with the nations. He wants us as far apart as possible from the nations. He wants us to be different. Our first mitzvah testifies to that, followed by our second mitzvah commanded to us in Egypt, the Korban Pesach. As the Egyptians worshipped the sheep, Hashem commanded us do the opposite, to slaughter it as a sacrifice to Him.

Read our other article on Our homeschooling guided by Hashgacha Pratis.

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