Renewal: Nothing New UNDER the Sun

(1) On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai.

(1) Moses then convoked the whole Israelite community and said to them: These are the things that יהוה has commanded you to do: (2) On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to יהוה; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.

Thus said the Sovereign GOD: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be closed on the six working days; it shall be opened on the sabbath day and it shall be opened on the day of the new moon.

Since contradictions in Ecclesiastes were mentioned, the Gemara cites additional relevant sources. Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilat, said in the name of Rav: The Sages sought to suppress the book of Ecclesiastes and declare it apocryphal because its statements contradict each other and it is liable to confuse its readers. And why did they not suppress it? Because its beginning consists of matters of Torah and its end consists of matters of Torah. The ostensibly contradictory details are secondary to the essence of the book, which is Torah. The Gemara elaborates: Its beginning consists of matters of Torah, as it is written: “What profit has man of all his labor which he labors under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3), and the Sages of the school of Rabbi Yannai said: By inference: Under the sun is where man has no profit from his labor; however, before the sun, i.e., when engaged in the study of Torah, which preceded the sun, he does have profit. Its ending consists of matters of Torah, as it is written: “The end of the matter, all having been heard: Fear God, and keep His mitzvot; for this is the whole man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). With regard to this verse, the Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: For this is the whole man? Rabbi Eliezer said: The entire world was only created for this person. Rabbi Abba bar Kahana said: This person is equivalent to the entire world. Shimon ben Azzai says and some say that Shimon ben Zoma says: The entire world was only created as companion to this man, so that he will not be alone.

Master of the world, You Who live and exist forever and ever, You have remained unchanging from before You created the world and after You created it.

Because You transcend all time, that which was and that which will be does not even constitute the blink of an eye for You.

In Your vast compassion, give me the awareness and true, perfected consciousness to emerge from beneath time and know, understand and realize that all of time is nothing.

“It is all vanity,” and our days are like a passing shadow. In truth, there is no time at all for a person who possesses true awareness and mindfulness.

All of time results from the absence of consciousness. With Your awesome wonders, You remove people’s awareness so that time will exist — all for the sake of their free will. But in truth, there is no time at all in true consciousness.

In the midrash Tanchuma "this day, Hashem, etc, commands you to do the decrees etc let us sing etc bow and kneel etc Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, saw that in the future there would be no more first fruits, and so he established prayer etc" (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tavo 1:1). My master, my father, my elder, my teacher, my rabbi may his memory be for a blessing said that the explanation [for this midrash] is that prayer is also giving the first/best to the Holy Blessed One every day, just as the first fruits, see there (Pri Tzadik, Ki Tavo 9:1). Yet an explanation of the pertinence to "this day" is still needed. And in the midrash and in Rashi they explained: "this day[the mitzvot] should be in your eyes as new every day." And is it possible that a person would desire to make mistakes even if in truth there is no renewal, Heaven forfend? Yet, a person has the power to renew everything, since obviously there is in every thing the aspect of renewal, behold, the Holy Blessed One renews Creation continuously every day, and the explanation is that continuously means every moment. And also, there is no thing that doesn't have Liveness from the Holy Blessed One, and the Point from God forever, and so it can't become old since God's words are alive and flow constantly. However, when darkness covers the face of the land the external husks hides the Flowing Point. And this is why it is written "there is nothing new under the sun", and this is nature and this world, that hide the renewal. However, a person has the strength to illuminate the Point from the darkness, and this is why it is written "this day the One commands you to do" - meaning, to find the aspect of "this day" which is the uncovering and revealing the light, in the aspect of Mirror of Light. This is also true within an action, which can be what hides said Point. And this [revealing the Point] is done through mitzvot, since "a mitzvah is light" (Prov. 6:23), since a mitzvah is a physical action and it contains the Liveness of the Holy Blessed One, in the command to do it, in the strength of a person to cling oneself to the Hidden Light through the action of doing a mitzvah, as explained above and as I wrote in other places. And what is written "the decrees etc" which is to say through the mitzvot of the Blessed One, you are given strength to find the aspect of "this day" also in an action. And this is also the aspect of Shabbat, since it is written "to make the Shabbat" (Exodus 31:16). And the explanation of my grandfather, my elder, my teacher and rabbi, of blessed memory, [on the verse] "faces east" (Ezekiel 46:1) is as the issue that is written "the children of Israel came first in thought", see there (Chiddushei HaRim on Torah, Eikev 4:4). And it is as we explained above, that on Shabbat the Source and the Root from which New Aliveness continuously flows to all creatures is revealed. And one could also say that this is the explanation for "they are crowned with new souls" (Siddur Sefard, Shabbat Eve Maariv, Shabbat Eve Maariv 3), that the Aliveness is renewed in the souls of the children of Israel. And the explanation of "to make the Shabbat" is that we need to bring the aspect of renewal from the Shabbat to the days of making [ie, the week] as it is written in Sha'ar haKedusha, see there, and also as it is written in other places, that on Shabbat one opens the other days of the week through the aspect of Shabbat, as explained. And according to what a person sorts out and clarifies Aliveness in every thing, and in that person's eyes they are like new, truly Renewal is revealed to that person, and this is what is written: If you listened [shamo’a] to the old, then you will listen [tishma] to the new (Berakhot 40a), since given that one believes that there is an aspect of the Holy Blessed One hidden in every thing even in the most external, then one merits to reveal the internal, as we explained. And so too "we will bow and kneel" - meaning, bowing is one's desire to surrender, and kneeling, is a nif'al verb, which means that according to the will, truly one merits to reveal the truth, to surrender to the real, real truth.