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Why is the Pesach (פסח) meal called a "Seder" (order)? The shiur explores the profound meaning of time (zman) as represented by the moon and lunar calendar. HaChodesh Hazeh Lachem teaches that time is the tzimtzum—the reduction of infinite spiritual energy into finite moments—and the Seder celebrates our ability to take finite physical actions and elevate them back to eternal spiritual realities.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a fundamental question: why is the Pesach (פסח) evening meal called a "Seder" (order)? While there is indeed a sequence of actions, many other occasions could similarly be called a seder. The significance must lie deeper than mere procedure. He further asks why HaChodesh Hazeh Lachem—the mitzvah (מצוה) of sanctifying the new month—is the first commandment given to Klal Yisrael as a nation, and why Rashi (רש"י) says the Torah (תורה) should have begun with this mitzvah. The shiur develops a fundamental yesod based on a Gemara (גמרא) in Chullin (60b) about the sun and moon. The Gemara describes how Hashem (ה׳) created two great luminaries, but when the moon complained that "two kings cannot share one crown," Hashem told the moon to make itself smaller. The moon protested this seeming punishment, and Hashem responded that tzaddikim will be called by the moon's name and that He Himself would bring a korban for having diminished the moon. Rabbi Zweig explains that this aggadita reveals a profound metaphysical truth about reality.
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Parshas Bo (HaChodesh Hazeh Lachem); Gemara Chullin 60b; Gemara Shabbos (Rabbi Elazar ben Arach); Gemara Sanhedrin 42a
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