As we inch closer to the festival of Pesah, we experience each of the four special Shabbatot that occur during the six weeks prior to it. This week, as we do each month, we announce the coming of Rosh Hodesh/the celebration of the new Jewish month during the upcoming week. However, as the Shabbat immediately before Rosh Hodesh Nisan (the month during which Pesah falls), the Rabbis designated it as a special Shabbat: Shabbat HaHodesh. The special Torah reading for this week's special Shabbat contains the first commandment given to the Israelites as a free people: to celebrate the beginning of the month of Nisan (the first official Israelite/Jewish month that could be marked by our people) as the New Year of all months, that is to say as a "Rosh HaShana." Marking holy time and creating a calendar is the first thing that God instructs God's people to do, not to pray, not to observe Shabbat or to keep dietary laws, not to follow a unique set of "Ten Commandments." The foundation of Israelite religion, which would later come to be known as Judaism, is sacred time. It entails living a life based on the rhythm that our sacred times provide, from Shabbat each week, to Rosh Hodesh each month, to the various festivals each year. The Jewish calendar is the bedrock of our religion.