על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר ב כ״וOn the Special Laws, Book II 26
א׳
1[140] Following the order stated above, we record the third type of feast which we will proceed to explain. This is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month, namely the period between one conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in the astronomical schools. The new moon holds its place among the feasts for many reasons. First, because it is the beginning of the month, and the beginning, both in number and in time, deserves honour. Secondly, because when it arrives, nothing in heaven is left without light, for while at the conjunction, when the moon is lost to sight under the sun, the side which faces earth is darkened, when the new month begins it resumes its natural brightness.
ב׳
2[141] The third reason is, that the stronger or more powerful element at that time supplies the help which is needed to the smaller and weaker. For it is just then that the sun begins to illumine the moon with the light which we perceive and the moon reveals its own beauty to the eye. And this is surely an obvious lesson inculcating kindness and humanity and bidding men never grudge their own good things, but imitating the blessed and happy beings in heaven banish jealousy from the confines of the soul, producing what they have for all to see, treat it as common property, and give freely to the deserving.
ג׳
3[142] The fourth reason is, that the moon traverses the zodiac in a shorter fixed period than any other heavenly body. For it accomplishes that revolution in the span of a single month, and therefore the conclusion of its circuit, when the moon ends its course at the starting-point at which it began, is honoured by the law, which declares that day a feast, again to teach us an admirable lesson, that in the conduct of life we should make the ends correspond with the beginnings. And this will be effected if we keep our primitive appetites under the control of reason and do not permit them to rebel and riot like cattle that have no herdsman.
ד׳
4[143] As for the services that the moon renders to everything on earth, there is no need to dilate upon them. The proofs are perfectly clear. As the moon increases, the rivers and fountains rise, and again diminish as it diminishes. Its phases cause the seas to withdraw and dwindle at the ebbtide, then suddenly rush back with the returning flood, and the air to undergo all manner of changes as the sky becomes clear or cloudy and alters in other ways. The fruits, both of the sown crops and orchard-trees, grow to their maturity according to the revolutions of the moon, which fosters and ripens everything that grows with the dewy and very gentle breezes which it brings.
ה׳
5[144] But, as I have said, this is not the time to dwell at length on the praises of the moon and record and catalogue the services which it renders to living creatures and everything on earth. It is for these or similar reasons that the New Moon is honoured and obtains its place among the feasts.