vayikra

The posuk says אל פתח אהל מועד יקריב אתו  לרצנו לפני ה, He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, voluntarily, before Hashem.   Rashi says that it appears that the beginning of the posuk is saying  יקריב אתו, he shall bring it, that we force him to bring it even if he's unwilling. Where the end of the posuk says 'לרצנו לפני ה, voluntarily before Hashem. Which implies that he's bringing it willingly. To reconcile these two contradictory statements, Rashi says it means that if initially he doesn't want to bring it we force him until he says he wants to. How does that work? The חתם סופר explains with a mashal. There's a Jew who lives far from ירושלים and spends all his time working, & is constantly busy with material pursuits. It becomes second nature to him, & even the thought of stopping to learn or do mitzvos is abhorred by him in his current situation. However, were we to bring this same man into ירושלים, the most beautiful city in the world, he'll see how the people are happy & content whilst doing the mitzvos & learning Torah. He will also see the majesty of the בית המקדש & be swept away by the sanctity that's in the air. Slowly his perspective will change & he will want to be a part of the splendor that's around him. Initially we'll have to force him to come to the temple, however once he's there he'll be caught up in the holiness around him & want to bring the offering. Where do we get this willingness to change? The posuk says החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים, this month is to you the first of the months. The mitzva of the sanctification of the new moon was the first mitzva given to the Jews while they were still in Egypt. Asks the דרש דוד, why was this mitzva so important that it's the first mitzva? He brings the שפת אמת that says the reason this one is first is because it has in it one of the fundamental essences of our religion which is the power of renewal. That 'ה is constantly renewing creation. In a similar vein, I once heard from Rabbi Eli Mansour that the Jewish people could be inspired by the moon, same way the moon is full & then gets smaller & smaller, & once it reaches its smallest point it starts to grow again, so too the Jewish people. No matter how low one gets or how far one sinks we have the power of the moon to regenerate and start over again & grow. Perhaps this is where our willingness to change comes from. To let ourselves be influenced by our surroundings, it's our connection to the moon that teaches us not to concern ourselves with the past for it could always be erased & only to look toward the future where the potential is endless!