I want to focus on a different question. Why should setting the first month (and the calendar) be the first commandment? Why would anyone think that the Torah should start with this verse? One answer could be that a people or a religion needs a calendar to commemorate the important events in its history. For the Israelites about to leave Egypt, having their own calendar is a sign of freedom. In Exodus chapter 12, the Israelites are told both how to observe the first Passover and how to celebrate it annually. 

        This would answer why start the Torah with the story of the Exodus, but why specifically with the new month? The Hebrew word for month, hodesh, is from the root meaning “new” (hadash). For the Hasidic master, the Sefat Emet, each month is an opportunity for renewal. He emphasizes the word lakhem ”for you” in the verse. He suggests that it is not the month but that each of us can renew ourselves every month. 

        He teaches that the Torah is always about renewal (she-hatorah yesh bah tamid hithadshut). There are momentous events when renewal is revealed in the world, but he suggests that each of us can attain renewal at any time by our efforts. Our task is to see the opportunity of galut/the imperfect world in which we live. Encountering the brokenness in the world and in each of us, we are to remember the potential for renewal is present within us. In fact, it is not just each month, but every day, as it says in the liturgy ha-mehadesh be-tuvo be-khol yom tamid/You constantly renew every day the world. As images of God, we can join God in the renewal effort this world desperately needs.