The Gods of Doors and So Much More–Parshat Bo and the Making of the Month of January

In his new book, The Week: A History of the Unnatural Rhythms That Made Us Who We Are David Henkin talks about the different ways we count time and how those ways define our identities as both Jews and dwellers in the outside world each and every day.

 We live in 2 worlds when it comes to tracking time.  On the one hand, we count time on our Jewish calendar, a calendar which runs primarily by the moon.  It helps us pace our lives through the rhythms of the holidays, months, Shabbatot and seasons.  

And there is the way that we count time as members of the modern world using the Gregorian solar calendar.  That calendar marks events in our “secular” world like we did just last Friday night when we welcomed 2022.  

And January has its unique feel.  The winter doldrums, shorter days and lots of snow and ice are nothing to get so excited about.  I often countdown the days until Spring in January.  But after learning more about the origin of this month, I am now a huge fan of January.

January is actually named after a Roman god named Janus. Janus is known as the god of the doors, hovering above as the passage of time takes place from one year to the next.  As you can see by the print below, Janus had two faces in order to see both the future and the past.  This image reminds us of our need each year to review our past and use the lessons learned going forward.  We each have our own kind of two faces like the concept of Janus. 

Doorways also play a large role in our Jewish story.  In this week’s parsha, Bo, God tells the Jewish people to identify themselves by their doorways.  God says,  “take some blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintels of the houses” .(Exodus 12:7)

ז) וְלָֽקְחוּ֙ מִן־הַדָּ֔ם וְנָֽתְנ֛וּ עַל־שְׁתֵּ֥י הַמְּזוּזֹ֖ת וְעַל־הַמַּשְׁק֑וֹף עַ֚ל הַבָּ֣תִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁר־יֹאכְל֥וּ אֹת֖וֹ בָּהֶֽם׃

The word מַּשְׁק֑וֹף also has the same root as the word להשקיף  – to look, to observe or to watch.  The lintel above the door symbolized God watching over as the Jews moved from slavery to freedom. As Rabbi Sarna writes, “the lintel and doorposts form the demarcation between the sacred Israelite interior and the profane world outside.”

As modern Jews, we don't always feel a connection between our Jewish and secular lives but the doorways of January and of Hashem protecting our doorways are in perfect sync.  They give us perspective to look at our past triumphs and challenges and also look forward to chapters and times of hopeful blessings ahead.