כתיב (בראשית א, טז) ויעש אלהים את שני המאורות הגדולים וכתיב את המאור הגדול ואת המאור הקטן אמרה ירח לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע אפשר לשני מלכים שישתמשו בכתר אחד אמר לה לכי ומעטי את עצמך אמרה לפניו רבש"ע הואיל ואמרתי לפניך דבר הגון אמעיט את עצמי אמר לה לכי ומשול ביום ובלילה אמרה ליה מאי רבותיה דשרגא בטיהרא מאי אהני אמר לה זיל לימנו בך ישראל ימים ושנים
It is written: “And God made the two great lights” (Genesis 1:16), and it is also written in the same verse: “The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night,” indicating that only one was great. Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi explains: When God first created the sun and the moon, they were equally bright. Then, the moon said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, is it possible for two kings to serve with one crown? One of us must be subservient to the other. God therefore said to her, i.e., the moon: If so, go and diminish yourself. She said before Him: Master of the Universe, since I said a correct observation before You, must I diminish myself? God said to her: As compensation, go and rule both during the day along with the sun and during the night. She said to Him: What is the greatness of shining alongside the sun? What use is a candle in the middle of the day? God said to her: Go; let the Jewish people count the days and years with you, and this will be your greatness.
The Talmud implies that the Moon is a representation of the People of Israel. As the Moon is smaller, but necessary, so are the People of Israel.121 Some say even the waxing and waning of the Moon correlates to the waxing and waning of the Jewish people in history. (Cf. Philip Ginsbury and Raphael Cutler, The Phases of Jewish History (Devora Publishing, 2005)
The commandment from G-d to place lamb's blood on the Israelites' doorpost begins at the beginning of the month, when there is a new moon. It represents Israel at their lowest, darkest point. Yet, at the moon's highest point, in the middle of the month, the lamb was to be slaughtered as part of Israel's redemption from bondage.
We have had dark times and light times in our past. All of Israel must work together to bring others out of their darkness into the light of a full moon.