We seem to shift gears when going from Purim to Pesach. Purim: A flash realization of Divine intervention; Pesach: A struggle of power between Paroh and Moshe over who really has the say. We watch the Pesach story unfold until we have the truth championed over falsehood. Between these two episodes we have Shabbos Parah and Shabbos HaChodesh – seemingly some kind of connectors to these different kinds of revelations.

Perhaps we can explain this progression in the following way: On Purim we come to realize that there is a master plan, meaning that though we see seemingly disconnected events unfolding in front of us. Because we do not understand their inherent value, we place emphasis on the wrong events. The lesson we learn is, to put our trust in the Torah and not make our own calculations that could be inaccurate.

The commentators explain that those living in the desert after coming to the (false) conclusion that Moshe Rabbeinu died, took the obvious next step of making the golden calf, in order to replace Moshe Rabeinu. This is exactly the same problem that afflicted the Jews in Shushan: The people tried figure out on their own what is the right thing to do.

After Purim, we read about Para Adumah. Chazal teach us that it is to atone for trying to figure things out. We do “the Chok” – something which is totally mindboggling: Contaminating the pure and purifying the contaminated. The Purim lesson has taken root in our minds: We do not do what we think is right, but instead do what the Torah says is right.

After this lesson is learned and reinforced, we have the mitzvah of Kiddush HaChodesh: Fixing our schedules to follow a lunar calendar. The moon has no light of its own, but rather accepts and reflects the light of the sun. So too, Klal Yisrael’s stance is reflecting what the Torah demands. This position allows for emunah to grow to the point that we do not have to have a miracle happen behind our backs, but rather directly in front of our eyes: A nes galui can happen and we will know not to second guess the Mastermind.