Rosh Chodesh/Women's Study Group

What is Rosh Chodesh?

• It is the first of the Jewish month
• It is a time to connect with the many cycles and patterns in our lives
• An opportunity to renew our hopes and dreams
• An invitation to reconnect with G-D's presence in the world.

As it is written in the Talmud, (Sanhedrin 42a), "Whoever blesses the new moon in its time, invites the presence of G-d to dwell within."

Technically - it begins when the moon appears as a slender crescent pointing left in the nighttime sky. The moon then follows a predictable 29-½ day cycle, growing into fullness on the 15th day, and then dwindling down to a crescent again facing the opposite direction. Many Jewish holidays, including Sukkot, Purim and Passover occur when the moon is full in the night sky.

How do people celebrate Rosh Chodesh?

In some circles, Rosh Chodesh is seen as a "Yom Kippur Katan", an opportunity for renewal and rededication. On the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh a prayer is recited expressing hopes for health, peace, a long life, and many other blessings. On Rosh Chodesh itself an abbreviated Hallel prayer (a series of psalms) is recited.

Rosh Chodesh has a particular connection to women as Talmudic legend praises women for not donating their jewels for building the golden calf and gives them the holiday of Rosh Chodesh as reward. Traditionally, women have abstained from heavy work on Rosh Chodesh and today many women gather to celebrate the cycles of the moon and the rhythms of their lives.