Rosh Chodesh
The beginning of the new Hebrew month is an opportunity to reflect on the previous month and to start afresh. In the Prayer for the New Month, we wish that we may be blessed with life and peace, joy and happiness, salvation and ease. Tradition says Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the new month) is a holiday for women, as a reward for refusing to participate in the creation of the Golden Calf.
This multi-millennial association with women inspired a group of American and Israeli Jewish women living in Jerusalem in the ‘70s to gather monthly to explore and create new rituals based on the celebration of the new moon. From this has grown a movement.
At Kehillath Shalom Synagogue, each Rosh Chodesh gathering draws on a theme from the upcoming month and a Jewish woman in text, tradition, or history. It is an opportunity for men and women to come together, bring awareness to the passage of time in our lives, and draw on the wisdom of Jewish tradition to enrich our lives. Each gathering incorporates learning, sharing, and embodied activity.
This multi-millennial association with women inspired a group of American and Israeli Jewish women living in Jerusalem in the ‘70s to gather monthly to explore and create new rituals based on the celebration of the new moon. From this has grown a movement.
At Kehillath Shalom Synagogue, each Rosh Chodesh gathering draws on a theme from the upcoming month and a Jewish woman in text, tradition, or history. It is an opportunity for men and women to come together, bring awareness to the passage of time in our lives, and draw on the wisdom of Jewish tradition to enrich our lives. Each gathering incorporates learning, sharing, and embodied activity.
