Hannukah music, videos, food, much to be enjoyed with friends and family. From Neomi Summers: West Side Story Chanukah video. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/jiskf_lZXv8
What is Rosh Chodesh? We prepare for Rosh Chodesh Tevet on December 4th acknowledging the New Moon for the coming month of Tevet, beginning on Sunday.
Our Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar but justified with solar interpolations, to enable our agricultural Festivals, and our holidays celebrating the natural world – Tu B’Shevat (New Year of the Trees) to follow patterns of blooming and harvesting. Otherwise Pesach might fall in the middle of December – not a great time to harvest wheat!
There is an old custom of watching for the sliver of the new moon called Kiddush Levana, or “the Sanctification of the New Moon.” This prayer takes place outside, at night, by the light of the moon. We read the origins of our calendric calculations in Torah: “And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” (Exodus 12: 1-2).
If it is a clear night on Saturday night you might recite the Ya’a’le Ve-Yavo prayer. See: http://www.zemirotdatabase.org/view_song.php?id=147
According to Talmud, women are forbidden to engage in work on Rosh Chodesh. Rashi, in commenting on this passage, delineates the activities from which they must refrain: spinning, weaving, and sewing—the skills that women contributed to the building of the Mishkan in the Wilderness. So: Spin a tale, weave connection, sew threads of human repair, of tikkun instead.
Love to all, Hannukah sameach, however you spell Chanukkah!!
Rabbi Lynn
Mikeitz
November 28, 2021 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: hannukah, mikeitz, rosh chodesh •
Hannukah music, videos, food, much to be enjoyed with friends and family. From Neomi Summers: West Side Story Chanukah video. Enjoy. https://youtu.be/jiskf_lZXv8
What is Rosh Chodesh? We prepare for Rosh Chodesh Tevet on December 4th acknowledging the New Moon for the coming month of Tevet, beginning on Sunday.
Our Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar but justified with solar interpolations, to enable our agricultural Festivals, and our holidays celebrating the natural world – Tu B’Shevat (New Year of the Trees) to follow patterns of blooming and harvesting. Otherwise Pesach might fall in the middle of December – not a great time to harvest wheat!
There is an old custom of watching for the sliver of the new moon called Kiddush Levana, or “the Sanctification of the New Moon.” This prayer takes place outside, at night, by the light of the moon. We read the origins of our calendric calculations in Torah: “And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” (Exodus 12: 1-2).
If it is a clear night on Saturday night you might recite the Ya’a’le Ve-Yavo prayer. See: http://www.zemirotdatabase.org/view_song.php?id=147
According to Talmud, women are forbidden to engage in work on Rosh Chodesh. Rashi, in commenting on this passage, delineates the activities from which they must refrain: spinning, weaving, and sewing—the skills that women contributed to the building of the Mishkan in the Wilderness. So: Spin a tale, weave connection, sew threads of human repair, of tikkun instead.
Love to all, Hannukah sameach, however you spell Chanukkah!!
Rabbi Lynn