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Rosh Hodesh

Crescent moon and stars in a colorful, cloudy sky blending green, blue, and yellow hues.

The first of each Jewish month—the celebration of the new moon, its slender crescent barely visible in the night sky—is a day historically associated with women’s renewal and celebration.

In recent decades, Rosh Chodesh has become an occasion for Jewish women to gather for learning, ritual, and spiritual exploration, and to mark life passages. Rosh Chodesh groups, meeting monthly, offer a women’s space in time. (Some men’s gatherings have begun as well, sometimes associated with kiddush levanah, celebrating the coming full moon.)

Latest Rituals

Words to inscribe the welcoming of the month of Tevet
A lone tree stands silhouetted against a starry night sky with a bright white glow in the background.
“For eight days Light cries /out to you, assures you / it is safe now…”
Floating candles glowing in a glass menorah against a dark background.
“I have begun to open my eyes, / For yours shine and turn the dust to a manna.”
Crescent moon and gradient sunset sky over a vast, grassy plain with distant mountains.
A prayer for the new month
raindrops on red branches and a brown leaf
“As the new moon of Adar II rises we give thanks for this double dose of delight…”
a crescent moon and stars seen through the lens of a cave
“How do you steer this thing? / Which end is helm and which is the stern?”
small yellow boat floating on water
“In Hebrew, shakan, dwelling place, often referred to a royal residence. / The rabbis gave it a feminine ending: Shekhinah. Divine mother.”
womans eye visible behind giant ferns
A poem for the new moon.
sailboat on the ocean with stars above
Without a Jewish calendar, what does Jewish life entail?
hebrew words on stones
A complete ritual for monthly exams for all people with breasts
hand holding one apple blossom

The Reconstructionist Network

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The Reconstructionist Network