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 HodeshThe new moon, which marks the beginning of the Jewish month. According to tradition, because women did not participate in the sin of the golden calf, they were given the holiday of Rosh Chodesh. It is customary for women not to work on Rosh Chodesh. has become an occasion for Jewish women to gather for learning, ritual, and spiritual exploration, and to mark life passages. Rosh Hodesh groups, meeting monthly, offer a women’s space in time. (Some men’s gatherings have begun as well, sometimes associated with kiddushThe prayer recited over wine on Shabbat, holidays, and other joyous occasions. levanah, celebrating the coming full moon.)
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Audio/video shiviti meditation chant
“the trees and we, too, did bloom”
A Tu Bi’Shevat seder of fragrances for Rosh Hodesh Shevat
An Israeli poet imagines a heavenly ledger filled with Earth’s beauty
In this immersion, we will reflect and expand on our personal experiences of identity, using writing exercises and in-depth discussions to think about, challenge, discover, explore, and experiment with different ways to identify ourselves, to consider how those ways connect us to and separate us from others, and how they represent and misrepresent aspects of who we are.
Four sessions, starting June 15th
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