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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

“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.
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
“If we remember the daily count / will new paths open in the heavens?”
woman in profile standing on sand dune in the desert
“Each new moon we begin / with a sliver / of an idea”
woman in silhouette with arms outspread and hair blowing standing or spinning or dancing in front a purple pink night sky with silver of new moon and stars

The Reconstructionist Network

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The Reconstructionist Network