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.)

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They call this time, Mar, the “bitter” month.

They call this time, Mar, the “bitter” month.

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A poem about what the blast of the shofar does to bring us out of past and present

a young person blows a shofar

“The new moon is a new universe for women”

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“What exists there is unknown and yet, what is known is there are places to be born”

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“When the seasons change, your mind’s eye opens”

Crescent moon and gradient sunset sky over a vast, grassy plain with distant mountains.

Kiddush: Humanist liturgy

A silver kiddush cup with a blue design beside a folded dark blue cloth on a table.

Rosh Hodesh winter healing circle script

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A song for the new moon

Crescent moon in a twilight sky over a vast grassy plain, with distant mountain silhouettes on the horizon.

A reminder that we have Elul to return to ourselves, the people we have wronged, and each other

a moon is obscured by dark blue clouds

An invitation to open our hearts to prepare for the reflection of Elul

a straw hat with a black band sits in a field of wheat on a sunny day

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