Experience Rosh Chodesh with Rabbi Jessica ~ an Opportunity to Grow a Monthly Communal Ritual of Intentional Connection and Your Own Personal Practice of Release, Renewal, and Visioning
I am excited to share a monthly opportunity that may be new to you. Thirty-five years ago, it was new to me. Learning about Rosh Chodesh and creating community with other spiritually curious people has been a profound catalyst in my Jewish journey – from how I experience Judaism’s cyclical cadence to how I experience God, the Sacred within me, the natural world, and time. I want to invite you into this exploration with me as we cultivate a practice that is nourishing and fun! We explore resources I have curated over the three decades, as well as new material, and we will likely germinate new practices as our shared journey unfolds.
Rosh Chodesh, literally the “head” (rosh) of a Jewish “month” (chodesh), is a Jewish holiday welcoming the new month that we celebrate each time the moon is new (note that the Hebrew words chadash/new and chodesh/month share a three-letter root: ח–ד–ש). The darkness of a new moon, like the darkness of a womb, is a time/space for gestating potential and generating nourishment for the coming month.
Rosh Chodesh rituals often involve opportunities to:
learn a bit about the new month—each Hebrew month is associated with a mazal (constellation), as well as particular qualities, characteristics, foods, plants, senses, organs, people, etc., and the holidays that fall within that month
connect with one another and with Jewish tradition and innovation
honor our ancestors and an opportunity to bring the memory of a beloved relative or teacher into our shared space
appreciate the rhythm of Jewish time
engage our creativity in some way—perhaps through a writing prompt or drawing or movement, working with clay, listening to music, or gathering items outside to create a mandala
share joys, release disappointments, and create an intention for the coming month
offer a blessing of gratitude and hope
Although Rosh Chodesh is as old as the stories within Torah, which teach us that the new moon was a sacred occasion, this monthly holiday has been revived, embraced, and invigorated over the past several generations by women reclaiming ancestral wisdom and the stories that were not included in the way that many of us learned about God. For many, a more expansive way of even considering how we experience the Sacred within and around us was opened through the portal of Rosh Chodesh.
I hope that this taste of Rosh Chodesh Elul, on Thursday, August 13th, will whet your appetite for more exploration of Jewish time through the portal of the new month and encourage you to join me for a full year’s journey. Going forward, we will gather on or near the following dates (online or in-person depending on the month and those interested) to welcome Rosh Chodesh.
Rosh Chodesh Elul—date
Rosh Chodesh Tishrei = Rosh HaShanah!
Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan—date
Rosh Chodesh Tevet—date
Rosh Chodesh Kislev—date
Rosh Chodesh Shvat—date
Rosh Chodesh Adar—date
Rosh Chodesh Nisan—date
Rosh Chodesh Iyar—date
Rosh Chodesh Sivan—date
Rosh Chodesh Tamuz—date
Rosh Chodesh Av—date