Within this section, we hope that you will a find space of renewal, of quiet contemplation and rebirth as you celebrate the beginning of the new month.

  Rosh Chodesh   by Linda

The moon cycles, a new month.

We light a candle, talk, sew and grow friendships together.

There is Kiddush and reading poetry.

It is a time to step into a quiet place of peace.

This is spiritual: through this mitzvah, we are connected with each other, and with our Mashiach, blessed is He.

 

Rosh Chodesh Prayer

 

Teach us to number our days,
Then we shall gain a heart of wisdom.  Tehillim 90:12

 

G-d of life, who regulates the course of time,

You have divided it into great and small periods,

Into years, months, and days. 

These passages teach us how time rushes by

In swift, uninterrupted flight

And with every onward movement carries us nearer

To the end of all earthly existence - into eternity -

And that fleeting time, once gone,

Will never reverse its course

Despite all our wishes and ardent desires for its return.

Therefore we must use it

As long as we can still call it ours

And waste not even the least bit of it --

Lose no hours by useless deed or practice,

For you, O G-d, will on some future day,

Call us to account for how we spent our lives.

 

We must carry out our works and complete them

As time lays them out before us.

If we contemplate them too much and hesitate,

Then the stream of time tugs them past us,

And all that remains are empty hindsight and regret.

Whatever we begin and undertake,

Whatever we struggle with and strive for --

May they be healing and G-d-pleasing works,

Expressing our highest convictions on earth,

Worthy of beings who were made in the image of G-d.

 

Therefore, O Heavenly Protector, I pray to you

For understanding and wisdom that I may use my time

In ways that are a blessing to me, to my loved ones,

And to my fellow human beings --

That I may use every hour, every moment of my life,

In wise action and effort, in valuable work and study,

For the ennoblement of my heart, for the preparation

And cultivation of my soul -- for eternity.

O Compassionate One, who has always guided and shielded me,

Continue to grant Your gracious protection to me and my loved ones.

May the coming month be a month of peace and joy for us.

Preserve our health and lives,

Soften and lighten our grief,

Increase our pleasure in life,

Bless the works of our hands,

And grant us, in the fullness of your grace,

All that we may need

And all thay may be good for us.  Amen. 

 

An excerpt taken from Hours of Devotion  - Fanny Neuda's Book of Prayers for Jewish Women by Dinah Berland, pg. 59 - On the New Moon, Schocken Books