Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Mission landed on the moon. Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon, declaring the immortal words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” For a moment, the entire world was united in awe as they contemplated the wonder of humans on the moon. “For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this Earth are truly one,” Pres. Richard Nixon told the astronauts while they were still on the moon.
The moon plays an important role in Judaism. It’s both metaphor and measure of our days. As the world marks half a century since we first ventured to its surface, here are seven Jewish facts about the moon.
Judaism’s Lunar Calendar
The Jewish calendar differs from the secular Gregorian calendar that many of use today. It relies heavily on the moon’s cycle to regulate the Jewish months. As the Talmud says, “The other nations count by the sun, while Israel counts by the moon” (Sukkah 29a). The Hebrew calendar has 12 months, timed to coincide with each lunar month (the time it takes the moon to orbit the earth and return to the same spot in the sky as viewed from earth). The lunar month is roughly 29.5 days, so Hebrew months are either 29 or 30 days long.
Since the lunar year is shorter than the solar year, if it followed the moon exclusively, the Jewish calendar would drift through the seasons (like the Muslim calendar does), falling earlier and earlier each year. A purely lunar calendar is 354 days long. Without adding leap days, the Jewish holidays would occur at different seasons in different years.
In order to regulate this, which is essential since the Torah commands us to keep Passover in the spring, the Jewish calendar uses leap months. In every 19-year cycle, seven leap months are added.
Sighting the New Moon
As the moon orbits the earth, it appears to grow larger (“waxing”) then smaller (“waning”) each day in the night sky. At the end of this 29.5-day cycle, the moon reemerges as a narrow crescent. This is called the “New Moon” and it indicates that a new Jewish month has begun. In the Talmud, Rabbi Yochanan compared a person who blesses the New Moon in its appointed time to one who greeted God himself (Sanhedrin 42a).
Since the year 358 CE, Jews around the world have calculated the exact date of each New Moon (and therefore the first day of each new Jewish month) from a set calendar. Before then, the New Moon was proclaimed by a special Jewish court in Jerusalem called the Sanhedrin.
Made up of 71 learned sages, the Sanhedrin would wait until at least two witnesses came to them with the news of the very first sighting of the New Moon. After hearing from these witnesses, the Sanhedrin would send word throughout the land of Israel and beyond that the next month had begun.
Using a long torch on top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, a representative of the Sanhedrin would light a fire on top of the hill. People watching on nearby hills would see the flames and light their own fires. In this way, notice that the New Moon had been sighted spread far and wide. (This practice also explains why most Jewish holidays are celebrated for an extra day outside of the land of Israel; since it could take days for the news of the New Moon to spread, far-flung Jewish communities adopted the custom of celebrating for two days.) In later days, the Samaritans would sometimes try and confuse Jews by lighting their own fires, so the Sanhedrin began to send out news that a new month had dawned using messengers instead.
The Jewish New Moon Festival: Rosh Chodesh
The first day of each Jewish month is a mini holiday. The commandment to celebrate Rosh Chodesh (literally the “Head of the Month”) was the very first commandment that God gave to the entire Jewish people as a whole. It dates back to the days when our ancestors were slaves in ancient Egypt: “God said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of the months. It shall be for you the first of the months of the year’” (Exodus 12:1-2).
In ancient times, Jews celebrated Rosh Chodesh by offering special gifts in the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, we mark the day with beautiful prayers, singing Psalms in synagogue and inserting special blessings into our prayers.
There’s a deeper meaning to the offerings we make on Rosh Chodesh, and it’s directly connected with the unique qualities of the moon. Waxing and waning, the moon reminds us that strength is rarely static: there are times when nations and people are strong and times when they are weaker. These changes remind us that even when we seem down and hopeless, change is around the corner. Celebrating the New Moon reminded us that our work on behalf of those who are weaker than us is never done.
Sanctification of the Moon
Each month, Jews around the world recite a beautiful prayer early in the cycle of the new moon, as it waxes in the sky. Usually said following the first Shabbat after Rosh Chodesh, the Kiddush Levanah, or Sanctification of the Moon prayer is one of the most beautiful in Jewish liturgy. The prayer compares the Jewish people to the new moon, which is renewed anew each month.
It’s very poetic. In one part, we rise up on our toes while gazing at the moon and recite “Just as I dance toward you but cannot touch you, so may none of my enemies be able to touch me for evil.” Under the light of the moon, we turn to one another and wish each other “Shalom aleichem” – peace be with you. It’s a powerful moment that reminds us of the moon’s beauty and helps us appreciate afresh the world that God created.
Outlawing Celebrations of the New Moon
In the days of the wicked King Antiochus, who ruled over the land of Israel as vassal of the ancient Greek empire, three key Jewish practices were banned: circumcision, Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh. The evil king realized that the entire Jewish calendar is dependent on watching for the New Moon and keeping track of Jewish days and holidays. He forbade Jews to watch for the New Moon; his goal was to undermine the entire Jewish calendar and thus weaken the Jewish people.
A brave band of Jewish fighters refused to give up. Led by the Maccabees, the Jews fought the Greeks and prevailed, maintaining our timeless Jewish practice of keeping track of the moon’s phases and, with that, our Jewish calendar. We celebrate this triumph each year during the holiday of Hanukkah.
Women and Rosh Chodesh
In Jewish mystical tradition, Jewish women are seen as having a special connection with the moon. During the sin of the golden calf, when some Jews lost faith in God following the exodus from Egypt and constructed a golden idol to worship, Jewish women resisted worshiping the idol and maintained their faith in God. As a reward, women were given an extra holiday each month: Rosh Chodesh, when many Jewish women refrain from some types of work.
Traditionally through the years, it’s been common for Jewish women not to cook or sew on Rosh Chodesh. Today, some women gather together on Rosh Chodesh to learn Torah or recite prayers together, honoring their connection with this special day.
Moon’s Symbolism
The moon is a central symbol in Jewish thought and many of the qualities that most ennoble the Jewish people are reflected in the moon.
Take the moon’s luminous glow in the night sky. The moon has no source of light of its own; instead, its beautiful glow is a reflection of the sun’s brilliance. So too with the Jewish people: like the moon, we reflect an important source of light - God and His Torah. Reflecting this dazzling light is an honor: like the moon, we receive beauty and then send it back into the world through our actions and our very being.
And the moon’s waxing and waning reminds us that like the moon, even when it seems diminished and nearly invisible, we are confident that it will re-emerge, growing brilliant and full once more. So too with the Jewish people: even in our darkest times, we have relied on God’s promise that the Jews will never disappear and that one day we will be restored to our dazzling fullness.
(12) YehudayyYehudaSchwartzYyehuda schwartzYehu, July 23, 2019 8:45 AM
Done
The article is written very well especially for those who are not exposed to every day Halachot and the meaning behined them. I think that more articles with basic information such as this one should be publisized and distributed not only in Aish but in more publications in the Jewish world for larger ans varied audiances.
(11) sonia, July 21, 2019 7:47 PM
Hope for the future.
This commentary gave me hope. I would love to live in Israel, but feel it will never happen. I felt a renewal of hope reading this.
(10) Chaiah Schwab, July 21, 2019 5:08 AM
I didn't learn about "no sewing and no cooking" for women on Rosh Chodesh...
...but I was taught women don't do laundry on Rosh Chodesh!! Why was this not mentioned in the article?
P.S. The Jewish women didn't worship the golden calf, didn't listen to the meraglim (spies), and had nothing to do with the Baal Peor immorality, if I am not mistaken. (These were the 3 big sins of the Jewish people.) The women are credited for getting us out of Mitzraim (Egypt), And Hazal say that it is the women who will get us out of the present galus, as well. Does anyone out there have a clue about how we are to do this?
-- Chaiah Schwab, mother and bubby, B"H
Anonymous, July 21, 2019 12:04 PM
Information is definitely missing
I just looked in ‘Halichos bas Yisrael’ by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Fuchs, translated into English by Rabbi Moshe Dombey z’l. The info is in volume 2.
It says that it’s a minhag ( customary) for women to refrain from sewing, weaving, laundering and ironing.
But, in regards to cooking, it says, it is a mitzvah to have a larger meal than usual. It continues by saying ‘for those who are particular in the fulfillment of the mitzvah prepare a special dish in honor of the day.’
Anonymous, July 21, 2019 12:12 PM
How to get out of present galus
I am sure you have heard that the Bais Hamikdash was destroyed due to sinas chinam ( needless hatred). I was told to stop speaking lashon hora.
Recently Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein wrote an article in Hamodia. He said, the way to stop speaking lashon hora is to talk to Hashem. Tell Him what’s bothering you.
(9) mitchell cutler, July 19, 2019 1:05 PM
Beautiful!
Beautifully written, succint & elegant...
(8) Phil, July 19, 2019 1:00 AM
Very inspiring
I have read articles written by Yvette on various occasions and am always reassured of the divine plan for mankind .
(7) angelo sturino, July 18, 2019 4:57 PM
One beautiful article
as the song goes , by the light of the silvery moon..........
(6) Jim Catlin, July 18, 2019 3:44 PM
AMEN AND SHALOM ALEICHEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I receive the email. It is a great teaching tool.
Thank You
Jim
(5) Clifton, July 18, 2019 2:56 PM
Awesome
Well that was certainly awesome information. Some of it I knew, but much I had not. Where exactly is it directed in Torah to follow the moon? This made my day.
Daniel, July 18, 2019 10:15 PM
New moon
The Mitzvah is to sanctify the new month, as the Torah states in shemos, 12,2 and is tractate Rosh Hashanah.
(4) Nalinaksha Mutsuddi, July 18, 2019 2:45 PM
Similarity between Judaism & Islam
I'm not an authority on anything. By going through this article I find there are some similarities between Judaism & Islam. Circumcision, Lunar month and Kosher meat i.e Halal meat for Muslims. It's clear Islam is very much influenced by Jewish tradition. Judaism being much older than Islam it becomes apparent which imitated which.
(3) Mrs.k.cook, July 18, 2019 1:32 PM
Thank you!
We are always thankful to increase our knowledge of God's greatness. Aish always teaches me something that encourages and enlightens us. What a tremendous blessing.
(2) Anonymous, July 18, 2019 1:07 PM
summary
Thank you for an informative and enjoyable article.
A one line summary of each of the 7 Jewish facts or maybe a summary at the end would have been nice.
(1) arthur greebler, July 17, 2019 12:46 AM
new moon
I've had a problem with this concept ever since I learned about it in Yeshiva. There is whole misnah about questioning the witnesses who saw the new moon and how detailed they have to be. However, the definition of New Moon is the absence of anything in the sky. The moon and every part of it is hidden so there is nothing to witness. This is how a New Moon has been described since the beginning of time. You can't just say a small sliver is visible in the night sky. That is not a new moon. I always wondered how a simple thing like this could get passed so many supposedly learned people throughout the centuries.
Reuven Frank, July 17, 2019 2:41 PM
Astronomic and Halachic
Astronomically speaking, there is no difference between NO moon and NEW moon.
However,
Halachically speaking, "New Moon" meant just that: The sighting of the "birth" of the moon signaling that a new month has begun.
Certainly the sages knew how to calculate the difference between the time of the sighting and the (prior) time when there was no moon visible at all.
I am curious, what is your source for the statement:
"This is how a New Moon has been described since the beginning of time."
?
Cliff, July 18, 2019 3:02 PM
Question
Dear Reaven, where in Torah are we instructed to use the moon as opposed to the sun? Thank you very much for clarifying the NO moon and NEW moon matter as well.