Rosh Chodesh Group
Rosh Chodesh Celebration
Shekhinah, Presence of Blessing, G-d of our Mothers and Fathers
Renew us this month and this year.
Direct us
Toward goodness and blessing
Toward the joyful
Toward liberation and challenge, as well as
Toward patience and consolation
Toward becoming ever more human beings.
This passage from a blessing for the new moon and the new year, from the book
Miriam’s Well, is just the beginning of the blessing, and also just the
beginning of what we hope and pray for as we begin a new year in times
uncertain, challenging, and yet full of promise. With the new year that’s just
beginning, we seek renewal, just as the seasons are renewed each year and the
moon in its phases is renewed each month. Our tradition tells us that the
ancient holiday of Rosh Chodesh, the holiday of the new moon, is a holiday
specifically for women, given to honor us, so that we might be renewed each
month just like the moon. Today, groups of Jewish women are rediscovering this
ancient holiday, meeting monthly to share time, learning, food, and drink, good
company, new kinds of worship, and a sense of our own worth and place in our
tradition and in the world.
Our congregation’s first Rosh Chodesh gathering of the new year will be on
Sunday, Oct. 22, to celebrate Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, the start of the month of
Cheshvan on our Jewish calendar. All women of our congregation are cordially
invited.
We will gather from 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. at the home of Naomi Brownson, right
near the synagogue.
Please bring a snack or dessert to share, and wine if you’d like. There are no
commitments—with our busy lives, any or all of us are welcome to come when we
can. We will gather at someone’s home each Rosh Chodesh—that’s each new
moon—through the fall, winter, and spring. Join us!
Questions? Email Betsy Russell at or call Rabbi Laura Rappaport; or Judith
Porges.
May you be inscribed for a good and sweet year, and may we all have a Chodesh
Tov, a good month!
Betsy Russell
