Jewish Ledger | 11/25/11

Rosh Chodesh is the monthly celebration of the new moon, according to the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar follows lunar months, each with 29 or 30 days, although the year is solar. Some scholars believe that lunar months derive from ancient nomadic calendars and solar years are the invention of agricultural societies; the Jewish calendar combines the two. Since 12 lunar months do not add up to one complete solar year, additional “leap months” are added to the calendar in seven years out of a 19-year cycle.
Sometimes Rosh Chodesh is one day, but sometimes it is celebrated for two days. Months are based on the lunar cycle, of course. The amount of time required for the moon to make one complete revolution around the earth is determined by the conjunction of the earth, moon, and sun (i.e. they lie along a line). When this happens, it is the new moon. A complete revolution takes 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, 3-1/2 seconds. Days in our calendar must begin at sundown, regardless of when the conjunction actually takes place. Hence it is necessary to either add or subtract a half a day from each calendar month. For this reason, Hebrew months alternate between 29 and 30 days in length. When a month is 30 days in length, the following month Rosh Chodesh is celebrated for two days because the 30th day of the month past is counted as Rosh Chodesh and the first day of the subsequent month as the second day of Rosh Chodesh.
Rosh Chodesh is announced on the Shabbat prior with a special blessing recited during the Torah reading. Rosh Chodesh itself is celebrated with several special prayers.

Source: OU.org.

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The Hebrew Months

Though Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year – begins on the first day of the month of Tishrei, the first month on the Hebrew calendar is actually Nisan…which is where we begin this brief look at the calendar, month by month.

The Month of Nisan
“God said to Moshe and Aharon in the Land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of the months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.’ ” (Shemot, 12:1-2). The first commandment given by God to the Jewish people was to establish the beginning of Nisan – then called “First Month.” Nisan contains the Jewish festival of Passover and is considered the month of redemption, because it is the time when the Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt and began their journey to Israel.

The Month of Iyar
On the first of Iyar, in the second year after the Exodus, God commanded that the first census of the Jewish people begin. As a result of the census, each individual found his or her exact place in the tribe, and each tribe took its place in the formation of tribes.

The Month of Sivan
“In the third month after the Exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt, on that very day, they came to the desert of Sinai” (Shemot 19:1) Jewish Tradition says that “that very day” refers to Rosh Chodesh Sivan. According to Jewish tradition, on Rosh Chodesh Sivan the Jewish people entered into a covenant with God, approximately 600 years after the covenant at Sinai.
The Month of Tammuz
“And He brought me to the entrance at the Gate of the House of the Lord which was at the north; and there were there women sitting, bewailing the Tammuz” (Yechezkel 8:14) This verse in Yechezkel speaks of the worship of a Babylonian idol, known as “Tammuz.” On the third of Tammuz, as Joshua and the people of Israel battled against the five kings of the Emorite nation, the sun and the moon are said to have stood still until the people of Israel were victorious.

The Month of Av
“And Aharon the Priest went up to Hor Hahar at the command of God, and he died there in the fortieth year after the Jewish people had left Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first of the month.” (BaMidbar 33:38) The tragic death of Aharon – described in Pirkei Avot as “loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people, and bringing them closer to the Torah” – is but one of many tragedies that befell the Jewish people during Av. But the Mishnah describes Tu B’Av (the 15th of Av)as the most joyous holiday of all.

The Month of Elul
It was on Rosh Chodesh Elul that Moses ascended Mount Sinai a third time to receive the Ten Commandments. In their encampment, the Jewish people blew the shofar every day that Moses remained on Mount Sinai. Therefore, later generations accepted upon themselves the custom of blowing the shofar, beginning with Rosh Chodesh Elul and until Erev Rosh Hashanah, to remind themselves of the importance of “teshuvah” – repentance.

The Month of Tishrei
Before the giving of the Torah to Israel, Tishrei was the first month of the year. As the seventh month from Nisan, Tishrei is the “dearest” of months, as the sages say, “All sevens are endeared.” The Hebrew word for “seven” is spelled the same as the word for “satiated,” and so the month of Tishrei is referred to as “the most satiated of months,” for it is full of mitzvot and holidays.

The Month of Cheshvan
Cheshvan is also known as “Mar Cheshvan.” The prefix Mar (which means bitter) is a reference to this month having no festivals or rejoicing, but much suffering for Jews throughout the ages. Also during this month, God brought down the Flood and drowned the world (except for Noah and those with him on the ark.)

The Month of Kislev
The first rainbow, observed after the Flood, was seen in Kislev. “And God said: ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I set between Me, and yourselves, and between every living being that is with you, unto eternal generations. I have placed my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between Me and the Earth.’ This is the sign of the covenant.”  (Bereishit 9).

The Month of Tevet
During Tevet, three fast days are observed, in commemoration of three major calamities that befell the people of Israel:  the Golden Calf was made; Ezra the Scribe and Nechemia, who led Israel during the return from Babylonian captivity, both died; and Nevuchadnetzar, King of Babylonia, laid siege to Jerusalem (leading, ultimately, to the destruction of the Temple on the ninth of Av).

The Month of Shevat
On the first of Shevat, Moshe reviewed many of the laws that had been taught at Sinai. Thus, the Sages have said that the first of Shevat is comparable to the day of the giving of the Torah.

The Month of Adar
“When Adar comes, joy is increased.” In an ordinary year, there is only one Adar. In a leap year, there are two Adars: Adar I and Adar II. Adar is the happiest, most joyous month on the Hebrew calendar, primarily due to the holiday of Purim, which commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people from a genocidal plot by the wicked Haman.

Sources: OU.org; jewishvirtuallibrary.org; myjewishlearning.org