Rosh Chodesh | The New Moon | What Does it Mean to Me?

Rosh Chodesh –The New Moon – What Does it Mean to Me?
A mini teaching in the series Hidden Sparks Beneath the Surface
by Elisheva Tavor

What does the term Rosh Chodesh actually mean? In Hebrew Rosh means head; Chodesh means new; so Rosh Chodesh literally means a new or renewed head or a renewal of consciousness. With the birth of each New Moon, therefore, something new is born.

There is a thought provoking teaching from the Jewish sages of blessed memory that the First day of the New Moon actually holds within it the entire month to come, yet only a tiny sliver is first visible to the naked eye.
It is interesting to make a comparison between this tiny sliver of the New Moon that is birthed each month with that of the tiny little human fetus and the hidden potential existent within it.

In the tiny fetus, the head develops first with the brain which actually contains the entire body within it. Ultimately the limbs and all the organs will develop, but in the beginning, there is merely a latent potential in that tiny little creature, one that is concealed, hidden like the New Moon, but one that is to be revealed in its proper time.

The Hebrew calendar is cyclical, not linear, so it follows that this is the initial message of each and every Rosh Chodesh. It is a New Beginning gifted to us and set into motion to repeat itself month by month by our loving Creator… a New Beginning, filled with potential and the ever present challenge to dig more deeply and to discover more of those Hidden Sparks beneath the surface, sparks that are all around us and within us, sparks that are waiting to be discovered.

With all of this is mind, go out and look up into the night sky and peer at that tiny little sliver and ponder what this month has to teach you. Are you ready to meet its challenges? Are you ready to discover the latent potential that lies within hidden within you? These are questions that can only be answered by each of us individually; and b’ezrat HaShem, with the help of HaShem, we will rise to the occasion and overcome whatever obstacles that come our way and become stronger and more resilient as a result.

More to come on this special 6th month, the month of Elul and its message of teshuvah (repentance and return) Shalom and Blessings to all!