Rosh Chodesh: What is it Good For? Prepared for Lunch and Learn at USC Hillel

Rosh Chodesh brings opportunities. Here is a quick discussion of two main ways that the holiday relates to us today.

(ב) הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחָדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה׃
(2) ’This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

What is the reason that women refrain from strenuous labor on Rosh Chodesh?

Pirkei d' R. Elizer

When the men came to take their wives' gold earrings for the golden calf, the women refused to hand them over. They told their husbands, "We will not obey you and help you make an abomination that has no power or salvation." God rewarded them in this world [for this refusal] by granting them a greater degree of observance on Rosh Chodesh. And God rewards them in the World to Come by giving them the power of constant renewal which characterizes Rosh Chodesh.

(Book of our Heritage, Eliyahu Ki Tov, pg. 222)

The Jewish women in the desert, at the base of Mt. Sinai had faith in Moshe and God. They weren't afraid of giving over their possessions— they willingly did so to build the Mishkan — they refused to have any part the idol worship.

Rosh Chodesh underscores the depth of women's faith, commitment and connection.

On a personal and national level, Rosh Chodesh is a time of renewal and revival.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch Commentary on Torah (Ex:12:2)

This renewal is to be to you a beginning of New moons (literally a beginning of renewals, of revivals)"

...Each time the moon finds the sun again, each time it receives its rays of light afresh, God wants the Jewish people to find God again and to be illuminated with fresh rays of God's light, wherever, and however, in running their course, they have had to pass through periods of darkness and obscurity. (pg. 125)

The Jewish people are called a "light onto the nations" — but where is this light from? The light of the Jewish people is a reflection of Godliness into the world.