Why Is Rosh Chodesh Attributed to Women?

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Rosh Chodesh, the first one or two days of each month is a festival which perhaps doesn’t get much spotlight. Yet, it is one which is closely bound with the Jewish woman. Rosh Chodesh was our reward, our gift and its lunar foundations symbolise our personal cycle. Let’s explore the essence, specifically the female essence, of this day.

The Tur writes that Rosh Chodesh was given to the women because of their righteous behaviour at the time of the Egel, one of the most cataclysmic sins of the Jewish people. The men of the nation pressured their wives to contribute their jewellery towards the Golden Calf, and when they refused, they pulled the earrings from their ears. The women refused to despair of Moshe’s return and did not stoop to serving a Calf. Certainly, they wouldn’t contribute their most precious items for this abhorrent sin. Instead, they donated their jewellery to the construction of the Mishkan. This inner strength was rewarded by Hashem through the gift of Rosh Chodesh.

The Torah establishes Rosh Chodesh as a proper Yom Tov, referencing the bringing of the musafim (festive musaf sacrifices) and the blowing of the chatzotzrot (trumpets). A woman’s special chelek in Rosh Chodesh is that she does not perform certain types of melacha on this day (such as laundry, but refer to your own Orthodox Rabbi for details).

Although today we have a fixed calendar, in times of old, two witnesses would stand before Beit Din and declare the first appearance of the new moon. The news would be spread throughout the Jewish towns, with people lighting torches atop mountains to inform people faster. Indeed, Rosh Chodesh is not just about heralding a new month, but it seems to be celebrating the patterns of the moon.

The year, a shana, is built on the solar cycle. Indeed, like the sun which rises and sets each day, independent of any other factor, the word shana means “to repeat.” Whereas, a chodesh, month, is founded on the lunar cycle. The moon is constantly shifting, and chodesh is derived from chadash, new. The cycle forever fluctuates and renews.

It is specifically the Jewish women who can fully embrace Rosh Chodesh, the renewal of the moon. As Rabbi Moshe Goldman explains, the moon waxes and wanes, reflecting the ups and downs of Jewish history. Yet, through it all, the women steadfastly cling to their faith. This is demonstrated most powerfully by the origins of Rosh Chodesh itself, the Egel. Despite languishing in Egyptian exile, despite the challenges of the wilderness, despite the vulnerability of the nation at that time – the women stood strong. They had temporarily lost their leader, but they never lost their faith, even as depression and hysteria spread throughout the nation.

This is true on a biological level as well. The monthly cycle of a woman closely imitates that of the moon. The separation period, the connection period and the renewal of the mikvah all echo the waxing and waning of the moon. Our moods and emotions rise and fall, but faithful servants of Hashem we remain. It is interesting to consider that while women are exempt from positive time-bound mitzvot, we are incredibly dependent on time when it comes to our cycle. In fact the number of positive mitzvot, 248, equal the numerical value of rechem, womb. The way Jewish women are in touch with the waxing and waning of their own cycle and the counting of days parallels all those time-sensitive mitzvot. Spiritually, we live by the moon. We can believe in geula even while mired in galut. And physically we live by the moon. Our emotional fluctuations and the Torah nature of our marriage relationship is almost perfectly aligned with the lunar cycle.

Indeed, Rav Pincus compares men to the sun and Jewish women to the moon. Like the sun, day in, day out, men attend minyan, learn Torah, lay tefillin, don tzitzit amongst many other mitzvot. Publicly, they blaze with their consistent avodat Hashem. Women, on the other hand, are known for quieter mitzvot. Their tzniut, their candlelighting, their hafrashat challa. Even in the mitzvot they excel in, tefilla and chessed, men are the more dominant, louder forces. The light of the man is the self-generated light of the sun. The woman’s light is the reflective light of the moon. The woman, with her deep wellsprings of faith, turns to Hashem and receives her light from Him.

At the root of it, the nations of the world are compared to the sun, and the Jewish people are compared to the moon. The Gra explains that the sun is not always present, illustrating the unreliable nature of the nations of the world, whereas the moon is dependable and loyal, like the Jewish people. The soul of Rosh Chodesh is the soul of the Jewish people which is the soul of the Jewish woman.

The Gemara in Chulin records the perplexing episode of the moon’s light. Initially, both luminaries were created with equal brightness. The sun and moon were partners. The Gemara tells how the moon complained to Hashem that both luminaries cannot rule at the same time “two kings cannot share a crown.” In response, Hashem ultimately diminished the moon. Rosh Chodesh is named “zman kapara lechol toldotam” “a time of atonement for all their descendants.” On some level, we can all use Rosh Chodesh as a time of personal reflection. But on a deeper level, Rosh Chodesh is Hashem’s atonement to the moon. In order to reflect the light of Hashem, the moon’s true wish, Hashem was forced to lessen the light of the moon. Yet in return, the moon is run not according to the physical laws of nature, but the spiritual laws laid down by the Sanhedrin. The moon may not be as glorious as the sun, even with its accompanying host of stars, but it is the first humble appearance of the moon which fixes every holy day in our calendars.

Queen Esther is in many ways the embodiment of the messages of the moon. She was the ayelet hashachar, the deer of the dawn. Right before dawn is the darkest part of the night, and it was in the depths of Persian exile that Esther emerged, promising hope to a nation sealed for annihilation. Esther was the morning star, able to penetrate through Persian darkness to see the waning light of the moon. Esther remained passive for much of the story, following the guidance of Mordechai and submitting herself to Hashem’s plan. Her identity concealed, reflecting only the light of Hashem not her own honor. Esther, whose name derives from the Aramaic, estahir, meaning moon.

May we connect to Rosh Chodesh on the deepest level, renewing our souls so spiritually aligned with the moon and may we live in tune with its cyclical messages.