Rabbi's Message
RABBI’S MESSAGE:
HOW DO WE MEASURE-UP EACH MONTH?
It is an ancient and time-hallowed Jewish tradition to greet the new moon with a special ritual that is know as kiddush ha-levanah, “the sanctification of the moon.” It is a lovely ceremony held out-of-doors, in which, looking at the crescent moon, one recites prayers and at the end turns to his/her neighbor and says, “shalom alaychem.” The appropriate response is “alaychem shalom.” Both phrases mean peace be unto you. In addition to this quaint ceremony, rosh chodesh, the beginning of each Jewish month, is also an occasion for spiritual stock-taking. Whereas most Jewish individuals believe that this process of introspection is reserved for the High Holy Day period alone that approach is short-sighted and leaves much to be desired.
Actually, the very best time for a spiritual check-up is on each rosh chodesh; it is then that we can do a re-reading of the “minutes” of the previous month. Which brings to mind the story that is told about a fraternal club where the newly elected secretary was called upon to read the minutes of the previous meeting. Being new to the job and really uncertain of his duties, he arose, cleared his throat impressively, looked around and said, “The minutes of the last meeting were...one hour and twenty minutes and six seconds.” And with that, a smug expression painted on his face, he sat down.
Unlike the secretary in the story, we Jews are reluctant to merely record the minutes of each month in simple time units. For the more accurate assessment of the month is not the hours spent or the seconds kept, but the measure of human emotions and feelings—the joys and the tears, the hopes and the fears.
Furthermore, there is no reason why a person should not measure himself/herself—and be measured—by the customary ideas of right and wrong; of sin, guilt, repentance, forgiveness and amendment of life; of joy and sorrow; success and failure. These are the real yardsticks of our monthly activities, and it is exactly these that the Jewish ritual of birkat hachodesh, the blessing of the new month which is recited in the synagogue on the sabbath morning immediately before the new moon, tries to emphasize. Ultimately, we will find that if our monthly spiritual statement is correct, then our yearly religious accounting will balance correctly.
