New Moon TEVET
Prayer for the New Month
May the month of
TEVET
Be a month of blessings:Blessings of goodness,
Blessings of joy,Peace and kindness
Friendship and love,Creativity, strength,
Serenity,Fulfilling work
And dignity,Satisfaction, success
And sustenance,Physical health
And radiance.May truth and justice
Guide our acts,And compassion
Temper our livesThat we may blossom
As we ageAnd become
Our sweetest selves.May it be so.
— Marcia Falk, The Book of Blessings
TEVET (arrived the evening of 12/24/2022).
The Jewish month that coincides with the secular months of December/ January
· 29 days in length
· constellation sign is the goat
· Hanukkah concludes in Tevet
· Foods associations: eggs
· Topics: antiSemitism , continuation of Hanukkah
· Tevet is a transitional time in the middle of the winter when there are no major holidays.
· (See www.myJewishlearning.com for more information).
Rosh Chodesh ( New Moon )Tevet falls on the 6th OR 7th night of Hanukkah
There is a Sephardic custom that reserves Rosh Chodesh Tevet as an occasion to honor young women. Perhaps when you gather as a group, talk amongst your selves about how you remember adolescence. For many it was a difficult and lonely time. Can you heal some of the wounds of that era now? How is it for teenage girls today? What are their challenges? The freedoms?
My gift to you this month is from a very special woman, Debbie Pearlman z”l author of Flames to Heaven- New Psalms for Healing and Praise.
”The dark of the new moon, Tevet, descends as we light the last two candles of Hanukkah. I imagine God planned it that way, so that by our own hand, we could find a way to dispel the darkness and the cold.
I know that it is particularly cold here this year but still, we are preparing for the cold, we are looking for it, we are buying warm socks and new mittens and polar fleece vests. Maybe a little cold is a good thing. Maybe it keeps us from complacency and reminds us that it remains our duty to create warmth and light, to maintain our link to the Eternal”.
Sixty-Seven
Rosh Chodesh Tevet
In winter's cold we are muffled,
Bundled against adversities,
Woolen scarves and puffy coats,
stiffly armored in arctic winds.
Numbed as well, removed
From temperature's reality,
As the Children were removed
When they sojourned in Egypt.
Is this shielding, this layering away
Of the cold, and a muffling of the spirit?
Can an icy finger, creeping through
Awaken us anew to God's call?
How slowly we plod, heads lowered,
Lifting booted feet above snow drifts,
Failing to see the sparkle of Light
Through icy branches.
How much harder we must strive
To answer yes in this frigid time;
To hear Your call to us,
The call to Your embracing warmth
*************************************************************
ROSH CHODESH TEVET
The new moon of the Hebrew month of TEVET arrived 12/24 eve...
Saturday eve, the new moon rises...
and we enter the Hebrew month of Tevet...
A reflection drawn from lessons linked with this moon from the earliest book of Jewish mysticism, Sefer Yetzirah...
to accompany you...
Govern yourself…
your flames,
in this time of great night….
as worlds shift,
the old, dying away,
the new, readying
to be born.
Shed
that which no longer fits..
Heal….
Transform.
Know throughout this walk…
your ability to endure…
shimmers.
Your battles won,
the playful kid
skips by your side,
calling you once more
to life.
And so you stand
against the night..
brave,
powerful,
spirit shining,
aglow.
~Vicki Hollander
*******************************************************
The theme of the month of TEVET is associated with the Hebrew letter AYIN. Ayin means eye. Tevet is the month of the eye. Of seeing.
WHAT do WE see?
WHAT do WE choose to train OUR sight on?
The darkness OR the growing light?
This month, this time of year, WE are asked to see the world.
HOW we see ourselves in it & apart from it, & to sit with certain questions:
WHAT obstructs our capacity to see?
Which moments, situations, allow us to see ourselves with truth & clarity?
WHO in our lives empowers us, gives us the strength & support to be able to see, to recognize, what is in front of us, within us?
What parts of ourselves are we hiding?
source: OROT
CHODESH TEVET TOV!