Rosh Chodesh

The seventh night of Hanukkah coincides with Rosh Hodesh Tevet. While the new moon and new month has long been associated with women, Tevet is extra special. 

In North Africa, Greece and Turkey, Jewish communities celebrate this special night with Chag HaBanot (Festival of the Daughters). It’s the day Esther was taken to Ahasuerus’s palace in the Purim story and it’s when we honor the heroism of Judith in the story of Hanukkah. On Chag HaBanot, women and girls across generations gather to give gifts, enjoy sweets, sing and to pass inheritances from one generation to the next. 

Here are some ways to celebrate Chag HaBanot with the women in your life.

- As you light the menorah, take a moment to think of the women who have been an influence on your life. Send them light and love.

- Enjoy a festive meal or special treat. 

- Sing and dance. Whether traditional Hanukkah songs or a playlist of your favorite women artists, Chag HaBanot is a time for rejoicing! 

- Connect with your mothers, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, friends, partners and neighbors. Start with women, then invite people of all genders to celebrate with you. 

Abraham Joshua Heschel. a rabbi who marched for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King, Jr

Wrote that morally speaking, there is no limit to the concern one must feel for the suffering of human beings,

That indifference to evil is worse than evil itself

That in a free society, some are guilty but all are responsible

May we continue to practice tikkun olam, repairing the world

May we continue to practice, gemilut chasidim, acts of lovingkindness

May we continue to practice tzedakah, just giving

May we recognize that all beings are created equal, b'tzelem elohim, in the image of the divine

May we walk away today knowing that each of us has the power to create change.

by Deanna Neil

Blessed Yah, Creator, Created, Creating...

We pray for peace,

For ourselves and the world,

Even if only for one day:

Instead of anger, we choose kindness.

Instead of revenge, we choose justice.

Instead of resentment, we choose empathy.

Instead of work, we choose rest.

Instead of ideology, we choose compromise.

Instead of destruction, we choose community.

Instead of fear, we choose endurance.

Instead of invective, we choose prayer.

Instead of violence, we choose peace.

Blessed Yah, Creator, Created, Creating...

We give thanks for this day of peace.

May it change us, may it change the world,

And let us say, Amen.