A)
Rosh Chodesh means “new moon” or
head of the month. The New Moon marks the first day of each Hebrew Month. The
moon was created for a sign, an appointed time, and to mark days, and years in
addition to providing light. 2) Talk about the observation of the moon. Psalms
104:19: He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going
down….Gen:1:16: And Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule
the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
1) How ancient peoples
observed time.
Using the sun, moon, and the
stars.
We
are commanded to keep the New Moon Moed every month in scripture –
Exodus
12:1-2 And YHWH spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This
month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of
the year to you… another translation says “This
month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of
the months of the year for you (Exodus 12:2)“ (This was YHWH setting Israel
up on YHWH’S time clock and away from the Egyptian system of the solar
calendar associated with pagan worship of “ra.” These words when
translated back into the original hebrew read “rosh chodesh” which we now
know is “New Moon”. This Scripture literally reads “This
new moon, is the start of the new moons for you. It is the first new moon of the
year for you.”
“And
in the day of your gladness, and in your appointed times, and at the beginning of your months,
you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over your peace
offerings. And they shall be a remembrance
for you before your Elohim. I am your Elohim.” (Numbers 10:10)
Psalm
81:1-7: Shout for joy to Elohim our
strength; raise a shout to the Elohim of Yaaqob. Lift up a song and beat the
tambourine, the pleasant lyre and with the harp. Blow the ram’s horn at the time of the New Moon,
at the full moon, on our festival day. For this is a law for Yisrael and a right
ruling of the Elohim of Yaaqob. He appointed
it in Yehoseph (Joseph) for a witness, when
he went throughout the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt); I heard a language that I did
not know. He says, “I removed his shoulder from the burden; His hands were
freed from the baskets. You called in distress and I rescued you; I answered you
in the covering of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
Yehezqel
/ Ezekiel 46:1-3
Thus said the Master Yahweh, “The gate of
the inner courtyard facing east is shut the six days of work, but on the Sabbath
it is opened and on the day of the New Moon it is opened. And the prince shall
enter by the way of the porch of that gate from the outside, and he shall stand
by the post. And the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace
offerings. And he shall bow himself at the threshold of the gate, and shall go
out, but the gate is not shut until evening. And the people of the land shall
also bow themselves at the entrance to this gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths
and on the New Moons
Talk
about how the New Moon was figured in the old days, where there was 24 elders
and 2 out of those 24 would travel to Jerusalem and testify that the new moon
sliver had been sighted, at which point the priests would officially announce
the new moon and signal fires would be lit as well as messengers sent out.
"This
can be understood on two levels. As will be noted below, only the court can
proclaim Rosh Chodesh based on the testimony of witnesses who observed
the re-appearance of the moon, and upon this proclamation, the Jewish calendar
is based. Unless the new months can be proclaimed, there is no calendar, and
without a calendar, there can be no festivals. Thus, if the Syrian-Greeks had
succeeded in eradicating the observance of Rosh Chodesh, they would have
succeeded in eliminating large numbers of other mitzvot, as well."
Twelve Chodashim make a
Shanah or year (however, since 12 x 29.5 equals 354 days, but a solar year is
365 days, an extra month (called Adar Sheni) is added to the Hebrew calendar
every two or three years in order to keep the solar seasons aligned with the
lunar calendar).
Aviv also known as Nisan was the first month marked during the Exodus. Rosh Chodesh Adar is the 12th month from the first month. Adar as well as all the other official Hebrew names of the months comes from Babylon. The Jews came out of Babylon using these titles for the months
The Sages of Judah: The word Adar is cognate to the Hebrew word "adir", meaning "strength".
Adar is the month of good fortune for the Jewish people. According to this opinion, their rabbinic sages say of Adar: "Its mazal (fortune) is strong".
Another opinion says that "Adar" means "exalted", "praised", "power", and "strength". It refers to Tehillim 93:4, where it says: "the L-rd is (Adir) mighty on High".
This opinion goes on to further quote the Talmud in Beitzah 15a: "He who desires his property to be preserved for him should plant therein an Adar (type of tree), for it says: 'The L-rd is mighty on High.'". This opinion states that just as we decrease our joy because we are separated from the Shechina in the month of Av, so too in Adar we rejoice because the whole month is a time when the Shechina is close to us.
The Midrash says that when YHWH commanded Moses to construct the tabernacle, He made the following request: "asei Li kiton echad v'edor beineichem" (make for Me a small chamber (I.E. the Mishkan) so that I may live in your midst). There have been some speculation that the word "v'edor" ("and I will dwell" in Hebrew) is related to the word "adar" - the very name of this month implies that it is a time when the Shechina dwells among us "v'edor beineichem".
Another opinion, that of Rashi, explains that the reference to Adar in Beitzah 15a means "continuity and strength" in that context. A Reform-Jewish opinion states that the word "Adar" means "beauty", as in the beauty of the season contained in Adar, Spring.
Adar is also the month that we have the entire drama of Esther played out Thus, it is written in Megilat Esther: 'And in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar;"
Famous events in the month of Adar:
Adar - (1313 BCE) - Plague of Darkness
The ninth plague to be cast upon the Egyptians for their refusal to release the Israelites from slavery was a thick darkness across the entire land so "no man saw his fellow, and no man could move from his place" (Exodus 10:23). This started on the 1st of Adar, six weeks before the Exodus.
Adar - (515 BCE) - Second Temple completed
The dedication of the second Holy Temple (Beit HaMikdash) which was built by Ezra on the site of the 1st Temple in Jerusalem, was celebrated on the 3rd of Adar of 515 BCE, after four years of work.
Adar - (1393 and 1273 BCE) - Moses' birth and death
Moses was born in Egypt on the 7th of Adar of the Hebrew year 2368 (1393 BCE) and is said to have died on his 120th birthday, Adar 7, 2488 (1273 BCE)
Adar - (522 BCE) - war against enemies of the Jews in Persia
On the 13th of Adar of the Hebrew year 522 BCE, battles were fought throughout the Persian Empire between the Jews and those seeking to kill them in accordance with the decree issued by King Achashveirosh eleven months earlier. (Achashveirosh never rescinded that decree; but after the hanging of Haman on Nissan 16 of the previous year, and Queen Esther's pleading on behalf of her people, he agreed to issue a second decree authorizing the Jews to defend themselves against those seeking to kill them.) 75,000 enemies were killed on that day, and 500 in the capital, Shushan, including Haman's ten sons (Parshandata, Dalfon, Aspata, Porata, Adalia, Aridata, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizata), whose bodies were subsequently hanged. The Jews did not take any of the possessions of the slain as booty, though authorized to do so by the king's decree. (The Book of Esther, chapter 9).
Adar - (161 BCE) - Maccabee victory / Yom Nicanor
The Maccabees defeated the Syrian General Nicanor in a battle fought four years after the Maccabee's liberation of the Holy Land and the miracle of Hanukkah.
Adar - (1393 BCE) - Moses' brit milah
Moses was born on the 7th of Adar of the Hebrew year 2368 (1393 BCE); accordingly, Adar 14 was the 8th day of his life and the day on which he was circumcised in accordance with the divinee command to Abraham.
Adar - (522 BCE) - Purim victory celebrated
The festival of Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jewish people from Haman's plot "to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day." See Timeline.
Adar - (522 BCE)
- Purim Victory
Celebrated in Shushan
Adar - (1st century CE)
- Jerusalem Gate Day
King Agrippa I (circa 21 CE) began construction of a gate for the wall of Jerusalem; the day used to be celebrated as a holiday.
Adar - (1312 BCE) - Mishkan assembled for the 1st time; "Seven Days of Training" begin.
During the week of Adar 23-29, the Mishkan was erected each morning and dismantled each evening; Moses served as the High Priest and initiated Aaron and his four sons into the priesthood. Then, on the "eighth day," the 1st of Nissan, the Mishkan was "permanently" assembled (that is, put up to stand until the God-given command would come to journey on), Aaron and his sons assumed the priesthood, and the divine presence came to dwell in the Mishkan.
Adar - (561 BCE) - Nebuchadnezzar died
Death of King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian emperor who conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the first Holy Temple 26 years earlier, died on the 25th of Adar. (Jeremiah 52:31)
Adar - (561 BCE) - Death of Zedekiah
Zedekiah was the last king of the royal house of David to reign in the Holy Land. He ascended the throne in 597 BCE, after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia (to whom the Kingdom of Judah was then subject) exiled King Jeconiah (Zedekiah's nephew) to Babylonia . In 588 BCE Zedekiah rebelled against Babylonian rule, and Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem (in Tevet 10 of that year); in the summer of 586 BCE the walls of Jerusalem were penetrated, the city conquered, the (first) Holy Temple destroyed, and the people of Judah exiled to Babylonia. Zedekiah tried escaping through a tunnel leading out of the city, but was captured; his sons were killed in front of him, and then he was blinded. Zedekiah languished in the royal dungeon in Babylonia until Nebuchadnezzar's death in 561 BCE. Meroduch, Nebuchadnezzar's son and successor, freed him (and his nephew Jeconiah) on the 27th of Adar, but Zedikiah died that same day.
It
is a time of remembrance, rejoicing, & celebration. “And in the day of
your gladness,
and
in your appointed times, and at
the beginning of your months, you shall blow
the
trumpets over your burnt offerings and over your peace offerings. And they shall
be a remembrance for
you before your Elohim. I am your Elohim.”
(Numbers 10:10)
•
Is it a Sabbath?: Although Scripture does not clearly state that the New Moon
Festivals
are
Sabbaths, Amos 8:5 indicates that is was treated as a Sabbath. “When does the
New
Moon pass so that we sell grain, and the Sabbath so that we trade our
wheat...”
•
It’s a special time to hear from Yahweh. The children of Israel visited the
prophet (to
hear
from Yahweh), today we are able to visit with Yahweh directly.
•
It is a time of worship. We are to come before Yahweh and worship on this day.
Isaiah
66:23
•
It is a time of fellowship & feasting.