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Introduction
Over the last 30 years the Jewish new moon festival known as Rosh Hodesh,2 the observance marking the beginning of the new month of the Jewish luni-solar calendar, has been reappropriated by Jewish women who have transformed it into a celebration of women within Judaism. The observance involves a gathering that is usually restricted to women and takes place at a private home or a synagogue on the evening of Rosh Hodesh.3 While the exact activities of the gathering vary, they tend to include prayers, blessings, rituals, study, food, and socializing related to the month and the annual holidays that will fall in it. Freedom to innovate and experiment within Jewish tradition is a key element of these activities, although the amount will vary depending on where each group's denomination falls on the Jewish religious spectrum (from Orthodox to Secular, with Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Renewal in between).
While Susannah Heschel's 1983 groundbreaking collection of essays, On Being a Jewish Feminist, included a few essays touching on Rosh Hodesh, the first book devoted to the revival of Rosh Hodesh was Miriam's Well: Rituals for Jewish Women Around the Year published by Penina Adelman in 1986. A subsequent collection of essays published by Susan Berrin in 1996, Celebrating the New Moon: A Rosh Chodesh Anthology, provided more perspectives on both the history and practice of the holiday. The newfound significance of Rosh Hodesh is reflected, for example, by its designation as a major section of Marcia Falk's feminist liturgy published in 1996, The Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily Life, the Sabbath, and the New Moon Festival, some of which has been set to music.4 The observance of Rosh Hodesh has become sufficiently important and mainstream that the 1999 theme for the annual "Feast of Jewish Learning" week sponsored by the Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) in San Francisco had the theme, "Rosh Hodesh: It's About Time." The BJE created a web-site and multimedia packet of educational materials which was sent to Jewish institutions throughout the Bay Area to increase awareness and observance of the holiday, including suggestions for family activities.5 Even Hadassah, one of the oldest and largest American Jewish women's organizations, has published its own compendium, Moonbeams: A Hadassah Rosh...