Rosh Chodesh Shevat

Rosh Chodesh literally means "head of the month." Rosh Chodesh is also callled "New Moon" because the moon wanes to a point where it is no longer visible and on the 1st or 2nd of the month, a tiny sliver appears. It's kind of like the moon is "reborn" each month. So today at sunset Rosh Chodesh begins as we usher in the month of Shevat, the 11th month in the Jewish calendar.

It was on Shevat 1, 2488 that Moses, inspired by God, began reciting the Book of Deuteronomy (Devarim) to the Jewish people. Moses died 37 days later.

Deuteronomy 1-3 "These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them" (NIV).

Devarim means "words" and is the final book of the Torah; the fifth book of the Bible. In this book Moses basically recounts where the Israelites have been these past 40 years, what they've encounterned, what God has brought them through, and what He commands and promises. Devarim also contains the most definitive statement of Jewish identity: the Shema.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates'" (NIV).

Chodesh Tov! / Good Month!