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Jewish ritual of blessing God upon the appearance of the new moon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kiddush levana, also known as Birkat halevana,[a] is a Jewish ritual and prayer service, generally observed on the first or second Saturday night of each Hebrew month. The service includes a blessing to God for the appearance of the new moon, readings from Scripture and the Talmud, and other liturgy depending on custom. In most communities, ritual elements include the shalom aleikhem greeting and jumping toward the moon, with some also incorporating kabbalistic practices. According to Marcia Falk, "There is, arguably, no more colorful and intriguing piece of liturgy in Jewish culture than Birkat halevana".[3]
As depicted by Artur Markowicz (1933) | |
| Halakhic texts relating to this article | |
|---|---|
| Babylonian Talmud: | Sanhedrin 41b–42a |
| Jerusalem Talmud: | Berakhot 9:2 |
| Mishneh Torah: | Laws of Blessings 10:16–17 |
| Shulchan Aruch: | Orach Chaim 426 |
The oldest part of the ritual, the blessing, is described by the Talmud. Other elements were introduced by Massechet Soferim in the 8th century, although their ultimate origin is obscure. In the years since, different Jewish communities have incorporated various quotations from the Bible and Talmud, liturgical compositions, and mystical customs into their version of the ritual. In the Ashkenazic rite it is an individual recitation, but a cantor may lead in Mizrahi communities.
Since the 15th century, Kiddush levana has been "a highly visible target for rationalist critiques, both Jewish and non-Jewish".[4] Generations of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book expurgated all ritual elements,[5][6][7][8] and some other 20th-century prayerbooks ignored it entirely.[9] By the 1970s, it was widely described as defunct,[10][11][12][8] although Martin Lockshin claimed this was only true among non-Orthodox Jews.[13] In 1992, Chabad announced a campaign to popularize its observance.[14]
As of 2024, it is included in all mainstream Orthodox prayerbooks,[7] including recent editions of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.[15][16] It is observed by some within Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Jewish Renewal. Among the Orthodox, it is almost exclusively reserved for men, but non-Orthodox Kiddush levana may involve men, women, or both. The ritual continues to evolve.[11]
Kiddush levana is generally understood to be an evolution of the rituals associated with declaring a new calendar month, which date back to the Second Temple period, or possibly even earlier.[17] Others say that it was actually intended to replace these rituals, abandoned after the Hebrew calendar was fixed in the 4th century.[18] Some argue that it was originally a device for secret communication during the Bar Kokhba revolt,[19] but this is unlikely given its late date.[20] According to Julius Eisenstein, Kiddush levana was instituted by the rabbis to comfort their flock in a time of oppression, as a protection against any harm that might come to them in that month.[21] According to Leon Mandelstamm, it was intended as a substitute for regular observances in times of oppression, and maintained especially for marranos.[22] Others say that it was instituted to protest Zoroastrian moon-worship[23] or the Karaite calendar.[24] Avram Arian calls it "primarily a redemptive rite".[25]
However, many other scholars ascribe Kiddush levana a pagan origin. According to Jacob Reifmann, it was originally a magical practice to protect Jews from eclipses;[26] Israel Drazin explains it as resulting from "ancient superstitious fear that the new moon might not return to its original fullness due to satanic interference."[27] Adolphe Franck, Solomon Rubin, Moses Brück, and Kaufmann Kohler thought it had been borrowed from Zoroastrianism.[28][29][30][31] Arthur A. Friedman traces it to worship of Astarte,[32] George Margoulioth, to Sin,[33] Abraham Danon, to Ishtar,[34] and Gerda Barag, to "the cult of the Mother-Goddess",[35] while M. H. Segal, Theodor Reik, and Gnana Robinson argue that it was originally a form of moon-worship.[36][37][38] Yosef Goell called it "one of the last vestiges of ancient Jewish paganism".[39]
The oldest part of the Kiddush levana ritual is the blessing. The Talmud describes both men and women reciting a special blessing when they see the new moon, recording several different liturgies and attributing them to 2nd and 3rd-century sages.[40][c] According to Arian, the early attributions are false.[42] The oldest form was a simple "Blessed be the Creator",[43][44][45][46] but in time the version attributed to Judah bar Ezekiel (220–299) became canonical:
Blessed art thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who didst create the heavens by thy command, and all their host by thy mere word. Thou hast subjected them to fixed laws and time, so that they might not deviate from their set function. They are glad and happy to do the will of their Creator, the true Author, whose achievement is truth. He ordered the moon to renew itself as a glorious crown over those he sustained from birth, who likewise will be regenerated in the future, and will worship their Creator for his glorious majesty. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who renewst the months.[47]
Abaye (d. 337) teaches that the blessing should be recited while standing upright, but Maremar and Mar Zutra (d. 417) would recite it while being carried.[48]
In the Talmud, the blessing for the new moon is one of many recommended for the occasion of observing a natural wonder; liturgies are also given to mark the full moon,[d] thunder, lightning, rainbows, mountains, and the changing of the seasons.[49][50][51][52] Some Orthodox halakhists maintain that this blessing should be recited immediately upon seeing the new moon for the first time.[53] However, in general practice the blessing has been uprooted from this context and remade into a special ritual.[54][50][55]
Massechet Soferim (c. 775) is the first text to describe a complex ritual, to be exclusively performed "at the conclusion of the Sabbath, when perfumed and beautifully attired".[56] According to Soferim,[57]
One looks toward the moon with straightened legs and blesses "Who didst create the heavens by thy command . . ." and then one says three times "A good omen on all Israel! Blessed be your Creator . . ."[e] Then one jumps three times toward the moon, and says three times "Just as I jump but do not reach you, so too if others jump at me, let them not reach me," and "Terror and dread falleth upon them, by the greatness of Thine arm they are still as a stone (Ex. 15:16)", and backwards, and "Amen amen selah hallelujah". Then one greets another person three times, and returns home in good cheer.
Threefold repetition, reversal of Ex. 15:16, "A good omen on all Israel", and "Amen amen selah" are typical of medieval Jewish magic spells. The unique elements—addressing the moon with "Blessed me your Creator . . .", jumping towards it, and greeting others—are frequently understood as magical, but their origin is contested.[58]
The prayerbooks of Amram ben Sheshna (d. 875) and Saadia ben Joseph (892–942),[f] as well as early halakhic codes like Halakhot Gedolot (c. 750-900),[59] the Rif (c. 1085),[60] and the Mishneh Torah (1180),[61] incorporate only the Talmudic practice of reciting a blessing when one sees the new moon, rejecting the Saturday-night ritual described by Soferim.[62][11] Nor do Rashi or the Tosafists mention anything beyond the Talmudic blessing.[11] According to Manoah of Narbonne (13th century), "The posqim did not want to accept the words of Massechet Soferim because it makes no sense for someone to delay fulfillment of a commandment. Many things can happen to a person! Therefore all God-fearers bless at the first opportunity, and do not wait for Saturday night".[63] According to modern scholars, Maimonides excluded Soferim's ritual from the Mishneh Torah because he recognized it as an attempt at witchcraft.[64]
Yet by the turn of the 14th century, Soferim ritual's had been wholly accepted by Ashkenazic authorities (Orhot hayyim, Rokeah, Semag, Manhig, Shibbolei haleket,[65] Or zarua,[66] Machzor Vitry (London),[67] ex-Montefiore 134[68]), as well as by Bahya ben Asher[69] and Jonah Gerondi,[70] and it was eventually codified in the Tur (c. 1340) and Beit Yosef (1542).[71][72] However, nothing from Soferim appeared in Baladi-rite texts until the early 17th century.[73]
Additional prayers were continuously added to the ritual in the following centuries, some of unidentified origin, including a wide variety of quotes from Scripture.[74] A table tracking the popularity of many additions is given in Arian.[75] According to Arian,
The growth of the kiddush levanah came slowly and unevenly. Some [customs] are popular and well-accepted. Others remain mysterious in origin and meaning . . . most of these accretions came during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when Jewry was attempting to cope with the effects of the expulsion from Spain and the Chmielmiczi Massacres in Poland. These centuries were marked by the rise of Safed mysticism and of Sabbateanism. These new trends in Jewish mysticism are undoubtedly involved in the growth of kiddush levanah.[11]
Zelikman of Binga (d. c. 1470) and Judah Obernik (c. 1450) are the first to describe including "Long live David, King of Israel" in Kiddush levana,[76][77] a practice which was later codified by Moses Isserles.[78][g] Binga and Obernik associate the custom with the biblical commentaries of Nachmanides (Gen. 38:29) and Bahya ben Asher[h] (Gen. 38:30).[77][76]
Mordecai Yoffe (1530-1612) was apparently the first to prefer a group or quorum.[84] Yechiel Michel Epstein Ashkenazi, a popular Sabbatean halakhist, recommended beginning the ritual with Leshem Yichud in 1692.[85]
Hasidic Jews dance during the ritual.[86] According to Eliezer Papo (1785-1828), one should ritually bathe before Kiddush levana.[87] According to Naftali Zvi of Ropshitz (1760-1827), a man whose wife is suffering from unusual mentrual bleeding should say "that they might not deviate from their set function" with the intent that this also apply to her body.[88]
Another custom calls for adding "let me not have toothaches" after "let them not reach me". First printed in the Beit Yaakov (1889) attributed to Jacob Emden (d. 1776), this custom is often repeated in the name of Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin (d. 1850) or other Hasidic masters;[89] Meir Baneth of Csárda[i] (1932) reports finding it in "a manuscript of Moshe Teitelbaum of Ujhel", who died in 1841;[90] it also enjoyed the support of Ovadia Yosef[91] and Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky.[92]
Modern Mizrahi prayerbooks include a quotation from Midrash Tehillim (Ps. 19) between verses, "My Rock in this world and my Redeemer in the world to come".[93] In 1998, Geela-Rayzel Raphael published English-language songs for a new feminist version of the ritual, including "Sun, Moon, and Stars" and "Schechinah Moon",[94] as did Marcia Falk in 1999, including "What Calls You Home", "Renewal of the Moon", and a translation of Dahlia Ravikovitch's Halevana bageshem ("Moon in the Rain"). Falk also included an original Hebrew poem, Hithadshut halevana ("Renewal of the Moon") and recommended that readings be separated by "periods of silence, conducive to reflection or meditation".[3] Some non-Orthodox masculine versions incorporate study.[95]
A typical modern version includes:[62]
In some communities, shana tova was added to the usual shalom aleikhem greeting when observing Kiddush levana for Tishrei, which is usually recited immediately after Yom Kippur.[96]
Other prayers and rituals been added to the end of Kiddush levana, with many communities incorporating several.
In some communities, Aleinu is recited.[98][99] Isaiah Horowitz (1555–1630) recommended saying Kaddish deRabbanan,[100] which today is generally preceded by the recitation of a baraita (such as Hananiah ben Aqashia's).[101] Others say Kaddish Yatom instead.[102][103] 16th-century Lurianic kabbalists began a practice of shaking one's garments (especially tzitzit) after the ritual, in order to dislodge any evil spirits drawn by the moon.[104] Epstein Ashkenazi recommended reciting Psalm 67 while mentally tracing the shape of a menorah.[105] Some conclude with a liturgy, "May it be Your will for the moon to wax into fullness ..."[106]
Pinchas of Koretz (1726-1791) claimed that checking one's tzitzit after Kiddush levana prevents fever.[107] Shneur Zalman of Liadi's prayerbook (Shklov, 1803) included Ana beKoach at the end of the ritual, but this was abandoned by all subsequent Chabad publications.[108] Other prayerbooks have also included Ana beKoach.[109] In 1859, Haim Palachi said to look at oneself in the mirror, give three coins to charity, look at someone named Isaac, and say "Isaac, Isaac, Isaac".[110] Some sing Yosef Hayyim (1835-1909)'s piyyut Simhu na bevirkat halevana.[111]
Moroccan Jews conclude with the cantor reciting a mi shebeirach on behalf of the congregation; among the Jews of southern Tafilalt, this is preceded by communal recital of "The likeness of Jacob is etched beneath the Throne of Glory".[j][112] Another custom calls for appending lines 13-24 of El Adon, "Good are the heavenly lamps which God created . . . he fixed the form of the moon";[89] Yitzhak Yosef writes that one should not say these lines if reciting Kiddush levana for Av before Tisha B'Av.[91] Some recent Kabbalistic books add another liturgy, "Behold, I have come to bless . . ."[113]
At one 1992 kiruv retreat, participants followed Kiddush levana with the hora, howling, and meditation on "giving and receiving love".[114] In 1999, a liberal Philadelphia group concluded by adding "a touch of New Age to this ancient ritual by forming a circle and conferring blessings on one another".[115]
Kiddush levana was "a highly visible target for rationalist critiques, both Jewish and non-Jewish".[4]
Alilot Devarim (1467), a satirical critique of rabbinical practice, attacks the custom of waiting to recite the blessing until Saturday night, the practice of jumping at the moon, and the liturgy "Blessed be your Creator . . ."[116] The Kol Sakhal (1504) of "Amitai bar Yedaya ibn Raz of Alcalay" calls Kiddush levana "not only complete idiocy but obvious idolatry" and moon-worship.[117]
Kiddush levana is rarely mentioned in 16th and 17th century Christian accounts of Yom Kippur, but regularly mentioned by the end of the 18th century.[118] In 1731, Nicholas Prevost recorded that "this ceremony is not equally in use with all of [the Jews]".[119] Circa 1740, Jonathan Eybeschutz defended the ritual from a mocking crowd of Christian theologians.[120]
At the turn of the 19th century, Dutch authorities had "proscribed the benediction of the new moon".[121] S. A. Horodetsky described "[Joseph] Perl calling the police to disperse the people when they gathered in the street to greet with prayers the new moon".[122]
In 1837, Abraham Geiger called for ending the public ritual and reverting to the original short Talmudic blessing,[123] a position he later reaffirmed.[124] Erasmus Scott Calman critiqued Kiddush levana as idolatrous in 1840.[125] In 1852, Isaac Samuel Reggio wrote that he had initially thought that the public ritual should end, before changing his mind.[117] In 1854, Pavel Ignatieff commissioned a report on Kiddush levana, which found "obscene (nepristoinye) phrases incorporated within the liturgy," demonstrating a fanatical, messianic undertone. This report implicitly declared that the ritual should be banned in Imperial Russia.[126] Leon Mandelstamm proposed reforming the ritual in 1861.[127][128]
In an 1891 dialogue published in Ha-Tsfira, one character says that the ritual embarrasses Judaism before the world; the other, a rabbi, appeals to the value of tradition.[129] In 1892, François Borloz, a missionary, critiqued Kiddush levana as primitive and idolatrous. In response, Gottlieb Klein, a Stockholm rabbi, defended the ritual on theological grounds, while Abraham Meyer, a Tlemcen rabbi, suggested that the jumping and backwards scripture elements should be discontinued, and that the remaining elements should only be said at home, citing both theology and fear of prejudice.[130] In 1893, the American Hebrew reported that "These things have passed away . . . Not now in Jewry is it customary for us to assemble on the ninth or tenth night of the month and say the sanctification of the moon".[131] In 1898, Lewis Naphtali Dembitz wrote that it is "best to omit" all elements beyond the Talmudic blessing, which he calls "a great deal of half-Cabbalistic trifles".[132]
At the beginning of the 20th century, Galician Jews were often attacked when observing Kiddush levana.[133] At the 1910 rabbinical conference in Saint Petersburg, "One resolution appears to outsiders plainly inconceivable in its mediaevalness . . . it was resolved that the blessing of the new moon should be permitted in the streets as a public worship as are the pilgrimages of the Christian churches, but at the same time it was declared that in a case of emergency, it was permitted to pronounce this blessing at the window".[134] Eco Israelita attacked Kiddush levana in 1916.[77]
Edward Keith-Roach banned reciting Kiddush levana at the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av 1930, causing "great resentment".[135] In 1931, Samuel Krauss described jumping at the moon as a primitive magical practice, "so strange that even Isserles acknowledged that it had a suspicion of idolatry attached to it . . . it is only maintained out of respect for old traditions."[136]
Generations of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book expurgated all ritual elements,[5][6][7] and some other 20th-century Orthodox prayerbooks ignored it entirely.[9] It did not appear in 20th-century Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist prayerbooks.[11] David Mevorach Seidenberg writes that, during his rabbinical training at JTS, "I used to invite fellow rabbinical students to participate in Kiddush levana . . . sometimes people would refuse, calling the ritual 'pagan'".[137]
In 1968, Eric L. Friedlander described Kiddush levana as "unjustly-ignored . . . The inconvenience of the late evening hour, when the blessing is to be recited, the cumbrous rubrics, and the mystical accretions surrounding the prayer all account for its current lack of recognition . . . Elbogen's Der jüdische Gottesdienst is silent about the benediction;[k] nor do the American Conservative prayerbooks contain it . . . De Sola Pool and Birnbaum are the only American compilers to leave the blessing and its full complement entire".[138] By 1971, according to Abraham Millgram, "The Kiddush levana is now hardly known at all. Only few congregations still gather outside their synagogues to consecrate the moon. Most modern prayer books do not even include the prayers for this service".[12] In 1978, Isaac Klein, too, described it as an "all but forgotten ritual"[10] and in the same year, Avram Arian wrote that it was "one of the least well known . . . it has fallen into a state of disuse . . .To the best of my knowledge, it is presently observed by only the most halakhically scrupulous of Orthodox Jews".[11] Martin Lockshin claimed this was only true among non-Orthodox Jews.[13] In 1992, Chabad announced a campaign to popularize its observance.[14]
In 1996, Kiddush levana was described as "the least observed of all" outdoor Jewish rituals.[139] Marcia Falk witnessed it in 1999, but wrote "The recitation of birkat hal’vanah is rather uncommon today; I never witnessed it when I was growing up . . . Nothing I had seen in feminist Jewish rituals—or, indeed, in the rituals of many non-Jewish feminists—looked more open to the label of 'paganism' (a label frequently used to censure Jewish feminist innovations) than what I was witnessing here, on the streets of Sha'arey Hesed, being enacted by members of a devout Jewish sect."[3]
After the 1969 Apollo moon landing, some advocated for altering or abandoning the ritual, which includes jumping toward the moon and saying "Just as I jump but do not reach you".[140] William Greider predicted the end of Kiddush levana in the Washington Post, writing "The moon landing . . . destroys the mystery of the symbol and alters forever perspectives of faith and imagination. Once men get beyond the old mysteries, they will surely have to create new myths".[141] Shlomo Goren proposed an emended version,[142] but Shimon Hirari opposed any change.[140] Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Chaim Kanievsky, Yitzhak Yosef, and Yehuda Kesus also ruled against changing the liturgy.[143] Arthur Waskow wrote a different emended version for Jewish Renewal congregations in 1997,[144] and Kerry Olitzky wrote another one in 2010.[95] In 2009, "Zvi Konikov and [Buzz] Aldrin exchanged thoughts on the monthly Jewish custom of the sanctification of the moon, and Aldrin repeated the Hebrew words 'Kiddush Levana.'"[145]
As of 2024, Kiddush levana is included in all mainstream Orthodox prayerbooks,[7] including recent editions of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.[15][16] It is observed by some within Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Jewish Renewal.
Its inclusion in recent prayerbooks speaks to "the growing influence of mysticism and Hassidism".[146] Falk writes,
If Orthodox Jews today are comfortable with the ritual of birkat hal'vanah, which contains vestiges of these earlier times, it only attests to their sense of secure self-identification as Jews. They needn't be concerned that someone overhearing their prayers might think that they are literally worshiping the moon, for such a thought would be preposterous. Traditional Jews observing the practice of birkat hal'vanah seem unselfconsciously to enjoy the ritual with all its celebratory, nature-loving, "pagan" undertones—presumably aware that it is a link to their ancient history.[3]
However, according to Ron H. Feldman, "While the contemporary Orthodox new moon rituals preserve elements of both the Talmudic and kabbalistic practices, the interpretation of the rituals minimizes the kabbalistic legacy."[147] The editors of the current Rabbinical Council of America prayerbook, Arie Folger and Aton Holzer, write that, although it was "marked for omission by some reviewers", nonetheless "we . . . don't flinch from including . . . Kiddush Levanah . . . we provide a basis to rationalize [its] use".[148]
Kiddush levana is a d'rabbanan.[149] While it is customary to say the prayer with the large crowd, or at least with a minyan,[150] it can be also said alone.[151][152][153][117] According to David Lida, even one who has not yet said Maariv should recite Kiddush levana with the rest of the community;[154] this ruling is also cited by Yechiel Michel Epstein Ashkenazi in the name of "the writings of Bunim Halevi of Rymanów".[105] Most authorities advise one to greet others with the plural shalom aleikhem, and to greet at least three different people.[155]
A mourner sitting shiva traditionally does not recite Kiddush levana due to the happy nature of its recitation, unless the shiva will end after the tenth of the month and there is a concern that he will miss the opportunity to recite it entirely.[98][156] Others rule that a mourner should not recite Kiddush levana during shiva unless the shiva will not be over before the last night that it is possible to recite it.[98][157] A mourner may, however, participate in the shalom aleikhem following Kiddush levana.[91]
Yaakov Levi Moelin ruled that one should recite it outside and not while standing inside and looking at the moon through a window.[98][158] The Jews of Marrakesh and Tangier recited it on the synagogue roof.[159][77] However, one who cannot go outside can recite it while looking through a window,[160] although some write that one should open the window if possible.[161] Solomon Luria would intentionally break with this tradition, reciting it by his window.[162] Halakhists dispute whether a blind person is obligated to recite the blessing.[163]
Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin thought one should recite the baraita containing the blessing if the moon was covered on the last night, while Shalom Perloff recommended reciting the blessing without holy names.[164]
A table tracking many halakhic questions relating to Kiddush levana throughout history is given by Arian.[165]
It is traditionally recited only at nighttime.[98][158][166][167] Shlomo Goren ruled that in polar day conditions, one should recite it at 12:00 AM.[168]
The Rambam (followed e.g. by Hayim Vital) ruled that the blessing should be recited on the first night of the new moon.[169][152][98][170] Indeed, some say that one should only stand to recite the blessing if it is performed "in its proper time", meaning on the first of the month.[171] However, according to most authorities one must wait until three (the position of other rishonim)[98][152][172] or seven (following Gikatilla, who makes Kabbalistic arguments)[98][173][174] complete days after the appearance of the new moon.[175]
The latest time for Kiddush levana is usually said to be when the moon is "filled in", and the amoraim debate whether this means half full (until the seventh of the month) or completely full (mid-month).[98][176] Normative custom follows the second opinion (mid-month).[98] According to an alternate position in the Yerushalmi, the latest time is "half a cake".[177] Yosef Karo ruled that it can be recited until fifteen days after the molad,[98][178] but Moses Isserles ruled that it can be recited only until the moon's literal half-way point, i.e. fourteen days, eighteen hours and twenty-two minutes after the molad.[98][179] Others say it can be recited until the sixteenth day of the month, as the waning of the moon is not yet recognizable,[98][180] unless a lunar eclipse (which always occurs mid-month) marks mid-month before that.[98][181]
Most halakhists follow Massechet Soferim in ruling that Kiddush levana should be recited at the conclusion of Shabbat,[182][98] although others prefer reciting it immediately whenever the new moon appears.[98][183] However, if waiting until the conclusion of the Sabbath will make it impossible to recite Kiddush levana before the tenth day of the month, most halakhic authorities rule that it should recited immediately,[98][184] although some still wait until after the Sabbath if it will be possible to recite it then at all.[185]
In the month of Tishrei, most communities delay the recitation of Kiddush levana until after the conclusion of Yom Kippur.[152][179] One who is too hungry to focus should first break their fast.[96] Others have a custom to say it specifically before Yom Kippur.[98][186][187]
In the month of Av, it is traditionally postponed until after the fast of Tisha B'Av, as the beginning of the month is a time of mourning and the ritual is considered joyful.[98][152][179] Isserles also bans reciting it immediately after Tisha B'Av ends, considering the mourning period to still be in effect,[98][179] but most later halakhists only require one to postpone its recitation until after breaking their fast,[98][188] and others allow it to be recited immediately following the conclusion of Tisha B'Av.[98][189][112]
The practice of Egyptian Jews was to delay saying Kiddush levana for Tevet until after the fast.[190] Judeo-Spanish Jews recite Kiddush levana for Sivan immediately after Shavuot.[191]
Kiddush levana is generally not recited on the eve of a Sabbath or festival,[98][152] unless it is the last opportunity to do so,[151][192] because of concern that some will break the Sabbath in order to recite it,[193] or because the Shekhinah would have to be brought in from beyond the techum, or because it is considered similar to a marriage, and marriages are not performed on the Sabbath.[194] If a festival falls on Sunday, Kiddush levana is not performed on Saturday night.[179][151] Any additional passages normally recited by the community, beyond the Talmudic blessing, should only be included if the ritual is performed on Saturday night.[151][195]
According to David and Victoria Rosen, the "traditional ritual celebrations of the moon were centered on the activities of men and involved rituals that, for the most part, took place within the male-dominated ritual sphere of the synagogue".[196] Idit Pintel-Ginsburg writes that "An ambivalent relationship exists between women and the first day of the month" because women do not participate in Kiddush levana.[197] Noa Ginzburg understands the ritual as an attempt by men to claim a female moon;[198] according to Arian, "There is a small amount of literary evidence which supports the hypothesis that the moon is used as a feminine symbol".[199]
Women are allowed to perform time-bound positive mitzvot, even though they are not obligated to,[200][201] and Rav Ashi (352–427) describes women reciting the Kiddush levana blessing in Babylonia.[176] 15th- and 16th-century Italian women's prayerbooks contain Kiddush levana.[202] However, Isaiah Horowitz (1555–1630) observed that "women keep away from Kiddush levana . . . even though many are sure to recite every prayer, they have never observed this commandment". Horowitz speculates that this is out of embarrassment for Eve's sin, which according to him was responsible for the lunar cycle,[203] but according to Jacob Zallel Lauterbach, "there is no reason for it".[204] This practice may have developed because women don't usually attend maariv on Saturday night, and therefore aren't at the synagogue when Kiddush levana is recited,[205] or because it is done outdoors, and women did not leave the house,[206] or because women did not understand the calendar.[207][208]
Avraham Gombiner cited Horowitz in 1671,[209] and most halakhic authorities, beginning with Joseph Teomim (1787),[210] interpreted him as prohibiting women from participating in the ritual.[211][212] Teomim banned women from reciting it even without invoking a holy name,[210] but Yaakov Chaim Sofer encouraged women to have a man recite it on their behalf or to recite only "Blessed be the one who renews the months",[213] and Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, Ovadia Yosef, and Jacob Kassin agreed;[214] however, this is not the general custom.[215]
Elijah Israel (1715–1784) ruled that it is permitted for women to recite Kiddush levana.[216] Shlomo Kluger (1785–1869) went further, abandoning Horowitz's premise, and explained that women are obligated to perform the mitzvah, because it is dependent on the act of seeing the new moon rather than a particular schedule.[217] Joseph B. Soloveitchik agreed with Kluger, at least in theory,[218] as does Hershel Schachter.[219] Since 1992, some Chabad women have recited it, although Yosef Simha Ginzburg disapproves.[220] Re'em Ha'Cohen has ruled that women are permitted to recite it,[221] and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance advocates for allowing women to both recite it and lead men in the service.[222]
As of 2024, women do not recite Kiddush levana in mainstream Orthodox Judaism,[223][224] but the question "remains unresolved".[225]
Conservative Judaism endorses the recital of Kiddush levana.[10] Isaac Klein wrote that Kiddush levana "embodies much that might be appealing to contemporary Jews" and "has a mystic, haunting air about it", but that it is an "all but forgotten ritual".[10] A more recent post from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America states that "Through Kiddush levana ... we reaffirm our commitment to sanctifying time and celebrating the Jewish holidays that are determined by the lunar calendar".[226] Hershel Matt "took took special delight in performing and promoting" Kiddush levana.[227] According to Daniel Pressman, "It's safe to guess that many [Conservative] Jews have never heard of this service, let alone participated in it. It has experienced a revival . . . in recent years".[228]
Eric L. Friedlander, a Reform rabbi, endorsed reciting the blessing component in 1968: "The prayer's present-day indisposition should not in the least obscure for us its literary excellence and religious feeling . . . Even if we cannot recite the prayer on schedule, we need this prayer . . . if only to impress us that the tannaitic and amoraic compilers of the synagogal liturgy were by no means so immured in their houses of study as to be insensitive to nature's beauties".[8] Eleanor Davis endorses the entire ritual,[229] writing that it "feels remarkably suited to someone attempting to practise a living Judaism in an ever-changing world . . . the absence of Kiddush Levanah seems to be a potentially rich opportunity that has thus far been missed".[230]
David Teutsch, a leader in Reconstructionist Judaism, describes Kiddush levana as an opportunity to "explore aspects of the Jewish tradition which were associated with women" and that "concern with the environment, and particularly with recycling the good things of the world, flows naturally from our awareness of the recycling of the moon".[231]
Some Jewish Renewal congregations recite Kiddush levana,[232] and Arthur Waskow includes it in his ritual guide.[233]
Kiddush levana was included in the third edition of The Jewish Catalog.[234] Everett Gendler and Arthur Green were both attracted to the ritual.[235] Matthew Biers-Ariel composed a version to be said while hiking.[236] Daniel J. Cayre includes it in his egalitarian Sephardic machzor for Yom Kippur.[237]
In 1976, Arlene Agus included Kiddush levana in her women's Rosh Chodesh ceremony.[238] Susan Talve composed a feminist version of the liturgy in 1983.[239] A women's group from Delaware, the Judaism and Feminism Study Group of Jewish Family Service, wrote another version in 1990.[240] Naomi Levy introduced Kiddush levana to her Rosh Chodesh group in November 1991, but there was "very little response from participants".[241] In 1994, Laura Geller published another feminist version;[242] also in 1994, the Baltimore "B'not HaLevana" would chant the blessing to music set by Judi Tal.[243] Geela-Rayzel Raphael and Margot Stein-Azen published another version in 1998, including original poetry and music.[94] Marcia Falk composed another version in 1999, aiming to "retain some of the mystery of the original while also giving expression to Jewish feminist yearnings".[3] Debbie Friedman composed "Birkat Halevanah" for use in women's groups.[244] Another feminist version was created by the Kohenet Institute, addressed to a female Goddess.[245]
Goldie Milgram published separate Kiddush levana rituals for men and women in 2004. The men's version is to be celebrated at the full moon.[246]
Since at least 1998, Kerry Olitzky, Shawn Zevit, and other liberal rabbis have led specifically masculine versions of Kiddush levana.[247] Two different men's versions were published in 2010, one by Olitzky[95] and another by David E. Levy.[248] Both Levy and Olitzky see celebrating Kiddush levana as an opportunity for men to reclaim part of Rosh Chodesh, so strongly associated with women in non-Orthodox Jewish practice, and to stand up a masculine equivalent of women's Rosh Chodesh groups. According to Olitzky, "A growing number of men's groups have adopted the ritual, because they desire to engage in a monthly ritual of personal renewal . . . some men's groups like to incorporate study".[95]
In 1986, Lois Dubin used Kiddush levana in a post-miscarriage ritual,[249] as did Haviva Ner-David in 2007.[250] In 1994, Debra Orenstein published a Brit bat ritual inspired by Kiddush levana, "Seder brit kiddush levanah",[251] and in 2002, "Greg and Carolyn Priest-Dorman of Poughkeepsie, NY, wanted to create their own ceremony for the birth of Leora Rose . . . They timed their celebration to coincide with the Birkat HaLevanah . . . which they 'felt had achieved the perfect balance of traditional Jewish ritual with the almost universal human equation of women and the cycles of the moon'".[252] Jason Klein "set the ceremony to be used as a coming-out ritual in which the ritual is embellished with explicit words of queer storytelling and empowerment" in 2001.[253] Debora S. Gordon reused parts of Kiddush levana for a solar eclipse ritual in 2024.[254]
According to Israel Abrahams, in the Middle Ages, "Blessing on the moon . . . in origin tainted with no superstitious implications, was seized upon by the mystics and emphasized into full blown superstition".[255] Other scholars consider the Soferim ritual superstitious; compare §Development, above. Popular modern beliefs include:
Kiddush levana has appeared in modern music, poetry, and prose fiction. Artists have depicted the ritual for centuries, in paintings, woodcuts, engravings, and manuscript illuminations. Many Jewish folktales are told regarding it. Kiddush levana was also Ludwig Jesselson's favorite mitzvah. He "used to proudly recall all the different places he had bentched the new moon: across the United States, Europe, Israel, and even on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Said [Mendy] Jesselson, 'Kiddush levana represented a new beginning to him, a monthly reminder to do the things that we want to do and haven't yet done.'"[283]
Debbie Friedman ("Birkat Halevana"),[147][244] Geela-Rayzel Raphael ("Sun, Moon, and Stars" and "Schechinah Moon"),[94] Ariel Root Wolpe ("Kiddush levana"),[284] and Yosef Hayyim ("Simhu na bevirkat halevana") composed religious songs for use in Kiddush levana.[285] Judie Tal[243] and Shlomo Carlebach[286] wrote music for the ritual, as has Rachel Chang,[287] and Nissan Spivak published several compositions for the ritual.[288] Lipa Schmeltzer released a "Kiddush levana" in Letova (2001), as did Ariel Hendelman in Prayers for Fire & Water (2023); Avraham Fried uses the Kiddush levana liturgy in "Keshem she'ani roked", part of Bracha v'Hatzlacha (1995). Avraham Yaakov Saftlas released "Kiddish Levuneh" in 2024. Other tunes have been composed for David Melekh Yisrael.
Several modern poems have featured Kiddush levana. Naftali Herz Imber composed a series of poems, Hiddot minni qedem (1899), about Kiddush levana and his theory of its development.[289] Morris Rosenfeld's "Kidesch-lewone / The Moon Prayer" (1898),[290] Shlomo Zalman Luria's "Kiddush levana" (1869),[291] and D. B. Suller's "Kiddush levana" (1899)[292] compare it, with melancholy, to ordinary life.[293] Gabriel Preil alludes to the ritual in "Notes on an Ancient Parchment",[294] as does Yehuda Amichai in “Gods Change, Prayers Are Here to Stay".[295] Gerson Rosenzweig published an epigram about Kiddush levana in 1903,[296] and A. M. Klein interpreted it in "The Benediction of the New Moon".[297] Morris Lazaron published a rhyming version of the blessing for children in 1928.[298] Harriette Wimms composed a poem "on the occasion of [her] first Kiddush levana" titled "Moon Mother".[299] Stanley Moss's "New Moon" describes Kiddush levana as "night prayers for unconscious sins and new beginnings".[300] Rachel Ray Faust was inspired by the Apollo moon landing to write "Blessing the New Moon in the Wintertime" (1969), in which she concludes "The Jews are / The oldest astronauts".[301] Ruth Finer Mintz finishes Traveler Through Time (1970) with a mournful poem called "Kiddush Levana".[302] Isaac Mozeson wrote a sestina, "Kiddush halevana" (1981).[303] Rod Myer wrote "Kiddush Levanah - States of Light" (1996).[304] In 1999, Marcia Falk published "What Calls You Home", "Renewal of the Moon", a translation of Dahlia Ravikovitch's "Halevana bageshem" ("Moon in the Rain"), and an original Hebrew poem, "Hithadshut halevana" ("Renewal of the Moon"), for use in her version of Kiddush levana.[3]
Kiddush levana has also inspired prose fiction. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch wrote a short story, "The Blessing of the New Moon" (1892), about a Jewish slave named Naome who unites with his master, Zamira, over Kiddush levana.[305] Chava Shapiro wrote a sketch called "Kiddush levana" (1909), about a young girl who attempts to join her brothers at the ritual.[306] Sholem Aleichem's "Kiddush levana" (1917;[307] abridged in English as "The Krushniker Delegation"[308]) is "a variation of the Joseph and Benjamin story from Genesis and at the same time shows the limitations of Jewish political efforts in World War I".[309] David Frischmann wrote "Kiddush levana" (1949), a Yiddish story.[310] Shmuel Yosef Agnon's story "Birkat halevana" (before 1970) focuses on a Kiddush levana poster.[311] Chaim Walder included a parable titled "Kiddush Levana" in Kids Speak 3 (1997), about a child who learns to embrace returning prayerbooks after Kiddush levana.[312] Joseph Skibell's debut novel A Blessing on the Moon (1997) takes its title from Kiddush levana, which it uses to "provide a cause for hope",[313] evoking "significantly and potentially restorative symbolic meaning".[314] The ritual forms a recurring motif in Haim Sabato's Adjusting Sights (1999; trans. Hillel Halkin 2003).[315][316] A. P. Miller reflects on the ritual in "Blessing the New Moon" (2006), a short story.[317]
Portrayals of kiddush levana are particularly common in 15th-century Italian liturgical manuscripts, which often show a silver crescent moon.[318] Starting in the 16th century, the ritual appeared in European woodcuts and engravings, and many illuminations survive from the 18th century Jewish illuminated prayerbook revival.[319] The form of these depictions follows a template established by early woodcuts of astrologers, and they generally include an anthropomorphic moon, which was very common in pre-modern Jewish art.[320] Stars are shown along with the moon, to link Kiddush levana to the end of the Sabbath (which is determined by the appearance of stars), and to symbolically link the Sabbath and Kiddush levana "to one another as tokens of gratitude for the weekly and monthly cycles of time".[321] Partial cloud cover is included in reference to the threat that clouds will obscure the moon,[322] but the sky is always shown clear enough to allow for Kiddush levana to be recited.[321] Some depictions of moon divination on Hoshana Rabbah have been misattributed to Kiddush levana by reference works.[320]
Kiddush levana appeared on many fin de siècle holiday cards, and on modern Russian and American postage stamps.[323] Notable modern artists have depicted Kiddush levana, including Joseph Budko, Max Weber,[86] Lionel S. Reiss[324] Emanuel Glicen Romano,[325] Hendel Lieberman,[326] Zalman Kleinman,[327] Moshe Castel[328] Zvi Malnovitzer,[329] Elena Flerova,[330] Boris Shapiro,[331][332] Reuven Rubin, Haim Goldberg, Tadeusz Popiel, Hermann Junker, Jacob Steinhardt, and Artur Markowicz.
Noa Ginzburg's MFA thesis, Kiddush Levana, The Moon Is Your Handheld Mirror (2019), aimed "to disarm anthropocentric points of view and speak of temporality and displacement".[198][333]
A selection of out-of-copyright works is available in the gallery below.
Many Jewish folktales are told about Kiddush levana. Some describe miracles which allowed the ritual to be performed:
In others, Kiddush levana saves a Jew from his enemy. "Moses Meisels of Krakow" told Hayyim Buchner (1671) that "Once a certain Jew was attacked by gentiles at night, and they wanted to kill him. But he saw that the moon was shining, so he asked them to let him perform the mitzvah first. A miracle happened when he performed the custom of jumping! A wind arose from the gentiles, rendering him invisible, and he was saved".[260] Juspa Hahn (1570-1637) tells a similar story in the name of "Aaron of Posen".[270]
Another story tells of Hayyim Pinto the Younger (1865-1938) predicting the moon landing during a Kiddush levana in 1924, saying "I promise you that some of you will live to see the day when man will go up to the moon and dance there".[340][341]
Kiddush levana is traditionally recited outside,[152][343] often with only the moon for light. Prayerbooks often set Kiddush levana in large type, in order to make it easier to read.[344][300][292] Historically, it was traditional in many places for Kiddush levana to be recited from memory,[159][91] or for one to recite it loudly on behalf of all;[345][346][347][190] in others, the shamash would hold up a large board with the text of the liturgy.[348][349][350][351]
Later, synagogues began to post the text of the prayer in large type on an outside wall. In 1972, Jerusalem had "fewer than a dozen of these signs . . . measuring approximately three by four-and-a-half metres, all of the black-on-white Kiddush Levana signs throughout the world appear almost identical, as if executed by the same hand. They are mounted on any exterior wall near the synagogue entrance, and have a sheet metal "roof" overhead, for protection against the rain. Some source of illumination is aimed at the board, to make it readable".[352] According to Noa Ginzburg, "The style of the letters is anything but soft; it is like [the men] just want to claim her as their own".[198] Oversized printing of Kiddush levana has become less common since the advent of electric lighting.[353]
Recalling the large-print prayerbooks and signs, the term "Kiddush levana letters" (Hebrew: אותיות קידוש לבנה, romanized: otiot kiddush levana) developed to refer to any text written in unusually large letters.[354] By the First Aliyah, even secular Jews understood the term.[355]
Some relate the term to "libona'ah script" (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: כתב ליבונאה, romanized: ketab libona'ah), which Rashi interpreted as "large letters like those used in amulets".[356][357]
Analogues to Kiddush levana have been found in many other cultures, going back to ancient times.[358] The Lemba shave early for the new moon, which Deborah Grenn-Scott compares to Kiddush levana.[359] Geoffrey Stern compares the shalom aleikhem element to the Salah in Islam,[360] and Heinrich Speyer compares the blessing to Quran 25:62.[361] Susan Gillingham compares Kiddush levana to the Christmas liturgy in Roman Catholicism.[362] According to Regina Lilientalowa, "The Jew joyfully jumps three times [during Kiddush levana], a practice mirrored by the Fetu tribespeople near the Gulf of Guinea".[363]
Morris Jastrow Jr. compares Kiddush levana to the practices of Arabian tribes.[364] Charles Montagu Doughty describes, "The new moon was welcomed by the men with devout exclamations, and by these poor nomad women with carols in the first hours of the night . . . The hareem chanted their perpetual refrain of a single verse, and danced for an hour or two . . . The first appearing of the virgin moon is always greeted with a religious emotion in the deserts of Arabia".
Many scholars compare Kiddush levana to Zoroastrian rituals.[28][29][365][366][367][368][43][369][30] The Zoroastrian liturgy is "Hail to Ahura Mazda! . . . We sacrifice to the new moon, the holy and master of holiness", and their New Moon lasted for the first five days of the month.[370] In 1879, Andrew Carnegie described, "This evening we were surprised to see, as we strolled along the beach [in Mumbai], more Parsees than ever before, and more Parsee ladies richly dressed; all seemed wending their way to the sea. It was the first of the new moon, a period sacred to these worshippers of the elements; and here on the shores of the ocean, as the sun was sinking in the sea, and the slender silver thread of the crescent moon was faintly shining in the horizon, they congregated to perform their religious rites".[371]
Hans H. Spoer argues that Germanic tribes had a similar ritual: "Tacitus tells us that the ancient Germans met on new and full moon. They even worshiped the moon as late as the early Christian centuries, so that Hrabanus Maurus, who died 858, charged the Hessians that they still saluted their "Her Mon," and that they with noise and shouting came to the assistance of the oppressed moon (by eclipses)".[372] Joshua Trachtenberg compares Kiddush levana to a custom recorded in the 19th century in the Ore Mountains, where "Bowing three times to the full moon is said to bring gifts", and earlier by Nicholas Magni (1355-1435), who complains "that many people both laity and clergy, even including masters, bend the knee or bow the head at new moon".[373] In Armenia, "'My mother, an octogenarian, has the habit of standing and praying when the new moon appears , moving from right to left and doing little jumps.' This is exactly the Birkat halevana".[374]
Among the precepts of the Dönmeh was (c. 1760), "Each and every month they shall look up and behold the birth of the moon and shall pray that the moon turn its face opposite the sun, face to face".[375] Gershom Scholem explains, "This is the observance of the Sanctification of the (New) Moon . . ."[376] One descendant recalled that "she was taken out to see the new moon each month and to recite a prayer that her mother taught her: 'O God, I see the Moon, O God I do believe. Let the Moon be blessed by God.'"[377][378] Szekler Sabbatarians had a "New Moon song" which was recited while looking up at the sky. Its phrasing has been compared to Kiddush levana.[379]
In Ireland, "Another custom, or religious adoration, is that of praying to the new moon the first time that luminary is seen after its change. This seems to be a mixture of Jewish and Heathen worship, of which Selden de Diis Syriis speaks, as related in the additamenta M. Andr. Beyeri, page 80, where he also quotes a French author, saying of the inhabitants of Ireland, 'se mettent a genoux en voyant la lune nouvelle, et disent en parlant a la lune; laisse nous ausi sains que tu nous as trouvé.' (William Shaw Mason 1819).[380] Charles Vallancey adds, "This custom is still preserved, and every peasant in Ireland on seeing the new Moon crosses himself and says, slan fuar tu sin agus slan adfaga tu sin, whole you find us and whole leave us.[381] John Aubrey recorded (1696), "The Women have several Magical Secrets . . . At the first appearance of the new Moon after New-years Day, go out in the Evening, and stand over the Sparrs of a Gate, or Stile, looking on the Moon and say, All Hail to the Moon, all Hail to thee, I prithee good Moon reveal to me, This Night who my Husband (Wife) must be. You musst presently after go to Bed. I knew two Gentlewomen, that did thus when they were young Maids, and they had Dreams of those that Married them."[382]
In Brazil, "The only prayer they agreed to share with me, and only after a great deal of begging, was the prayer for the new moon. The new moon prayer has very little to do with the traditional Jewish Kiddush Levanna except that it is done exactly at the period of the new moon and it has to be done under the open sky. Otherwise there is very little in common. The Venhaver prayer for the New Moon is a rather superstitious plea to the moon, as though it had the power of granting one's wishes. Their prayer says 'Lua nova, lua cheia, lua de quarto crescente; quando fores que vieres trazei-me este presente New moon, full moon, half moon, when you go and came back, do bring me back this gift.' The 'gift' is understood as being the fulfillment of a wish. Although these prayers do not resemble the Kiddush Levanna, it has the potential of being the vestige of the traditional Jewish practice, since such prayer is absolutely unknown among the Gentiles in the area" (Cukierkorn 1994).[383]
In Mali, "On the first appearance of the new moon, which they look upon to be newly created, the [Mandinka], as well as Mahomedans, say a short prayer; and this seems to be the only visible adoration which the kafirs offer up to the Supreme Being. This prayer is pronounced in a whisper; the party holding up his hands before his face: its purport (as I have been assured by many different people) is to return thanks to God for his kindness through the existence of the past moon, and to solicit a continuation of his favour during that of the new one. At the conclusion, they spit upon their hands, and rub them over their faces."[384] In Samoa, "On the appearance of the new moon all the members of the family called out: 'Child of the moon, you have come.' They assembled also, presented offerings of food, had a united feast, and joined in the prayer: 'Oh, child of the moon! Keep far away disease and death.'"[385]
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