Kiddush levana
Jewish ritual and prayer service 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 and further readings depending on custom. In most communities, ritual elements include the shalom aleikhem greeting and jumping toward the moon, with some also incorporating kabbalistic practices.
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 |
| Other rabbinic codes: | Halakhot Gedolot 1:135
Or Zarua II 456 Sefer Mitzvot Gadol Asin 27 Arba'ah Turim OC 426 Shibbolei Haleket 167:4 Kol Bo 43:14 |
The oldest part of Kiddush levana, 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. In Orthodox Judaism, it is almost exclusively reserved for men, but non-Orthodox Kiddush levana may involve men, women, or both.
Kiddush levana has featured in popular artwork, poems, jokes, stories, and folklore. Tunes based on its liturgy, especially "David Melekh Yisrael Hai veKayyam" and "Siman Tov uMazel Tov Yehei Lanu ulkhol Yisrael", have spread far beyond the original ritual. According to Marcia Falk, "There is, arguably, no more colorful and intriguing piece of liturgy in Jewish culture than Birkat halevana".[3]
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][13] although it soon began to regain Orthodox popularity.[14][15] In 1992, Chabad announced a campaign to popularize its observance.[16]
As of 2024, Kiddush levana is included with ritual elements in all mainstream Orthodox prayerbooks,[7] including recent editions of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.[17][18][19] It is endorsed by Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Jewish Renewal. Although Kiddush levana remains controversial within Reform Judaism, it has recently been endorsed by Dalia Marx, Sylvia Rothschild, and other Reform leaders. Since 1976, many non-Orthodox women's groups have adopted Kiddush levana, and non-Orthodox masculine versions began appearing circa 1993. The ritual has been adapted for use in same-sex weddings, coming-out ceremonies, Brit bats, and the 2024 solar eclipse. It continues to evolve.
Development
Summarize
Perspective
The Talmud includes many blessings for the occasion of observing natural phenomena, but only the blessing over the moon has expanded into an elaborate service.[20] Kiddush levana is generally understood to have resulted from the special importance provided to the moon by the rituals associated with declaring a new calendar month, which date back at least to the Second Temple period. Some scholars say that Kiddush levana evolved under their influence,[21] while others say it was intended to replace these rituals, abandoned after the Hebrew calendar was fixed in the 4th century.[22]
A few argue that it was originally a device for secret communication during the Bar Kokhba revolt,[23] but this is unlikely given its late date.[24] 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.[25] According to Leon Mandelstamm, it was intended as a substitute for regular observances in times of oppression, and maintained especially for marranos.[26] Others say that it was instituted to protest Zoroastrian moon-worship[27] or the Karaite calendar.[28] Avram Arian calls it "primarily a redemptive rite",[29] and Israel Zolli sees it as mostly penitential.[30]
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;[31] 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".[32] Others say it was borrowed from Zoroastrianism.[33] Arthur A. Feldman traces it to worship of Astarte,[34] George Margoulioth and David Sidersky, to Sin,[35] Abraham Danon, to Ishtar,[36] and Gerda Barag, to "the cult of the Mother-Goddess",[37] while M. H. Segal, Theodor Reik, and Gnana Robinson argue that it was originally a form of moon-worship.[38][39][40] Yosef Goell called it "one of the last vestiges of ancient Jewish paganism".[41]
Talmudic blessing
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.[42][c] According to Arian, the early attributions are false.[44] The oldest form was a simple "Blessed be the Creator",[45][46][47][48][49][50] 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.[51]
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.[52]
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.[53][20] Some Orthodox halakhists maintain that this blessing should be recited immediately upon seeing the new moon for the first time.[54] However, in general practice the blessing has been uprooted from this context and remade into a special ritual.[55][11][56]
Soferim ritual
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".[57] According to Soferim,[58]
One looks toward the moon[e] with straightened legs and blesses "Who didst create the heavens by thy command . . ." and then one says three times "A good omen[f] on all Israel! Blessed be your Creator . . ."[g] 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,[h] 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 be your Creator . . .", jumping towards it, and greeting others—are frequently understood as magical, but their origin is contested.[59]
The prayerbooks of Amram ben Sheshna (d. 875)[i] and Saadia ben Joseph (892–942),[j] as well as early halakhic codes like Halakhot Gedolot (c. 750–900),[60] the Rif (c. 1085),[61] the Eshkol (c. 1150),[62] and the Mishneh Torah (1180),[63] incorporate only the Talmudic practice of reciting a blessing when one sees the new moon, rejecting the Saturday-night ritual described by Soferim.[64][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".[65] According to modern scholars, Maimonides excluded Soferim's ritual from the Mishneh Torah because he recognized it as an attempt at witchcraft.[66]
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,[67] Or zarua,[68] Machzor Vitry (London),[69] ex-Montefiore 134[70]), as well as by Bahya ben Asher,[71] Joshua ibn Shuaib,[72] and Jonah Gerondi,[73] and it was eventually codified in the Tur (c. 1340) and Beit Yosef (1542).[74][75] However, nothing from Soferim appeared in Baladi-rite texts until the early 17th century.[76]
Additional prayers and customs were continuously added to the ritual in the following centuries, some of unidentified origin, including a wide variety of quotes from Scripture. The order of these later additions is not consistent between prayerbooks, and they may be inserted before, between, or after elements from Soferim. Arian provides a table tracking the popularity of many additions.[77]
Hasidei Ashkenaz additions
A tradition in the name of Judah of Regensburg (1150–1217), first recorded in the early 14th century, calls for reciting "The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills (Cant. 2:8)". Originally connected to the jumping component (even displacing it in MS Bod. 1103), this addition was later reinterpreted by Kabbalists, who also added 2:9.[78]
The Sefer Hekhalot, a lost work first mentioned in the early 14th century, called for including "Long live David, King of Israel" in Kiddush levana,[79] and this addition was later endorsed by Samuel Schlettstadt (14th century), Zelikman of Binga (d. c. 1470), Judah Obernik (c. 1450), the Soncino siddur (1490),[80] Abraham Saba (1500), Meir ibn Gabbai (1507), a Romaniote prayerbook (1522),[81] a Sephardic prayerbook (1523),[82] Isaac ben Eljiah Shani (1543),[83] Naphtali Hirsch Treves (1546), and other prayerbooks, before being codified by Moses Isserles in 1590.[84] Schlettstatt compares the Hekhalot's addition to b. Rosh Hashanah 25a, but Obernik and Isserles associate it with the biblical commentaries of Nachmanides (Gen. 38:29) and Bahya ben Asher[k] (Gen. 38:30).[85][l] Israel Zolli critiques the addition for interrupting the prayer's flow.[30]
15th–17th century additions
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]
The Soncino siddur (1490) includes Psalms 121 and 150 and Ps. 51:12.[80] The Psalms were probably added as thaumaturgical spells, following Shimmush tehillim.[91] Shimmush Tehillim identifies Ps. 121 and Ps. 150 as a protection for one walking alone at night and as appropriate to mark the works of God, respectively.[92] Angelika Neuwirth adds that "[Psalm 121]'s central assertion of God's watchfulness has predestined it for a recitation within a nightly service, a vigil. Christian vigils indeed conclude with Ps. 121 . . . Kiddush levanah—being conducted at night—entails Ps. 121".[93] Ora Brinson argues that the addition of Psalm 121 represents Karaite influence.[94]
Ibn Gabbai (1507) was apparently the first to record the addition of another liturgy, "May it be Your will for the moon to wax into fullness . . ."[95]
A Romaniote siddur (1522) adds Psalms 19 and 8 and Kaddish.[96] Mahzor Aram Tzoba (1526) includes the baraitas "A teaching of the house of Rabbi Ishmael: Had Israel merited no other privilege than to greet their Father in Heaven once a month, that would have been sufficient . . ." and "Said Rabbi Johanan: Whoever blesses the month in its time, it is like he has welcomed the shekhinah",[m] before concluding with a passage from b. Berakhot 64a, "Torah scholars increase peace in the world . . ." and Kaddish deRabbanan.[97]
Mordecai Yoffe (1530–1612) was the first to prefer reciting Kiddush levana in a group.[98]
Lurianic and Sabbatean
16th-century Lurianic kabbalists added Psalm 148[99] and Aleinu[100] to the service, and began a practice of shaking one's garments (especially tzitzit) after the ritual, in order to dislodge any evil spirits drawn by the moon.[101] Some Lurianic books suggest adding Num. 23:9, Jer. 30:10 and 46:28, and Ps. 18:31.[102]
In 1692, Yechiel Michel Epstein Ashkenazi, a popular Sabbatean halakhist, recommended beginning the ritual with a Leshem Yihud and following it with Psalm 67, which was to be recited while mentally tracing the shape of a menorah.[103]
According to a 13th-century Sephardic recension of Shimmush Tehillim, Psalm 148 cures ailments. Versions disagree about Psalm 67, which is either a cure or a protection against burglars.[92] All such additions were rejected by Elijah of Vilna (1720-1797), who included no verses in Kiddush levana.[104]
18th–19th century additions
Ashkenazic
Hasidic Jews dance during the ritual.[105] According to Naftali Zvi of Ropshitz (1760–1827), a man whose wife is suffering from unusual menstrual bleeding should say "that they might not deviate from their set function" with the intent that this also apply to her body.[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]
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;[110] Meir Baneth of Csárda[n] (1932) reports finding it in "a manuscript of Moshe Teitelbaum of Ujhel", who died in 1841;[111] it has also enjoyed the support of Ovadia Yosef,[112] Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky,[113] and Kerry Olitzky.[114] 19th-century German and Slavic Christians also had a prayer for protection against toothaches which they repeated three times to the new moon,[115] and this practice ultimately traces to folk beliefs in northeastern Europe.[116]
Some prayerbooks added Psalm 120.[117] Others appended lines 13–24 of El Adon, "Good are the heavenly lamps which God created . . . he fixed the form of the moon";[110] Yitzhak Yosef writes that one should not say these lines if reciting Kiddush levana for Av before Tisha B'Av,[112] but others disagree.[118]
In Brody, 1844,
The ritual was conducted without any sense of unity, order, or aesthetic sense. For the blessing was, instead of being sung, shouted out by the entire congregation. Every latecomer began from the beginning, and in the same high tone as his predecessor, and a remarkable jumble arose, where one could hardly distinguish anything but loud, discordant sounds, or rather, harsh exclamations, but by no means comprehensible words. The peculiar bowing and swaying, which in Polish synagogues is somewhat an integral part of the service, was naturally also present here, only it was much more noticeable and prominent, in a quiet moonlit night, in the open air, on a public street (where, especially the swinging tendency of each individual found an unrestricted, free space and could develop in its perfected form). Christian groups observed this scene from a distance.[119]
Mizrahi
According to Eliezer Papo (1785–1828), one should ritually bathe before Kiddush levana;[120] others say that one should wash their hands.[121] Papo also writes that one should recite Jer. 10:11, Ps. 18:31, and Is. 30:26.[122] 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".[123] Yosef Hayyim (1835–1909) composed a piyyut for Kiddush levana, Simhu na bevirkat halevana.[124]
Mizrahi prayerbooks also include a homily from Midrash Tehillim, "My Rock in this world and my Redeemer in the world to come", and Ez. 16:13 and Ps. 75:11 and 89:36–38.[125]
Some Mizrahi congregations conclude with the cantor reciting a mi shebeirakh 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".[o][126]
Recent additions
On January 19, 1980,[127] the Jewish Arts Community of the Bay hosted a 1,500-person Kiddush levana with masks, choreographed dancing, shofar blowing, original liturgy, the Priestly Blessing, and other novel ritual elements.[128] At one 1992 kiruv retreat, participants followed Kiddush levana with the hora, howling, and meditation on "giving and receiving love".[129] 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".[130]
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",[131] 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]
As of 2010, some non-Orthodox masculine versions incorporate study.[132] Recent Kabbalistic books add another liturgy, "Behold, I have come to bless . . ."[133] In 2024, At The Well published The Way of Blessing the Moon: A Modern Kiddush Levana, which includes a unique blessing for each Hebrew month. Thirteen female and non-binary poets were selected to contribute a blessing, out of dozens that applied.[134]
Controversy and popularity
Summarize
Perspective
As early as the 15th century, Kiddush levana was "a highly visible target for rationalist critiques, both Jewish and non-Jewish".[4] From the start of the 19th century through the Holocaust, it was regularly criticized by advocates for liturgical reform, and it received an additional theological challenge from the Apollo moon landings. By the late 1970s, Kiddush levana had dropped out of most prayerbooks and reference works, and it was widely described as defunct. However, the ritual has experienced a revival in recent decades.
15th–18th century
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 . . ."[135] 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.[136] Johannes Pfefferkorn called it idolatrous in 1510,[137] and it was also criticized by Paul Staffelsteiner in 1536.[138]
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.[139] In 1677, assaults by Christians forced the Jews of Livorno to restrict public Kiddush levana to immediately outside the synagogue, enforced by a fine.[140] In 1731, Nicholas Prevost recorded that "this ceremony is not equally in use with all of [the Jews]".[141] Francesco Trevisani attacked it as idolatrous in 1728.[142] Circa 1740, Jonathan Eybeschutz defended the ritual from a mocking crowd of Christian theologians.[143]
19th century
At the turn of the 19th century, Dutch authorities had "proscribed the benediction of the new moon".[144] S. A. Horodetsky describes how Joseph Perl "upon seeing Jews reciting Kiddush levana, brought the police and dispersed them".[145]
In 1837, Abraham Geiger called for ending the public ritual and reverting to the original short Talmudic blessing,[146] a position he later reaffirmed.[147] The Supreme Council of the Israelites of Baden banned Kiddush levana.[148] Erasmus Scott Calman critiqued Kiddush levana as idolatrous in 1840.[149] In 1852, Isaac Samuel Reggio wrote that he had initially thought that the public ritual should end, before changing his mind.[136]
In 1854, Pavel Ignatieff commissioned a report from Moisei Berlin 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.[150] Leon Mandelstamm contested Berlin's finding, and ultimately only the post-Talmudic additions were banned, as well as the practice of reciting it outdoors.[151] Mandelstamm again published a proposed reform to the ritual in 1861.[152][153]
Isaac Baer Levinsohn (d. 1860) wrote an extended satire of Hasidic dance during Kiddush levana, which circulated among Maskilim in manuscript before being published in 1867.[154] Similarly, Hermann Schapira included a parody of Hasidic dance during Kiddush levana in Massechet Hasidim, a spoof Talmudic dialogue he wrote in 1869.[155]
Simon Diament called for modernization in 1884.[156] 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.[157] 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.[158] 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".[159] 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".[160]
20th century
At the beginning of the 20th century, Galician Jews were often attacked when observing Kiddush levana.[161] 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".[162][151] Eco Israelita attacked Kiddush levana in 1916.[163]
Edward Keith-Roach banned reciting Kiddush levana at the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av 1930, causing "great resentment".[164] 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."[165]
In 1943, the Kingdom of Romania
issued an order forbidding Jews to recite the New Moon Prayer. The Government in announcing the order, has stated that as the New Moon Prayer was recited by the Jews out of doors it was impossible for it to tolerate the Prayer, as the pro-Allied tendencies of the Jews were well-known and as the recital of the Prayer out of doors placed the Jews in a position to give signals to Allied aeroplanes.[166]
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 most 20th-century Conservative, Reform, and 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'".[167]
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;[p] 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".[168] 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".[11] In 1980, Leo Miller called it "a rite rarely practiced by Jews in the United States".[13]
But Kiddush levana began to enjoy new popularity in Hasidic and right-wing Orthodox circles at around the same time,[14] and in 1980, Martin Lockshin rejected Klein's description of Kiddush levana as "all but forgotten".[15] Nonetheless, according to Arian, "only the most halakhically scrupulous of Orthodox Jews" observed it as of 1978.[169] In 1992, Chabad announced a campaign to popularize its observance.[16]
In 1996, Kiddush levana was described as "the least observed of all" outdoor Jewish rituals.[170] 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]
Apollo moon landing
In 1959, Shlomo Goren ruled that any Jew on the moon would be exempt from Kiddush levana, joking that one would not need to sanctify the Earth either,[171] to the general agreement of a rabbinical conference.[172] Menashe J. Nebenzahl wrote in reply, "I congratulate Rabbi Goren on his initiative . . . but travel to the moon is against Jewish law and stands in violation of God's will. To perform a mitzvah on the moon would be like tovel vesheretz beyado".[173] In 1992, Menachem Mendel Schneerson also ruled that an astronaut on the moon need not recite Kiddush levana.[174]
After the 1969 Apollo moon landing, 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".[175] Indeed, some Jews advocated for altering or abandoning the ritual, which includes jumping toward the moon and saying "Just as I jump but do not reach you",[176][177] although others instead denied that the landing had taken place.[178]
Goren proposed emending prayerbooks to adopt an alternate version of that line,[179] but Shimon Hirari,[176] Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Chaim Kanievsky, Yitzhak Yosef, Joel Teitelbaum, and Yehuda Kesus rejected any change to the liturgy,[180] and only Goren's personal synagogue ever adopted the new version.[181] However, Arthur Waskow wrote a different emended version for Jewish Renewal congregations in 1997,[182] and Kerry Olitzky wrote another one in 2010;[132] Dalia Marx wrote a third in 2021.[183] 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.'"[184]
In Orthodox Judaism
Summarize
Perspective
As of 2024, Kiddush levana is included with the Soferim elements in all mainstream Orthodox prayerbooks,[7] including recent editions of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book.[17][18] However, Sraya Deblitzky followed Elijah of Vilna by including no verses from Scripture.[185]
Kiddush levana's inclusion in recent prayerbooks speaks to "the growing influence of mysticism and Hassidism".[186] 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."[187] Two 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".[188]
The exact arrangement varies between prayerbooks, but a typical modern version includes the following elements (M=Mizrahi only, A=Ashkenazic only):[189][190][191][192]
- M Psalm 19 and a homily on it from Midrash Tehillim, "My Rock in this world and my Redeemer in the world to come".
- M Ps. 8:4.
- Psalm 148:1-6
- Some form of Leshem Yihud
- Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy.
- Three times, "Blessed be your Creator . . ."
- Jumping toward the moon, declaring three times, "Just as I jump but do not reach you . . ."
- "Terror and dread falleth upon them, by the greatness of Thine arm they are still as a stone (Ex. 15:16)".
- The same verse backwards, "As a stone they are still of Thine arm by the greatness falleth upon them dread and terror".
- Three times, "Long live David, King of Israel".
- Exchanging shalom aleikhem and aleikhem shalom.
- Three times, "A good sign and a good omen on all Israel!"
- A Song of Songs 2:8–9
- M Ps. 51:12
- Psalm 121
- Psalm 150
- A passage from the Talmud, "A teaching of the house of Rabbi Ishmael: Had Israel merited no other privilege than to greet their Father in Heaven once a month, that would have been sufficient. Said Abaye: By law we say it standing."
- A Song of Songs 8:5
- Another liturgy, "May it be Your will for the moon to wax into fullness . . ."
- Psalm 67
- A Aleinu
- Some form of Kaddish
- M Isaiah 30:26 and Ezekiel 16:13
Halakha
Kiddush levana is a d'rabbanan.[193] While it is customary to say the prayer with the large crowd, or at least with a minyan,[194] it can be also said alone.[195][196][197][136] According to David Lida, even one who has not yet said Maariv should recite Kiddush levana with the rest of the community;[198] this ruling is also cited by Yechiel Michel Epstein Ashkenazi in the name of "the writings of Bunim Halevi of Rymanów".[199] Most authorities advise one to greet others with the plural shalom aleikhem, and to greet at least three different people.[200]
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.[201][202] 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.[201][203] A mourner may, however, participate in the shalom aleikhem following Kiddush levana.[112] According to another custom, one does not recite Kiddush levana in a city with an unburied corpse.[204]
Menahem Recanati ruled that one should recite it outdoors.[205] Yaakov Levi Moelin added that one should look directly at the moon and not through a window.[201][206] The Jews of Marrakesh and Tangier recited it on the synagogue roof,[207][163] a practice also recorded in Bamberg.[208] However, one who cannot go outside can recite it while looking through a window,[209] although some write that one should open the window if possible.[210] Solomon Luria would intentionally break with this tradition, reciting it by his window,[211] and when afflicted with arthritis Judah Obernik recited it without moving from his chair.[212] The Jews of Belmonte would recite Kiddush levana inside their synagogue.[213] Obernik would recite Kiddush levana even if the moon was mostly covered by clouds,[212] but the common practice of today's Orthodox Jews is to wait for a clear night.[214] Halakhists dispute whether a blind person is obligated to recite the blessing.[215]
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.[216]
A table tracking many halakhic questions relating to Kiddush levana throughout history is given by Arian.[217]
Timing
David Abudarham (fl. 1340) cites an otherwise-unknown midrash that "We only bless the moon at night, as it says 'He appointed the moon for seasons (Ps. 104:19)".[218] However, Zedekiah Anaw (c. 1250) refers to this position as a "some say" worthy of casuistic justification.[219] Today, Kiddush levana is only recited at nighttime.[201][206][220][221] Shlomo Goren ruled that in polar day conditions, one should recite it at 12:00 AM.[222]
The Rambam (followed e.g. by Hayim Vital) ruled that the blessing should be recited on the first night of the new moon.[223][196][201][224][205] 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.[225] However, according to most authorities one must wait until three (the position of other rishonim)[201][196][226] or seven (Kabbalistic)[227] complete days after the appearance of the new moon.[228]
Most halakhists follow Massechet Soferim in ruling that Kiddush levana should be recited at the conclusion of Shabbat,[229][201] although others prefer reciting it immediately whenever the new moon appears.[201][230] A responsum attributed to Joseph Gikatilla by Joseph Karo says to recite Kiddush levana on the seventh day of the month, without waiting for Saturday.[231] 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,[201][232] although some still wait until after the Sabbath if it will be possible to recite it then at all.[233]
Kiddush levana is generally not recited on the eve of a Sabbath or festival,[201][196] unless it is the last opportunity to do so,[195][234] because of concern that some will break the Sabbath in order to recite it,[235] 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,[236] or because texts could not be carried outdoors in the absence of an eruv.[237] If a festival falls on Sunday, Kiddush levana is not performed on Saturday night.[238][195] Any additional passages normally recited by the community, beyond the Talmudic blessing, should be omitted on the Sabbath.[195][239]
In the month of Tishrei, most communities delay the recitation of Kiddush levana until after the conclusion of Yom Kippur.[196][238] One who is too hungry to focus should first break their fast.[240] Others have a custom to say it specifically before Yom Kippur.[201][241][212]
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.[201][196][238] Isserles also bans reciting it immediately after Tisha B'Av ends, considering the mourning period to still be in effect,[201][238] but most later halakhists only require one to postpone its recitation until after breaking their fast,[201][242] and others allow it to be recited immediately following the conclusion of Tisha B'Av.[201][243][126]
The practice of Egyptian Jews was to delay saying Kiddush levana for Tevet until after the fast.[244] Judeo-Spanish Jews recite Kiddush levana for Sivan immediately after Shavuot.[245]
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).[201][246] Normative custom follows the second opinion (mid-month).[201] According to an alternate position in the Yerushalmi, the latest time is "half a cake".[247] Yosef Karo ruled that it can be recited until fifteen days after the molad,[201][248] 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.[201][238] Others say it can be recited until the sixteenth day of the month, as the waning of the moon is not yet recognizable,[201][249] unless a lunar eclipse (which always occurs mid-month) marks mid-month before that.[201][250]
Women
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".[251] 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.[252] Noa Ginzburg understands the ritual as an attempt by men to claim a female moon;[253] according to Arian, "There is a small amount of literary evidence which supports the hypothesis that the moon is used as a feminine symbol".[254]
Kiddush levana in 15th-16th century women's machzorim. Three contain the female formula "who did not make me a maidservant", and the fourth is signed by the woman who commissioned it.
Women are allowed to perform time-bound positive mitzvot, even though they are not obligated to,[255][256] and Rav Ashi (352–427) describes women reciting the Kiddush levana blessing in Babylonia.[246] 15th- and 16th-century Italian women's prayerbooks contain Kiddush levana.[257] 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,[258] but according to Jacob Zallel Lauterbach, "there is no reason for it".[49] 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,[259] or because it is done outdoors, and women did not leave the house,[260] or because women did not understand the calendar.[261][262][263]
Avraham Gombiner cited Horowitz in 1671,[264] and most halakhic authorities, beginning with Joseph Teomim (1787),[265] interpreted Gombiner as prohibiting women from participating in the ritual and ruled likewise.[266] Teomim banned women from reciting it even without invoking a holy name,[265] 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",[267] and Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, Shem Tob Gaguine, Ovadia Yosef, and Jacob Kassin agreed;[268] however, this is not the general custom.[269]
Elijah Israel (1715–1784) ruled that it is permitted for women to recite Kiddush levana,[270] as did Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-1933).[271] Jacob Meshullam Ornstein (1775–1839) permitted "Blessed be the one who renews the months" even with a holy name,[272] and Menashe Grossberg (1860–1927) permitted women to join in with men who are reciting it, as long as they remain indoors.[263]
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.[273] Bentzion Lichtman (1892-1964) agreed with Kluger,[274] as did Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993), at least in theory,[275] as does Hershel Schachter (b. 1941).[276]
Saul Isaac Kaempf included a version of Kiddush levana in every edition (1860, 1875, 1893) of his women's prayerbook.[277] Since 1992, some Chabad women have recited it, although Yosef Simha Ginzburg disapproves.[278] Re'em Ha'Cohen has ruled that women are permitted to recite it,[279] and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance advocates for allowing women to both recite it and lead men in the service.[280]
As of 2024, women do not recite Kiddush levana in mainstream Orthodox Judaism,[281][282] but the question "remains unresolved".[283]
In non-Orthodox Judaism
Summarize
Perspective
Kiddush levana is endorsed by Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Jewish Renewal. Although it remains controversial within Reform Judaism, the ritual has recently been endorsed by Dalia Marx, Sylvia Rothschild, and other Reform leaders.
Since 1976, many non-Orthodox women's groups have adopted Kiddush levana, and non-Orthodox masculine versions began appearing circa 1993. Kiddush levana has been adapted for use in same-sex weddings, coming-out ceremonies, Brit bats, and the 2024 solar eclipse.
Kiddush levana was included in the third edition of The Jewish Catalog.[284] Simcha Paull Raphael and H. P. Frydman created a complex original Kiddush levana ritual in 1980.[128] Everett Gendler and Arthur Green were both attracted to the ritual.[285] Matthew Biers-Ariel composed a version to be said while hiking.[286] Daniel J. Cayre includes it in his egalitarian Sephardic machzor for Yom Kippur.[287] At a non-denominational conference in 2019, "Nearly eighty communal leaders—Orthodox and Reform, Conservative and Renewal, and everything in between and beyond" recited Kiddush levana together.[288]
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism endorses the recital of Kiddush levana.[10] In 1979, Isaac Klein wrote that Kiddush levana "embodies much that might be appealing to contemporary Jews" and "has a mystic, haunting air about it".[10] However, David Mevorach Seidenberg recalls that, during his rabbinical training at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), "I used to invite fellow rabbinical students to participate in Kiddush levana . . . sometimes people would refuse, calling the ritual 'pagan'".[167]
In 1985, the Rabbinical Assembly included Kiddush levana in the first edition of Siddur Sim Shalom, demonstrating a desire for comprehensiveness but also "the growing influence of mysticism and Hassidism".[186] This original version excluded all Soferim additions except "A good omen . . ." and the exchange of greetings,[289] but "Blessed be your Creator . . ." and "Just as I jump . . ." were restored for the 2002 edition.[290] Originally Kiddush levana in Conservative Judaism could be performed on any weeknight, without a preference for Saturday,[10][290] but in 2016 the Siddur Lev Shalem explained that "Reciting it . . . immediately upon the conclusion of Shabbat adds to the sense of freshness that the ceremony intends".[291] In 2024, the editors of the Lev Shalem provided their text to At The Well for use in The Way of Blessing the Moon: A Modern Kiddush Levana.[134]
Bradley Shavit Artson called it "surely a celebration worth renewing" in 2006.[292] Hershel Matt "took special delight in performing and promoting" Kiddush levana.[293] A 2016 post from the JTS library states that "Through Kiddush levana ... we reaffirm our commitment to sanctifying time and celebrating the Jewish holidays that are determined by the lunar calendar".[294] 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".[295]
Reconstructionist Judaism
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".[296] A "large proportion" of Kiddush levana is included in the Canadian Reconstructionist Renew Our Days: A Book of Jewish Prayer and Meditation (1996).[297] Ariana Katz leads Kiddush levana services.[298]
Jewish Renewal
Some Jewish Renewal congregations recite Kiddush levana,[299] and Arthur Waskow includes it in his ritual guide.[300] Ami Goodman ran musical Kiddush levana meetings in San Francisco the 1990s.[301]
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.[302]
Reform Judaism
After Geiger's public rejection of the modern Kiddush levana in 1837, no Reform prayerbook included any ritual elements for 170 years. The same year, Samuel Holdheim had fully recommended Kiddush levana, and described it as part of his synagogue's regular observance.[303] Although Geiger had endorsed the short form of the blessing, "Blessed be the one who renews the months", only the 1872 and 1889 editions of Isaac Mayer Wise's Minhag America included it; all other Reform prayerbooks, and all other printings of Minhag America, excluded even that.[297] During this period, Reform—especially in America—generally excised all ritual practice which related to the natural world, and Kiddush levana "fell into oblivion" as Reform Jewish practice.[304]
In 1928, Morris Lazaron published a rhyming version of Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy for children, "somewhat changed to meet the child's need, the implication of immortality in the ancient form being beyond the child's comprehension".[305]
Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God
Who gave the sun for warmth and light,
The moon and stars that shine at night;
The days and months that make the year;
Watch over all my loved ones dear,
And help us all to do what's right.
Morris Lazaron's version for children (1928)
Samuel Michel Segal included a completely traditional Kiddush levana in The Sabbath Book (1957).[306] Eric L. Friedlander endorsed reciting the blessing component in 1968, writing that "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]
In 1977, Gates of the House: The New Union Home Prayerbook included a medley of verses from Psalm 148,[q] followed by Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy, as did On the Doorposts of Your House in 1994. Both also included other blessings for natural phenomena. However, Reform synagogue prayerbooks continued to exclude these blessings, including all parts of Kiddush levana.[297]
In 2000, the Union for Reform Judaism printed a Daily Blessings Card, which contained blessings for many natural phenomena, but not for the moon.[307] In 2001, Daniel Fink, acknowledging that Kiddush levana would be "unfamiliar to most liberal Jews", called for its restoration in future Reform prayerbooks.[304] The current American Reform prayerbook, Forms of Prayer (2008), continues to exclude it.[19]
In 2011, the Siddur Pirchei Kodesh of Holy Blossom Temple (Toronto) included a Kiddush levana, comprising Ps. 148:1-6, Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy, and "The New Moon" by Ruth F. Brin.[308] In 2015, Lisa Green created her own version for a summer camp.[309]
In 2021, Dalia Marx included a largely traditional Kiddush levana in the Israeli Reform Siddur Tefillat haAdam, which became the first Reform prayerbook to contain Soferim's additions. She explained that "Our siddur includes Kiddush levana (somewhat abbreviated) despite the opposition of some rabbis, in recognition of the ritual's rich spiritual and communal significance, and of its potential to bring us closer to experiencing of nature's transitions. Those opposed said that Kiddush levana is a magical practice, but most rabbis were enthusiastic about including the ritual, which includes references to nature, Jewish peoplehood, and interpersonal relationships".[183] According to Eleanor Davis, the inclusion "may reflect Dalia Marx's interest in nature, which is much in evidence in From Time to Time (2023)",[297] although it is also part of a general return to traditional liturgy.[310]
Sylvia Rothschild endorsed Kiddush levana in 2022, writing that "I have taken part in this ritual within a community exactly five times in my life, but each time have become more aware of the praise of nature and of God's role as the creator of nature, which is something that we lose often in our liturgical mainstream".[311] Davis followed in 2024,[312] 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" and suggesting that it be moved to Friday night.[313]
Feminist versions
In 1976, Arlene Agus included Kiddush levana in her women's Rosh Chodesh ceremony.[314] Susan Talve composed a feminist version of the liturgy in 1983.[315] A women's group from Delaware, the Judaism and Feminism Study Group of Jewish Family Service, wrote another version in 1990.[316] Naomi Levy introduced Kiddush levana to her Rosh Chodesh group in November 1991, but there was "very little response from participants".[317] In 1994, the Baltimore "B'not HaLevana" would chant the blessing to music set by Judi Tal.[318] Geela-Rayzel Raphael and Margot Stein-Azen published another version in 1998, including original poetry and music.[131] Debbie Friedman composed "Birkat Halevanah" (1998) for use in women's groups.[319] Marcia Falk published another version of Kiddush levana in 1999, aiming to "retain some of the mystery of the original while also giving expression to Jewish feminist yearnings".[3] At one Rosh Chodesh group,
Moving the heavy coffee table, we spread a tapestry on the floor and lit white candles. In that atmosphere, our voices sounded hushed and holy. We began by singing a wordless melody, and reciting the blessing over the new moon. Miriam's cup was always in the center of our circle. At first, we used a plain glass, until someone's aunt (a potter) donated a ceramic goblet adorned with a dancing woman. We passed the cup around the circle, taking small sips of water. Each woman recited her own name . . .[320]
Kohenet
A Kohenet co-led Birkat kohanim at a 1980 Kiddush levana ritual.[128] In 2016, Jill Hammer "rededicate[d] this prayer to Asherah" in the first Siddur haKohanot, presenting a modified version of Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy addressed to that goddess.[321] Harriette Wimms added Kiddush levana to her regular liturgy in 2021.[298] In 2025, the second edition of Siddur haKohanot introduced an entirely different version, including Ps. 148:1-6, a modified version of Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy addressed to the shekhinah, "Blessed be your Creator . . ." (modified to address a female object), "Long live David . . .", the exchange of greetings, and "A good omen . . ."[322]
Masculine versions
Beginning c. 1993, Shawn Zevit, Kerry Olitzky, and other liberal rabbis led specifically masculine versions of Kiddush levana.[323] According to the liberal masculine reinterpretation, "Kiddush Levanah allows men to greet the David—the poet, scholar, dancer, lover, shepherd—in themselves".[324] Two different men's versions were published in 2010, one by Olitzky[132] and another by David E. Levy.[325] 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".[132]
In 2024, according to Eleanor Davis, the masculine versions "seem[ed] to have disappeared without trace".[326] Noah Phillips and David Steuer began leading masculine Kiddush levana groups at Chochmat HaLev (Berkeley, CA) in 2025.[327][328]
Adaptation
Summarize
Perspective
In 1804, David Hizkiyahu Baruh Louzada incorporated the reversed Ex. 15:16 into a prayer for protection from Maroon attacks on Suriname.[329]
In 1985, Yehuda Etzion used Judah bar Ezekiel's liturgy in his revivals of the Talmudic ritual to declare a new month;[330] these were poorly attended.[331]
In non-Orthodox Judaism
Kiddush levana is a useful ritual base for feminists because it "immediately follows Rosh Chodesh . . . It would be counterproductive to add another ritual to Rosh Hodesh, which would compete with the already existing rituals".[332] Davis argues that Kiddush levana adaptations should always include the Talmudic blessing, and that it is particularly suited to "renewal that follows diminution or loss, and to periods of flux or change". She suggests integrating it into rituals for "those embarking on another round of fertility treatments after an unsuccessful round, undertaking job applications after redundancy, or while preparing to formalise a new relationship after divorce or being widowed. Other more general opportunities might arise in order to recognise things in progress but not yet completed, or anywhere that growth and shrinkage form part of a natural cycle."[333]
Brit bat ceremonies which integrate Kiddush levana differ intentionally from those that mimic Brit milah by following 8 days after the birth, choosing instead to elevate the lunar calendar.[334] The two "go well together because both are welcoming ceremonies, and both express wishes for completion".[332] In July 1986, the naming ceremony Ellen Sandler and Dennis Danziger held for their daughter Molly involved Laura Geller reciting Kiddush levana;[335] Geller soon publicly suggested "celebrating the entrance of a daughter into the covenant as part of the lovely Blessing of the Moon"[336] and published a liturgy in 1994 under the title "Seder brit kiddush levanah".[337] In 2002, inspired by Geller, "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'".[338] Miriam Hyman published a different combined Kiddush levana-Brit bat ritual in 1993.[332]
In 1986, Lois Dubin used Kiddush levana in a post-miscarriage ritual,[339] as did Haviva Ner-David in 2007.[340] In 1993, E. M. Broner and Sue Levi Elwell used Kiddush levana in their reordination ceremony for the Berkeley Women's Rabbinical Network.[341] 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.[342] Steven Greenberg suggested reciting Kiddush levana at same-sex weddings in 2009, arguing that "The mystical prayer for the restoration of the moon serves as a foil to the degradations of the biblical creation story that unconsciously inhabit the traditional wedding".[343] Debora S. Gordon reused parts of Kiddush levana for a solar eclipse ritual in 2024.[344]
Superstitions
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Perspective
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".[345] Other scholars consider the Soferim ritual superstitious; compare §Development, above. Eleanor Davis notes that there are no "scientific proofs of its effectiveness in bringing about these happy consequences, which may nonetheless be little deterrent to those who believe in them".[346]
Joseph Karo wrote in 1646 that "This omen is observable in Kiddush levana. If you are able to recite it on Saturday night, you will find success. But if the moon is covered and you are not able to recite it, then you will not be successful."[347] Many believe that this statement is the origin of the following widespread beliefs:[348][349][350]
- It's bad luck be unable to recite Kiddush levana because of clouds.[49] One rabbi declared a penitential fast after clouds prevented the community from reciting it.[351] The Jerusalem Post reported in 1990 that "one enterprising hasidic rebbe in the New York City area charters a light plane to fly above the clouds when meteorological conditions prevent the fulfilment of the mitzva on the ground".[352] Alexander Süsskind of Grodno (1739–1794) composed a prayer for clear skies.[353]
- One who recites Kiddush levana will not die in the following month.[49][354][355][356][357][350] In 1840, Erasmus Scott Calman described, "No Rabbinical Jew whatever has any doubt of the truth of all this, and places implicit confidence in the efficacy of its operation. Their minds are generally in the greatest anxiety lest a natural or a violent death should overtake them, from the close of the month till the time of the performance of this ceremony has arrived, when they begin to feel secure and relieved."[149] Pinchas Eliyahu Horowitz wrote in 1818, "All are confused by this . . . many people recite Kiddush levana and then die during the following month . . . two words have been transposed, and it should be, one will not be killed by another man, i.e. by robbers or enemies or in war".[358]
- Reciting Kiddush levana can protect a traveler from highwaymen.[359][199][360][361][354][362][363][364]
- It leads to abundance and success.[365]
However, they may also have been adapted from non-Jewish Eastern European folk custom, which likewise held that the new moon brings prosperity and that one can avoid death that month by greeting it with the correct liturgy.[366]
Other traditional beliefs include:
- Kiddush levana can help a man get married.[354][112][367] First found in Nahman of Breslov's Sefer haMiddot (1811).[368]
- If necessary, a mystic can part the clouds.[369]
- It can cure tooth pain and other ailments.[354][112] See above for folk beliefs regarding tooth pain and fever cures, and for the use of psalms as cures. Menashe Grossberg argues that Kabbalists had long believed in the power of "greeting the shekhinah" to cure ailments.[263]
- Shaking one's garments after the ritual protects against enemies.[49][354][370]
- Music and dancing during the ritual hastens the eschaton.[371][372]
- It helps with fertility.[373]
- If a woman listens to Kiddush levana, she will suffer pregnancy complications.[374]
In culture
Summarize
Perspective
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, and it features in Yiddish jokes.[375] 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.'"[376] Hai veKayyam, an Israeli ultranationalist movement founded in the late 1970s,[377] chants "Long Live David, King of Israel" during marches through the Old City of Jerusalem.[93]
Music
Debbie Friedman ("Birkat Halevana"),[187][319] Geela-Rayzel Raphael ("Sun, Moon, and Stars" and "Schechinah Moon"),[131] Ariel Root Wolpe ("Kiddush levana"),[378] and Yosef Hayyim ("Simhu na bevirkat halevana") composed religious songs for use in Kiddush levana.[379] Judie Tal[318] and Shlomo Carlebach[380] wrote music for the ritual, as has Rachel Chang,[381] and Nissan Spivak published several compositions for the ritual.[382] 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 and Siman Tov uMazel Tov.
Trotwood Eberhardt composed music for part of Morris Rosenfeld's "Kidesch-lewone" in 1914.[383]
Jacob Picheny, Naomi Puro, and Jeffrey Weinstein choreographed "Dance of the New Moon", which was performed to music in masks at one 1980 Kiddush levana.[128] The premier of Shlomo Bar and the Natural Gathering's musical pageant "Birkat halevana" closed out the World Organization of North African Jewry's 1983 Knas Shoreshim;[384] it aired on Channel 2 in 1987.[385] The Renaissance Players performed a "secular, folkloric version of the triple-leap moon dance" as part of their adaption of "Yo Hanino" in Sephardic Experience II: Apples & Honey (1998).[386] Dalit Warshaw composed "Kiddush ha-Levanah", a 17-minute adaptation of the liturgy for soprano and piano, in July 2002.[387]
Poetry
Many modern poems have featured Kiddush levana. Baruch Placzek's "Kidusch Lewanah" (1867) aimed to cohere the modern Kiddush levana's many components.[388] Shlomo Zalman Luria's "Kiddush levana" (1869),[389] Morris Rosenfeld's "Kidesch-lewone / The Moon Prayer" (1898),[390] and D. B. Suller's "Kiddush levana" (1899)[391] compare it, with melancholy, to ordinary life.[392] Heinrich Gottlieb's "Kiddusch lewanah" derides the ritual as attracting Christian scorn.[393] Naftali Herz Imber composed a series of poems, Hiddot minni qedem (1899), about Kiddush levana and his theory of its development.[394] Gabriel Preil alludes to the ritual in "Notes on an Ancient Parchment",[395] as does Yehuda Amichai in "Gods Change, Prayers Are Here to Stay".[396] Gerson Rosenzweig published an epigram about Kiddush levana in 1903,[397] as did Gertrud Simon Marx in 1919,[398] and A. M. Klein interpreted it in "The Benediction of the New Moon".[399] Itzik Manger retells the Chelm moon story in "Khelemer balade" (1929).[400] Chaim Grade's "Kiddush levana" was published in 1935.[401] Meir Bosak published Berikud keneged halevana, a series of reflections on Hasidism, in 1960.[402]
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".[403] Ruth Finer Mintz finishes Traveler Through Time (1970) with a mournful poem called "Kiddush Levana".[404] Isaac Mozeson wrote a sestina, "Kiddush halevana" (1981).[405] Rod Myer wrote "Kiddush Levanah – States of Light" (1996).[406] Pinny Bulman published "Blessing the Moon" in 2015.[407] Stanley Moss's "New Moon" describes Kiddush levana as "night prayers for unconscious sins and new beginnings".[408] Harriette Wimms composed a poem "on the occasion of [her] first Kiddush levana" titled "Moon Mother" (2021).[409]
Joseph Goldschmidt adapted the Kiddush levana liturgy to rhyme in 1901,[410] and Morris Lazaron published another rhyming version, intended for children, in 1928.[305] 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] Ode à la lune (2016) includes a translation of the liturgy and original poetry by Julien Grassen Barbe, together with illustrations by Frank Lalou.[411] The Way of Blessing the Moon: A Modern Kiddush Levana (2024) includes a unique verse blessing for each Hebrew month. Thirteen female and non-binary poets were selected to contribute a blessing, out of dozens that applied.[134]
Zamira was amazed to see her slave standing with his face toward the moon. Henri-Léopold Lévy (1891).
Prose
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.[412] Chava Shapiro wrote a sketch called "Kiddush levana" (1909), about a young girl who attempts to join her brothers at the ritual.[413] Sholem Aleichem's "Kiddush levana" (1917;[414] abridged in English as "The Krushniker Delegation"[415]) 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".[416] Marcus Lehmann also wrote a story about Kiddush levana.[417] In David Ignatoff's "In Levone-land" (1918), a pious Jew named Berel Prager has fantastical adventures on his way to Kiddush levana.[418] David Frischmann wrote "Kiddush levana" (1949), a Yiddish story.[419]
Shmuel Yosef Agnon's story "Birkat halevana" (before 1970) focuses on a Kiddush levana poster.[420] In Haim Hazaz's "Hu Tzivah" (1974), childhood memories of Kiddush levana recall a Bolshevik to Judaism.[421] 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.[422] 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",[423] evoking "significantly and potentially restorative symbolic meaning".[424] The ritual forms a recurring motif in Haim Sabato's Adjusting Sights (1999; trans. Hillel Halkin 2003).[425][426] Kiddush levana inspired Esther Takac to write Loni and the Moon, an illustrated children's book.[427] A. P. Miller reflects on the ritual in "Blessing the New Moon" (2006), a short story.[428]
In 1869, Hermann Shapira wrote a spoof Talmudic dialogue mocking Hasidic celebration of Kiddush levana.[155] Shaw Zevit recommends liberal masculine kiddush levana in "Kohelet Rabbah: Wisdom and My Brothers" (2003), which he calls a "21st-Century Men's Midrash".[429] Eleanor Davis composed original English-language midrash about Kiddush levana in 2024, under the title Pesiqta Achot Ketanah.[430]
Art
Cologne, 1490
Venice, 1593
Early woodcuts of astrologers inspired depictions of Kiddush levana.
One 13th-century Italian prayerbook decorates Kiddush levana with a moon accompanied by a series of ladders in a field of stars.[431] Portrayals of kiddush levana are particularly common in 15th-century Italian liturgical manuscripts, which often show a silver crescent moon.[432] 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.[433] 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.[434][435] The participants wear Sabbath finery, as instructed by Soferim.[436] 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".[437] Partial cloud cover is included in reference to the threat that clouds will obscure the moon,[438] but the sky is always shown clear enough to allow for Kiddush levana to be recited.[437] Some depictions of moon divination on Hoshana Rabbah have been misattributed to Kiddush levana by reference works.[434]
Kiddush levana appeared on many fin de siècle holiday cards, and on a 2016 Russian postage stamp.[439] Notable modern artists have depicted Kiddush levana, including Yitzhak Frenkel,[440] Joseph Budko, Max Weber,[105] Lionel S. Reiss[441] Emanuel Glicen Romano,[442] Hendel Lieberman,[443] Zalman Kleinman,[444] Moshe Castel[445] Zvi Malnovitzer,[446] Elena Flerova,[447] Jerzy Duda-Gracz,[448] Boris Shapiro,[449][450] Reuven Rubin, Haim Goldberg, Tadeusz Popiel, Hermann Junker, Jacob Steinhardt, and Artur Markowicz. One 1904 text of Kiddush levana from Isfahan is decorated with depictions of saint-graves in Israel and Iran, including the tomb attributed to Serah, which Iranian Jews used as a protective charm.[451]
In 1986, Menahem Berman created Hallelujah, being a clock for Kiddush levana, which is an electronic device that displays the current moon phase by illuminating one of 30 masked lenses on a silver dial.[452] Psalm 148 is engraved on its base in Merubah, a late 18th-century prayerbook typeface.[453]
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".[253][454]
A selection of out-of-copyright works is available in the §Gallery, below.
Folklore
Many Jewish folktales are told about Kiddush levana. In the most popular of all Wise Men of Chelm stories, adapted from a Schildbürger narrative about the sun, the Chelmites attempt to capture the moon in a barrel after clouds prevent them from reciting Kiddush levana for several months.[455] Other folktales describe miracles which allowed the ritual to be performed:[456]
- Hasidim say that when Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin was arrested on the order of the czar, he was placed in an impregnable fortress, but when the time arrived for the monthly blessing of the new moon, he would elude his guards by simply walking past them uprightly, perform the religious duty, and return to his cell.[457]
- It happened when Meir of Tiktin was going to sanctify the New Moon on the night after Yom Kippur, he and his rabbinical court. At the very moment the sky covered with clouds and the moon could not be seen at all. For a long time he and his court on his right and on his left were standing amazed and struck with awe. And then, all of a sudden, the sound of his beautiful voice could be heard; let's realize the power of Heaven! Meir and his court are standing and the silence is interrupted by a gust of strong wind, the sky brightens and the moon appears again, as bright as ever, to throw light on the earth. At the very moment the above gaon thanked Heaven with a eulogy and filled with great joy began to chant Birkat halevana.[458]
- It was the last night in which the moon could be sanctified, but it was covered with clouds. Meir of Premishlan turned to his followers. "How did the Jews recite Kiddush levana in the desert?" he asked. "Their camp was covered by the Clouds of Glory." His followers sensed that his question was rhetorical and remained silent. Meir soon continued. "Moshe Rabbeinu took a handkerchief, waved it at the position in the sky where the moon would be located, and the clouds parted." And Reb Meir took out his own handkerchief, waved it at the clouds, and they too moved apart, revealing the full moon.[16]
- Once Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin wanted to recite Kiddush levana, but he was too old and weak to reach a window which looked out at the moon. Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov performed a miracle and moved the moon to within view.[459] Another version has Isaiah Weltfrajd do the same.[460]
- A king had decreed that the Jews were to stop this saying "Long live David, King of Israel" during Kiddush levana. He dreamed he was chasing a deer which lured him far into the forest. Exhausted, he reached a hut in which a group of Jews was dining. He was very hungry but was given a piece of bread only after he had cancelled in writing the decree against the blessing of the new moon. On awakening he heard the Jews singing "Long live David, King of Israel". Angrily rushing outside, he was greeted by the rabbi who showed him the cancellation of the decree in his own handwriting. The king also found a piece of bread in his pocket. (Mot. F 1068)[461][462][463] A more complicated version is told of Menahem Recanati.[464][465][466]
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".[467] Juspa Hahn (1570–1637) tells a similar story in the name of "Aaron of Posen".[362]
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".[468][469] Hermann Schapira writes sarcastically, "The Hasidic rabbi cannot recite 'Just as a jump but do not reach you . . .' with his followers, for should he desire to touch the moon, he would of course be able to".[155]
The shamash holds a Kiddush levana text with attached candles (1744).
A prayerbook with extraordinarily large print for Kiddush levana (Hanover, 1863)
.JPG)
Kiddush levana letters
Kiddush levana is traditionally recited outside,[196][470] often with only the moon for light. Prayerbooks often set Kiddush levana in large type, in order to make it easier to read.[471][408][391] Historically, it was traditional in many places for Kiddush levana to be recited from memory,[207][112][s] or for one to recite it loudly on behalf of all.[472][473][474][244][50] In others, it was recited with the aid of handheld candles,[475] or the shamash would hold up a large board with the text of the liturgy.[476][t]
S. Y. Agnon describes (1935),
Of course, there were adults in Szybusz who were pro-Zionist themselves, attended every Zionist function, and held receptions, complete with coffee and cake, for visiting Zionist speakers, whom they then took to see the local sights, such as the Great Synagogue with its sun, moon, and twelve signs of the zodiac painted on its ceiling, and its copper lantern, etched in whose glass panels was the blessing for the New Moon . . .[477]
A similar object sat on a special stand outside the synagogue of Kamianka (image right).[478] In Brody, 1844,
A tall structure in the form of a typical synagogue lectern was placed in the middle of the street, with parchment tablets attached to it, on which the entire ritual of the Kiddush levana could be read in large Hebrew square letters. The tablets were illuminated by several lanterns, so that one could read the content from a considerable distance.[119]
When the first gas lamp was installed in Skala, it was used for Kiddush levana.[479] 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".[480] 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".[253] Most of the signs include the name of their donor.[481]
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.[482][483] By the First Aliyah, even secular Jews understood the term.[484]
Other synagogues distribute laminated cards with the liturgy.[485] Oversized printing of Kiddush levana has become less common since the advent of electric lighting.[486] 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".[487][488]
Comparative religion
Summarize
Perspective
Analogues to Kiddush levana have been found in many other cultures, going back to ancient times.[489] The Lemba shave early for the new moon, which Deborah Grenn-Scott compares to Kiddush levana.[490] Geoffrey Stern compares the shalom aleikhem element to the Salah in Islam,[491] and Heinrich Speyer compares the blessing to Quran 25:62.[492] Angelika Neuwirth suggests that Kiddush levana influenced the author of the Throne Verse.[93]
"On a night when the new moon is visible, when she dangles like a golden earring from the dusky face of the Krishna-blue sky—now and then veiled by the chiffon-softness of floating clouds—a group of elongated shadowy silhouettes are seen dancing as they chant . . . Suddenly a strong gust of wind blows upon their kaftans and they become winged Chagall-like creatures soaring heavenwards on shimmering rays of blue mingling with silver".
Hadassah (March 1963). "Dance Themes of Hassidism and Hinduism". Dance Observer. Vol. 30. p. 37.
Susan Gillingham compares Kiddush levana to the Christmas liturgy in Roman Catholicism,[493] and Hadassah likens Hasidic dancing during Kiddush levana to Hindu mudras.[494] Israel Zolli compares the shalom aleikhem to Essene practices described by Josephus.[30]
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".[495] Géza Róheim compares Kiddush levana to several different African practices, classifying it generally as "Hamitic".[496]
Morris Jastrow Jr. and Kaufmann Kohler compare Kiddush levana to the practices of Arabian tribes.[497][498] 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".[499] The Jebeliya still follow this custom,[500] and among the Ruwallah, "If they sight the new moon they show him to each other and raise their hands to him, crying: "O thou new moon O lord! O our benefactor! O powerful new moon O thou, who savedst us (from an attack) this (month) just passed, wilt surely save us also in that which is now beginning".[501] Another liturgy was recorded in Morocco.[30][502]
Many scholars compare Kiddush levana to Zoroastrian rituals.[503][504][505][506][507][48][508][509][510] 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.[511] 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".[512]
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)".[513] 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".[514] Other German folk customs compared to Kiddush levana include liturgies to the moon for curing ailments[115] and greetings.[30] 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".[515]
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".[516] Gershom Scholem explains, "This is the observance of the Sanctification of the (New) Moon . . ."[517] 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.'"[518][519] Szekler Sabbatarians had a "New Moon song" which was recited while looking up at the sky. Its phrasing has been compared to Kiddush levana.[520]
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).[521] 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.[522] 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."[523]
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".[524]
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."[525] 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.'"[526]
Gallery
Manuscript illuminations (1300–1600)
1393, by Abraham ben Samuel of Wenigerode
1589, in the Nuremberg Miscellany
15th century (Italy), by "Isaac"
15th century (Italy)
1478-1480,[527] in the Rothschild Miscellany
1480 (Mantua), by Abraham Farissol
15th century (Italy)
1490s (Florence), by Giovanni di Giuliano Boccardi, "one of the last representatives of the golden age of Florentine renaissance illumination"[528]
15th century (Italy)
1512 (Ferrara), by Moses ben Hayyim Aqrish[w]
1520 (Italy), text by Moshe ben Hayyim Aqrish[530]
Woodcuts (1525–1775)
1526, in the Prague Haggadah
1560 (Mantua)
1601 (Venice). This haggadah reuses the same woodcut to depict Pharaoh's astrologers and Terah.
1593 (Venice)[x]
1601 (Venice)
1662 (Amsterdam)
1690 (Frankfurt am Main)
1692 (Dyhernfurth)
1707 (Amsterdam)
1707 (Frankfurt an der Oder)
1708 (Frankfurt am Main)
1715 (Frankfurt am Main)
1722 (Frankfurt am Main)
1724 (Amsterdam)
1768 (Amsterdam)
1775 (Amsterdam)
Engravings (1685–1800)
1687, with watercolors
1726
1726, following Yom Kippur
1738 sketch (Mainz) by Juspe ben Meir Schmalkalden, apparently after an engraving[y]
1748, by Gottfried Eichler
Revival illuminations (1712–1800)
18th-century
1714, by Aaron ben Moses of Novardok
1717 (Amsterdam)
1717
1719 (Prague?), by Meshullam ben Moshe, "Zimmel of Polin"
18th-century
18th-century, with zodiac[z]
1722
1722 (Moravia), by Nathan ben Samson [of Mezhyrich]
1723, by Moses ben Wolf of Trebitsch
Undated, by Moses ben Wolf of Trebitsch
1723 (Amsterdam?)
1724 (Vienna)[533]
1727, by Nathan ben Samson of Mezhyrich.
18th-century (damaged)
1728, by Nathan ben Samson of Mezhyrich
1728
1736 (Mannheim), by Simhah Pihem Segal
1737
1738 (Fürth).
1738
1739[534]
18th-century
1743 (Italy), by Jacob ben Joseph Conegliano
1744
1748, by Jacob and Israel Shamash
1752
1767 (Nancy), by Levi Offenbach
1768 (Nancy), by Levi Offenbach
1775 (Hildesheim), by Wolf Leib Katz Poppers
1787 (Rotterdam), by Abraham Ziskind Weisna[535]
1793 (Fürth)
18th-century
1795 (Amsterdam)
Undated
.jpg){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
_Wolf_Leib_Katz_Poppers_kiddush_levana.png){kind=small}
Postcards (1875–1925)
Williamsburg Art Co., New York. (printed in Germany)[536]
by Friedrich Kaskeline[537]
c. 1910,[538] by Jacob Keller (United States)
c. 1900, by Haim Goldberg (Austria)
1903[539]
1905 postcard, by Tadeusz Popiel (Lviv)
c. 1920, by Friedrich Kaskeline[540]
Artwork
Blessing of the New Moon (1883) by Alphonse Levy.[aa]
Blessing of the New Moon (1886) by Hermann Junker. Moses Mendelssohn, Leopold Kompert and James de Rothschild are seen in Frankfurt.[541]
1903 chalk drawing by Karl Pelzenhardt
Painting by Bentzion Sokiranski (1887–1953)
Etching by Joseph Budko (1888–1940)
Moon Prayer (1919) by Stanisław Bender[ab]
Birkat halevana (1920) by Jacob Steinhardt. Woodcut.
Birkat halevana (1920) by Jacob Steinhardt. Graphite, watercolor, and ink on paper.
Levona benschen (1920) by Jacob Steinhardt. Oil on canvas.[542]
Blessing the New Moon (1922), by Lionel S. Reiss. Etching.
Kiddush levana (1923) by Reuven Rubin. Woodcut. A man jumps toward the moon, which is full to represent "May it be your will for the moon to wax . . ."[543]
Kiddush levana (1929), by Moshe Appelbaum. Painting.
1933, by Artur Markowicz
New Moon (1940), by Imre Ámos. Lino-cut. 34 x 27 cm.
_-_Musée_d'art_et_d'histoire_du_Judaïsme.jpg)
Photographs
A poster used by the Cochin Jewish community in Nevatim
Beit Rachel Synagogue, in the Knesset Aleph neighborhood of Nahlaot
Mikveh Israel Synagogue
.JPG)
See also
Notes
- Hebrew: קידוש לבנה, qidduš ləḇānā, Sanctification of the Moon and Hebrew: ברכת הלבנה, birkath haləḇānā, Blessing of the Moon). Also called Kiddush hachodesh (קידוש החודש), Birkat hachodesh (ברכת החודש), and Birkat hayare'ach (ברכת הירח).[1] Today, Birkat hachodesh more often refers to the announcement of the molad on the previous Shabbat morning. Romaniote Jews referred to this other ceremony as Kiddush Yarcha.[2]
- See Sperber, Daniel (1990). "Bedikat hatzel le-or hayareiach beleil Hoshana rabbah". Minhagei Yisrael (in Hebrew). Vol. 6. Mosad Harav Kook. pp. 179–180 n. 24, accessed on Otzar Hachochma (by subscription) on January 22, 2025. Compare discussion of a similar image (1589) in MS Nuremberg Oct. Hs. 7058 at Feuchtwanger-Sarig, Naomi (2021). Thy Father's Instruction, p. 207.
- Hebrew: לבנה בגבורתה, romanized: lǝbānâ bigbûrātāh, perhaps lit. "the moon in its strength". See Lieberman, Saul (2001) [1954]. Tosefta kefshuta, t. Berakhot 6:6, accessed on Sefaria on March 20, 2025. Also interpreted as "the full moon" by Schwarz, Jacob D. (1906). The New Moon Benediction. Hebrew Union College (Thesis). pp. 3–4, accessed on HUC Library on January 22, 2025. Bialik, Hayim Nahman (1929). Sefer ha-aggada (in Hebrew). Vol. 4. Devir. p. 420. Rabinowitz, Zev Wolf. "Sha'arei Torat Eretz Yisrael (1940) on Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:2:13:1". Sefaria. Retrieved 2024-12-12. Ginzberg, Louis (1941). Perushim vehiddushim beyerushalmi. Vol. 1. p. 24 n. 28. Gandz, Solomon (1954). "The Benediction over the Luminaries and the Stars". The Jewish Quarterly Review. 44 (4), p. 307, JSTOR 1452803 (subscription required), accessed February 16, 2025. Zeitlin, Solomon (1957). Review of The Tosefta, by S. Lieberman. The Jewish Quarterly Review. 47 (4), p. 397. JSTOR 1453106 (subscription required), accessed February 16, 2025. Reimund, Leicht (2011). "The Beginnings of Jewish Astrology". Continuity and Innovation in the Magical Tradition. p. 281. But compare Roth, Abraham Naftali Zvi (1967). "Kiddush levana" (in Hebrew). Yeda Am. Vol. 12 [misprinted 13]. p. 4, who follows an alternate religious interpretation.
- Originally the entire service was recited while facing the moon. 16th-century Kabbalists considered the moon too holy to be observed and revived Meir Abulafia's thirteenth-century injunction against looking at it, only allowing even one reciting Kiddush levana to look at the moon for a moment before beginning the service. Later authorities also justified this change as lessening the appearance of idolatry. Roth, Abraham Naftali Zvi (1967). "Kiddush levana" (in Hebrew). Yeda Am. Vol. 12 [misprinted 13]. pp. 4–5. On the promulgation of this ban, see also Ta-Shma, Israel (1968). "Yetzirato hasifrutit shel R. Meir Abulafia" (in Hebrew). Kirjath Sepher. Vol 44. p. 430. Retrieved January 30, 2025 – via NLI. Liberman, Khayim (1971). "Defusei Korets". Sinai. 68 (3–4). pp. 182–189.
- Hebrew: סימן טוב, romanized: siman tov. The words "u-mazel tov" (Hebrew: ומזל טוב) were added to Kiddush levana much later. The history of that addition is traced in Kellerman, Aaron (2024). "Mazel tov: Leverur migvan hashimushim be'ikhul shel berakha" (in Hebrew). Hemda'at. Vol. 17. pp. 67–70. Retrieved January 30, 2024 via Hemdat. Today this line is very commonly sung to congratulate others on any joyous announcement or occasion.
- "Blessed be your Creator . . ." was modified to spell JACOB by acrostic at an early date (see ed. Higger, accessed on Hebrewbooks on January 19, 2025, p. 339; Arian (1979), p. 32, Baer, Seligman (1901), Seder Avodat Yisrael. p. 339.; cf. Reifmann (1845), pp. 26–28; Rapoport, Solomon Judah (1913). Toledot. p. 227, accessed on Google Books on January 29, 2025), attested already by MS ex-Montefiore 134 f. 118v (c. 1275), Meir of Rothenburg (d. 1293), Minhagim p. 17, accessed on Hebrewbooks on January 8, 2025, by some versions of the Tur OC 246 (c. 1340), accessed on Sefaria on January 8, 2025, and by David Abudarham 1:8:27 (fl. 1340), accessed on Sefaria on January 8, 2025. Rothenburg explains that "Jacob is etched in the moon" while Abudarham explains that "Jacob is compared to the moon". Rothenburg is certainly not referring to Amar adonai leyaaqov, as imagined by Feuchtwanger-Sarig, Naomi (2021). Thy Father's Instruction. p. 207. Many interpretations are discussed in Perez, Michael, Otzar hapsakim: Rosh chodesh uvirkat halevana (2004), accessed on Hebrewbooks on January 8, 2025, pp. 27–32. According to Baer, followed by Jacob D. Schwarz, it was based on comparison to Isaiah 43:1, "Who created you, Jacob, and formed you, Israel", and Leviticus Rabbah 36:4, accessed on Sefaria on January 8, 2025, and the original was in that order, or even had only those two verbs. Schwarz, Jacob D. (1906). The New Moon Benediction. Hebrew Union College (Thesis), accessed on HUC Library on January 22, 2025. Compare the alternate proposal at Weinstein, Moshe Shmuel (משו"ש) (November 25, 1870). "Birkat hahodesh II". Jbri Anochi (in Hebrew). 4 (8): 63–64. See also Arian (1979), pp. 78–79, 101. and Wolfson, Eliot R. (1995). Along the Path. pp. 1–62, 146–147. and Wolfson, Eliot R. (1997). Seductiveness of Jewish Myth. pp. 235–270. A different order of the text is proposed by Kabbalists, designed to reflect the Four Worlds; see Azulai, Hayyim David Yosef (1807). Seder avodah avodat haqodesh, accessed on Google Books on January 19, 2025. p. 25, where this version is rejected.
- According to Israeli Zolli, this greeting was originally directed at the moon instead. Ibid. (1935). "La Luna Nel Pensiero e Nella Prassi Religiosa Del Popolo Ebreo". Lares. 3 (3/4). pp. 38–40. Retrieved March 16, 2025. JSTOR 26237915
- See also Zoller, Israel (1935). "La Luna Nel Pensiero e Nella Prassi Religiosa Del Popolo Ebreo". Lares. 3 (3/4). pp. 36-37. Retrieved March 16, 2025 - via JSTOR.
- Compare his commentary to Exodus 12:2. Retrieved January 30, 2025 – via Sefaria.
- Isserles cites Bahya who explains that when David melekh yisrael chai veqayyam is used as a cipher for the new month declaration in the Talmud[86] this is because "the House of David descends from Peretz, and Peretz corresponds to the moon". Other explanations include: that David himself corresponds to the moon,[87] that the gematriya of the phrase is 819, equal to that of rosh chodesh,[88] that it alludes to Ps. 89:36–38,[89] or that it references a legend that the calendar system was established by David.[90] According to Isserles, reciting it signifies that "David's kingdom, like the moon, will renew itself in the future." See: Arian (1979), pp. 79–80. Scholem, Gershom (1937). "She'elot utshuvot hameyuhasot leRabbi Yosef Gikatilla". Emet leYaakov: Sefer yovel Jacob Freimann. p. 167 n. 12, accessed on Hebrew Books on March 11, 2025. See also reference, below, regarding Psalm 67.
- Unknowingly followed by the Conservative Siddur Sim Shalom (1985). Rubinstein, Jeffrey (Fall 1988). Conservative Theology. 41 (1). pp. 34–35. Retrieved January 9, 2025 - via Internet Archive.
- A Jewish settlement in or near modern Sighetu Marmației. See Gross, Shlomo-Yaakov (1983). Sefer Maramures. p. 24. Accessed on January 20, 2025 via HebrewBooks. A translation is available here, accessed on January 20, 2025 through the Yizkor Book Project.
- An aphorism regarding the constellations, commonly attributed to the Talmud (cf. Talmud Bavli Chullin 91b, viewed on Sefaria on January 9, 2025, and Rashi's commentary ad loc, viewed on Sefaria on January 9, 2025). A similar phrase is found in Hekhalot Rabbati 9:3, viewed on Maagarim on January 9, 2025, and Eichah Rabbah 2:2, viewed on Maagarim on January 9, 2025, but no homily containing the exact phrase is found in any text except Jacob Sikilli's Yalkut Talmud Torah (14th century), which presents it as a quotation from the Midrash Yelammedenu, although it is cited by earlier medievals, including Ibn Ezra (Deut. 32:8, accessed on Sefaria on January 8, 2025) and Ezra of Gerona (Introduction to Canticles, accessed on Sefaria on January 8, 2025). See Hanoch Albeck's Bereishit Rabbah (1936) p. 788 and notes. Sikilli's version of the Yelammedenu is said to be post-Islamic with later insertions. See Posnanski, Samuel (1912), "On the Talmud Torah Collection of Jacob beRabbi Hananel Sikilli" (in Hebrew), in Hatzofeh me-eretz hager vol. III p. 19, and Mann, Jacob (1940), The Bible As Read and Preached in the Old Synagogue, English pagination, p. 28, Hebrew pagination, pp. 171, 316. According to Abraham Naftali Zvi Roth, this homily was the original justification for the Kabbalistic ban on looking at the moon (see note, above). Roth, Abraham Naftali Zvi (1967). "Kiddush levana" (in Hebrew). Yeda Am. Vol. 12 [misprinted 13]. p. 5. Similarly, in many versions the liturgy "Blessed be your Creator . . ." has been modified to spell JACOB by acrostic. See note, above, and Meir ibn Gabbai (1560) [1507]. Tola'at Yaaqov. f. 55r. Retrieved January 20, 2025 – via HebrewBooks.
- Eleanor Davis notes that Elbogen (p. 125; trans. Scheindlin (1993) p. 105) misattributed the Yerushalmi's discussion to Rosh Chodesh Mussaf, apparently in complete ignorance of Kiddush levana. Davis, Eleanor (March 2024). Renewing the New Moon: Kiddush levanah and Progressive Judaism. Leo Baeck College (MA thesis). p. 23 n. 48. Elbogen's later Encyclopaedia Judaica was meant to contain an article on the subject, but never reached M for "Mondbenediktion" due to the Holocaust.
- See also version with superimposed image here (Retrieved March 23, 2025 - via Wayback Machine).
- In the comedy Reb Jone: Lustspiel in fünf Aufzügen (1864) by P. Schwarz, the shamash has a special lantern for Kiddush levana, decorated with a magen david, and a "hexagonal Kiddush levana cap with silver tassels".
- Compare e.g. the unfinished illumination at MS Kaufmann A 388 vol. I f. 90r (c. 1270-1290). Retrieved 9 March, 2025 - via Dávid Kaufmann. Worms Mahzor f. 26v (c. 1272-1280).
- For an undecorated Kiddush levana by the same scribe, see MS Kaufmann A380 f. 50r. This scribe refers to his father by the well-wishing ישר״ו, indicating that he was still alive when the latter manuscript was completed in 1481. "Mattityahu" and "Abraham" were traditional names in the famous Trèves rabbinical family; see Horowitz, Yehoshua (2007). "Treves". Encyclopedia Judaica. 2nd edition. pp. 134-135.
- This image has been reinterpreted in Mark Podwal's Blessing the New Moon, a digitial archival pigment print on paper. See here. Retrieved March 6, 2025 - via Skirball Museum.
- The same scribe is known from two other illuminated books, MSS Library of Congress 229, dated 1745, and Israel Museum B84.0907, undated. Neither contains Kiddush levana, perhaps because they were intended for women. See Brener, Ann (November 13, 2020). "Portrait of the Artist as Rain(bow) Maker: Joseph ben Meir Schmalkalden". 4 Corners of the World: International Collections at the Library of Congress. Retrieved 3-23-2025. Republished with additional content in Ibid. (2024). "Portrait of the Artist as Rain(bow) Maker: A Miniature Prayerbook from Germany". Books Like Sapphires: From the Library of Congress Judaica Collection. Brandeis University Press. pp. 166-176.
- "By its very nature, the Blessing of the Moon was a subject that invited zodiac illustration . . . In this manuscript, a product of German-Jewish culture, the illustrator did not avoid drawing the human form, and he may have copied the zodiac signs from a printed German mahzor". Fishof, Iris (ed.) (2001). Written in the Stars. p. 72. Reproduced on the same page is "Broadsheet with the Blessing of the Moon. Illuminated parchment manuscript 70 x 68 cm. Poland, 1850. The Israel Museum, 177/60. Gift of Victor Klagsbald, Paris." Described as "In 1850 a Jewish tailors' society in Poland commissioned a broadsheet with the Blessing of the Moon (Kiddush levanah), which the folk artist painted in an East European style reminiscent of the wooden synagogue decoration and incorporating the zodiac signs". See also Hachlili, Rachel (2013). Ancient Synagogues – Archaeology and Art. Brill. pp. 382–385.
- Published as an etching in L'Univers illustré on 13 October 1883, accessed on MAHJ on March 16, 2025, and reviewed by Hippolyte Prague in Archives israélites on 18 October (Vol. XLIV. p. 335. Retrieved on January 19, 2025 – via Google Books).
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