Rosh Chodesh means the Head of the Month.  This month in the Jewish Calendar is Nissan and began after the stars came out Tuesday, April 5th, 2011.    In Shemot or Exodus we learn, "And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: ‘This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.’" (12:1-2)   This Rosh Chodesh is also the beginning of the spiritual year.

The Jewish Calendar is unlike other modern calendars which have arbitrarily set 30/31 days or 28/29 days for the months lengths with a leap year to compensate. It is lunar or moon based while most other calendars are solar or sun based. There is a  lunar leap month added in on a regular basis to account for the fractional days and months. Here is a calendar showing the Hebrew and English dating The month of Nissan.

The Jewish calendar is based on three things which are independent of each other. First is the rotation of the Earth about its axis, a day.  Second is the revolution of the moon about the Earth, a month.  The moon revolves around the Earth in about 29½ days. Third is the revolution of the Earth about the sun, a year. The Earth revolves around the Sun in about 365¼ days, that is, about 12.4 lunar months.

The observation of a new moon was required to be independently verified by three people in ancient days before three trained judges that would then gather and examine the evidence much like evidence is examined in court cases.  It was on 1 Nissan that the mitzvot or commandment to mark the new month, set apart time and sanctifying it, was given to the people.  Time is a gift to be noticed and used carefully because we cannot regain it once it is gone.  It is an nonrenewable resource.  This makes our use of time part of HaShem’s relationship to us in our lives which are time bound.

The month of Nissan is a checkered flag saying start your engines, Pesach is near, be ready for it.  It gives us time to prepare our homes, to prepare our hearts, to prepare our spirit and mind, to prepare the meal and gathering for the retelling of our story of exodus from slavery.  Each holy day in Judaism is not to be a remember, but to be a retelling and a re-experiencing anew of the holy day, now, in our lives.  It is an opportunity to clean our homes of chametz, of leavening agents, to experience a leaving something behind that is restraining a fuller walk before HaShem and a practice that supports the level of observance one is choosing.  Growing in observance is how most of those who did not grow up in observance learn it slowly.  It is adding mitzvot as they are learned and understood as become part of daily practice or habit.

The checkered flag is a shofar or ram’s horn which is blown to mark the official coming of each new month or Rosh Chodesh.  In Talmudic times women were exempt from working on Rosh Chodesh.  The explanation by the rabbis of this is when the gold was collected for the golden calf the women refused to give their gold jewelry to their husbands.  By this decision and  act women were linked to the observance of the new moon and that their strength be renewed as the moon was renewed.  Today women gather to welcome Rosh Chodesh in a variety of manners.  In synagogues Rosh Chodesh is welcomed with blessings which differ depending on what day of the week Rosh Chodesh falls upon that month.

Sanctifying time is a commandment give to us.  Time is something we all have.  It is a resource common to all tho it is not a respecter of person.  HaShem created a world and mankind in time.  It is our responsibility to count it, mark it, respect it and use it wisely honoring our Creator in our lives.