New Moon
by Craig Taubman
May it be Your will, God my God,
And God of my ancestors,
That the coming month bring us peace,
Full life and blessing,
May the promise of Your New Moon
Fill us with wellbeing,
Guide us as we grow, Making us complete.
יהי רצון מלפנך יי אלוהינו ואלוהי אבותינו ואמותינו שתחדש עלינו את החודש הזה לטובה ולברכה.
Y'hi ratzon milfanecha Adonai Eloheinu v'Elohei avonteinu v'imoteinu shet'chadesh aleinu et hachodesh hazeh l'tovah v'livracha.
מישאשה נסים לאבותינו מישאשה נסים לאמותינו
Mishe'asah nisim l'avoteinu, Mishe'asah nisim l'imoteinu.
Opening Psalm for Rosh Chodesh
by Marcia Falk
Witnessing
Cypresses point to the night,
through clouds and beyond them.
We follow them up to the mountain
to stake our site.
We wait. The air is still.
The leaf, the branch, the bark–
our signposts in the darkness
of the hill.
And now the blade of night
gleams through the briars.
We gather twigs for the fires:
New Moon, old light.
Excerpted from The Book of Blessings: New Jewish Prayers for Daily Life, the Sabbath and the New Moon Festival; Harper, 1996; paperback edition, Beacon, 1999; copyright 1996 Marcia Lee Falk. The Book of Blessings includes an entire section of prayers for Rosh Chodesh eve and Rosh Chodesh morning as well as Kiddush Levanah.