Rosh Chodesh Tevet 5786

 

The Hebrew Month of Tevet

This month begins with the last days of Chanukah.

Tevet is one of the three months in the year when we refrain from traveling or undertaking new projects, because during these months, the protection of the Shechinah is somewhat limited. The other two months are Tammuz and (the first half of) Av. I learned this by personal experience! (You can read the story in an earlier blog, which recounts my trip to Cape Town to meet Rabbi Shapira a couple of years ago).

    In greeting my friends this morning, I was able to say:

Boqer Tov!

Shavu'a Tov!

Rosh Chodesh Tevet Tov!

Hag Hanukkah Sameach!

And I say the same to you!  May your day, week, month & year be especially blessed.

    

    As we finished Shacharit this morning, I got up and walked through to the kitchen and found myself, out of the joy in my heart, composing a little rhyme:

    

    Thank You LORD for this beautiful new day,

    Perfectly balanced in every way!

    I said it in Hebrew, starting with the universal בַרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה but it just didn't sound the same - and it didn't rhyme! Nevertheless, I am thankful that HaShem gave me my own blessing for the day in my home language! 

    This month, like all other months that HaShem has given us, is unique and special and powerful in its own way. Instead of repeating information that has already been provided by teachers who know much more than I do, I will share some links for you to explore if you so desire. There is always so much to learn.

    * Something - quite a lot! - to read:

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2263466/jewish/Tevet.htm

    * Something to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4JM9P8DsgI

    Just for good measure, I will throw in something about Zot Hanukkah, the 8th day of Hanukkah:

https://www.atzmut.org/zot-chanuka/

    And last, but not least, here is something about the month of Tevet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4JM9P8DsgI

    I have four new project ideas up on my To Do Wall, three of them new and one of them has been idling for some time. Since we are not supposed to start anything new this month, it's easy for me to choose which one to work on first! More about that later!

    May we all walk in the daily burden of HaShem's blessings!