JHOM - Moon - editor

The sages taught: He who sees the sun starting on its new cycle [of twenty-two years], the moon in its power [in the spring equinox when it cases extraordinarily powerful tides], the planets in their orbits, and the signs of the zodiac in their orderly progress should say,"Blessed be He who wrought the work of creation."[1]

R. Simeon bar Yohai said: We do not know whether the sun and the moon fly through the air, glide across the firmament, or have a regular route assigned to them. It is an exceedingly difficult matter, and no person can fathom it. [2]

Dear readers,

This August, the northern hemisphere witnessed a total solar eclipse — the last eclipse of this millennium. The path of the totality (where the moon totally covered the sun) passed from Britain in the west, through Europe, and reached the Middle East. Here in Israel, where we observed an 80% eclipse, the JHOM staff went outside and saw hundreds of magnificent crescent-shaped patterns under the shade of the tree, caused by the light of the partially blocked sun.

Because an eclipse occurs only when the moon is new, this event (which may occur a few times a year) always corresponds with the end of one Hebrew month, and the beginning of a new one. And so the Hebrew month of Elul, which began the day after the eclipse, is the perfect time to ponder the moon. And for other reasons as well: During Temple times, messengers would travel from Jerusalem to the Diaspora to announce the date of the new moon of Elul, so that the following new moon, Rosh Hashanah (the month of Tishrei), could be accurately determined.

Given the many facets and phases of the moon, lunar associations were many and varied. From earliest times, a vital connection was realized between a woman=s monthly menstrual cycle and the waxing and waning of the moon; the moon was thought to influence fertility, and women wore moon-shaped pendants. [3]

The moon is also seen as a symbol of permanence,[4] its regular appearance regarded as one of those benefits for which praise and thanksgiving should be given to God; a blessing is thus recited during the period of the moon's waxing. At the same time, moon worship was always strictly forbidden in Jewish tradition, even in ancient times when the moon was widely regarded as a deity throughout the Middle East. In later centuries, medieval Christians and Jews read bad omens in lunar eclipses, and believed that the moon had a powerful influence upon everyday, terrestrial phenomena.