{"id":414,"date":"2015-07-31T03:43:15","date_gmt":"2015-07-31T01:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/?p=414"},"modified":"2020-10-06T21:42:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T19:42:27","slug":"kiddush-levana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/31\/kiddush-levana\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiddush Levana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"half_moon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcoming the Shechinah<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Kiddush Levana<\/a> or Blessing of\u00a0the Moon (Birkat HaLevana) is seemingly small rabbinical mitzvah based on Talmud Sanhedrin:<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yohanan is quoted in the Gemara Sanhedrin 42a saying:\u00a0 “One who makes the blessing for the new moon in its proper time is considered as if he welcomed the Shechinah<\/strong><\/em><\/span>”<\/p>\n

Gemara is drawing a parallel between the physical moon on one side and Shechinah\/Jewish people on the other.<\/p>\n

Just like the physical moon is constantly going through the cycle of visible waxing and waning, so does Klal Isroel\/Shechina is always going through ups and downs, reflecting the G-d’s light more or less, channeling more Godliness into the world or less.<\/p>\n

Deeper meaning of\u00a0Kiddush Levana.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Here is more accurate translation of the this\u00a0verse from Gemara Sanhedrin. It helps us to grasp a\u00a0deeper meaning of the mitzvah Kiddush Levana:<\/p>\n

“One who makes the blessing for the new moon in its proper time is considered as if he received\/accepted<\/strong> the Shechinah\u201d.<\/p>\n

So rather than ambiguous \u201cgreeting\u201d, Kiddush Levana helps us to accept\/connect<\/strong>\u00a0to<\/strong> the Shechinah!<\/p>\n

When we do the\u00a0Kiddush Levana at the right time, being\u00a0in the state of love and joy, we\u00a0connect with the Shechinah to give it strength. Our focus on the mitzvah\u00a0allows Shechinah to affect our day-to-day life, filling in our material and spiritual lack. In other words, we benefit from boosted Hashgacha Pratit \u00a0– individual Divine Providence in our life.<\/p>\n

So \u201creceiving<\/strong>\u201d Shechinah as a consequence of Kiddush Levana is quite literal – one receives Shechinah into his life for\u00a0the month to follow.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgreeting<\/strong>\u201d translation is quite accurate as well.\u00a0The \u201cgreeting\u201d implies exchange of energy, exactly\u00a0what is happening during Kiddush Levana.<\/p>\n

Timing of the mitzvah.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

We can glean additional meaning of the mitzvah if we look closer into WHEN<\/strong>\u00a0we do\u00a0Kiddush Levana. According to Halachah, we do it\u00a0from the 7-th day to the 14.75 days of the lunar cycle. This means we only \u201cconnect\u201d while\u00a0the moon had reached certain maturity but is still growing .<\/p>\n

This timing allows us to \u201chitch the hike\u201d of the growth\/expansion energy radiated by the moon\/Shechinah.<\/p>\n

It also explains why, according to Halacha, one cannot make Kiddush Levana after the moon starts waning. We want to hitch a hike on the Chesed\/Expansion momentum of the first half of lunar month. After the 14.75 days of the moon cycle, however, the Moon radiates\u00a0Gevurah\/Contraction energy. Some\u00a0smartphone weather apps show moon phases as well as\u00a0exact time of the cycle, for example \u201cweather & clock widget\u201d for Android. If making your Kiddush Levana on 15-th, you should check that 14 days and 18 hours has\u00a0not yet passed.<\/p>\n

So this brief prayer service becomes very important factor when we\u00a0align our\u00a0life with the moadim<\/a> and zmanim<\/em><\/strong><\/span>. \u00a0Kiddush Levanah helps us to ride the “life” wave, not crash into it.<\/p>\n

See also the related topic on Rosh Chodesh<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Halachic details along with recommended Kavanot (intentions) – “Ben Ish Chai” on the Kiddush Levana<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Good in-depth article on Kiddush Levana<\/a> addressing other aspects of the mitzvah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcoming the Shechinah Kiddush Levana or Blessing of\u00a0the Moon (Birkat HaLevana) is seemingly small rabbinical mitzvah based on Talmud Sanhedrin: Rabbi Yohanan is quoted in the Gemara Sanhedrin 42a saying:\u00a0 “One who makes the blessing for the new moon in its proper time is considered as if he welcomed the ” Gemara is drawing a parallel between the physical moon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,41],"tags":[184,175,186,55,44,185],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":587,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions\/587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ish-tam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}