Rosh Chodesh, or the New Moon, brings a new opportunity to worship God. God offers us another opportunity to walk in the joy of His teachings, because His words written in the Torah are inseparable from the life of a Jew. This opportunity comes once a month at Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh literally means head of the month, which begins at the time of the new moon. The word chodesh, meaning month, is the same at its root as the word that means new (chadash).

During the Temple days, Rosh Chodesh was kept as other major feast days. It was a time of sacrificing, rejoicing and rest from work. During the 16th century, Rosh Chodesh was sometimes called “Yom Kippur katan” (the little day of Atonement) and became a day of fasting, self-reflection and prayerful examination of the previous month along with a renewing of the individual’s commitment to God for the month ahead. Today in Judaism, Rosh Chodesh has been reduced to less than a minor feast with only a small prayer or mention during the services. Some synagogues read the Maftir from Numbers 28:9-15 and Haftarah from Isaiah 66:1-24, during the Shabbat's morning Torah service. The reason given for the diminishing celebration of Rosh Chodesh is that after the destruction of the Temple the sacrificial system ended. But this is not a satisfactory answer, because we still observe Yom Kippur and Pesach, both of which center on sacrifices.

Apart from sacrifices and rest, we are told little in Scripture of how to observe Rosh Chodesh — except for sounding the shofar (Ps. 81:3). Why not gather together at the beginning of each month to worship and sound the shofar and to rejoice in God's provision of a new beginning? We, as Messianic believers, understand the blessings and promises attached to God's teachings. These promises are given to those who serve and obey with a pure heart and a desire to dwell within the covering of His will. Rosh Chodesh provides Messianic believers with a rare opportunity to set an example to the Jewish community. Each month we can establish Rosh Chodesh as a major part of our lives and an important event within the Messianic community. We can invite friends and family as we serve a God of memorials, times and seasons. Some things are good not because they are better, but because they stayed the same. Rituals are cyclic, redundant, dynamic and equilibrious. They counteract the slow erosions of time and become the loci of enduring values.

Each feast, established by God, brings us into a time of fellowship with each other, as a nation, as a community, as a congregation and with our God. Each month as we observe Rosh Chodesh, the festival will build our vision as believers in Messiah and provide a time of unity and strengthening for our congregations.