Since August, a group of Jewish women in southern New Jersey have gathered on the night of the new moon for spiritual renewal and to share their stories, Light said. Women from four area synagogues, teens to seniors, attend. The ritual usually centers on the Jewish holiday that occurs in the coming month.
Rosh Chodesh, as the new moon is called in Hebrew, was said to have been given to women as a reward because they refused to turn over their jewelry for making the Golden Calf, Idie Benjamin, 48, of Northfield, told about 20 women gathered for the new moon of the Hebrew month of Kislev.
"Because it's a women's holiday, we don't know what the women did," Benjamin said. "Women's history isn't written down. Men's history is written down."
Whatever the women actually did, men eventually complained, Benjamin said. There are Jewish records indicating rabbis were upset that women did no work on the new moon, and their husbands went without a home-cooked supper.
Jewish women started reinventing the new moon ritual with the rise of the feminist movement in the 1970s, Benjamin said. Each group decides for itself how it will celebrate.
The southern New Jersey rituals are put together by a planning committee consisting of women from four different synagogues, Light said. That in itself is an accomplishment, bringing members of different congregations together for a common purpose, she said.
For the Kislev ritual, the women sat in a circle in a darkened room at Congregation Beth El in Margate. A candle floating in a bowl of water in the center provided a bit of light.
The ritual began with singing and some poems about the moon, the oncoming winter and spiritual renewal. Together, the women recited a Hebrew blessing thanking God for making them female - in stark contrast to a blessing said daily by, Orthodox Jewish men, thanking God "who has not made me a woman."
Benjamin told the story of Hanukkah, which begins the night of Dec. 9, dispelling some of the myths most of the women learned in childhood. Brought down to basics, Hanukkah celebrates the world's first struggle for religious freedom, she said.
"It is the first time people stood up and said 'What we believe is crucial and you can not take that away from us,"' she said.
Women were then asked to recall a time they were refreshed and renewed. The responses brought about a brief discussion about women learning to take care of themselves and speak their minds, while resisting the stereotype of the domineering Jewish mother.
The women say they'll keep coming back.
Erica Spatz, 17, of Margate, said she enjoys hearing how some of the older women struggled to find themselves and a new role. And when they talk about hopes for their children, they all look at her because she's the same age.
"I like the quietness," said Louise Lipka, 67, of Margate. "It has a calming effect, and I need it."
And it's nice for women to express their feelings and opinions when their husbands aren't around, Lipka added.
What form the rituals will take is up to the women involved, Light said. Everyone who comes has input into the planning process.
"It will just take on its own life and its own course," Benjamin added.
To return to the beginning of this article click here For more information on the Rosh Chodesh group, call Adria Light at (609) 822-1108.