Siddur › Rosh Chodesh › Musaf
TT Siddur · Rosh Chodeshחַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ
On Rosh Chodesh we ask God to make the new month good for us.
Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.
Musaf on Rosh Chodesh has seven blessings. The middle one is about the day's offering, and this prayer is the end of it. The Rambam (Maimonides, the great codifier of Jewish law, died 1204) rules that this blessing closes with "who makes Israel holy, and the new moons."
Mishneh Torah, Laws of Prayer 2:10; Tur, Orach Chaim 423Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.
In the Musaf Amidah, after the verses about the Rosh Chodesh offerings:
אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, חַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ אֶת הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה
Our God and God of our fathers renew for us this month
Our God and God of our fathers, renew this month for us
Abudarham (a Spanish commentator on the prayers, about 1340) says "renew" echoes Eichah (Lamentations) 5:21: "renew our days as of old." In this siddur those are the last words said as the Torah goes back into the ark, just before Musaf.
Abudarham, Rosh Chodesh; Eichah 5:21לְטוֹבָה וְלִבְרָכָה, לְשָׂשׂוֹן וּלְשִׂמְחָה, לִישׁוּעָה וּלְנֶחָמָה, לְפַרְנָסָה וּלְכַלְכָּלָה, לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים וּלְשָׁלוֹם,
for good and blessing for joy and gladness for rescue and comfort for a living and support for a good life and peace
Abudarham finds a verse behind several of these words. Comfort: "Hashem has comforted Zion," Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 51:3, a verse that also holds "joy and gladness." Rescue: "Say to my soul, I am your rescue," Tehillim 35:3. Support: Nechemiah 9:21, "forty years You supported them."
Abudarham, Rosh Chodesh; Yeshayahu 51:3; Tehillim 35:3; Nechemiah 9:21לִמְחִילַת חֵטְא, וְלִסְלִיחַת עָוֹן,
for pardon of sin and forgiveness of wrongdoing
Three words for wrongdoing run through this line and the next: chet, avon, pesha. The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) defines them while discussing the Yom Kippur confession. A chet is a wrong done by accident, an avon is a wrong done on purpose, and a pesha is rebellion. The confession goes in that order, lightest first.
Yoma 36bLeap years only. This siddur says until Nisan; other places differ:
וּלְכַפָּרַת פֶּשַׁע.
and atonement for rebellion
One explanation: the twelve requests above match the twelve months, so a leap year, with its thirteenth month, adds a thirteenth. The Eliyah Rabbah (a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law, about 1700) only heard this reason and never saw it written. He also could not find the added words in Abudarham or anywhere else.
Eliyah Rabbah on Orach Chaim 423:6וִיהִי הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶה סוֹף וְקֵץ לְכָל צָרוֹתֵינוּ, תְּחִלָּה וָרֹאשׁ לְפִדְיוֹן נַפְשֵׁנוּ,
And may this month be an end and a finish to all our troubles a beginning and a head for the redemption of our soul
May this month be an end and a finish to all our troubles, and a beginning and a head of the redemption of our soul.
Abudarham says "our troubles" and "redemption of our soul" sit side by side because of Tehillim 25:22: "God, redeem Israel from all its troubles."
Abudarham, Rosh Chodesh; Tehillim 25:22כִּי בְעַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּחַרְתָּ מִכָּל הָאֻמּוֹת, וְחֻקֵּי רָאשֵׁי חֳדָשִׁים לָהֶם קָבָעְתָּ.
For Your people Israel You chose from all the nations and the laws of the new moons for them You set
For You chose Your people Israel from all the nations, and set the laws of the new moons for them.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, מְקַדֵּשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְרָאשֵׁי חֳדָשִׁים.
Blessed are You, Hashem who makes Israel holy and the new moons
A blessing is supposed to end on one idea, and this ending seems to name two: Israel and the new moons. The Gemara answers that it is one idea: "who makes Israel holy, and Israel are the ones who make the new moons holy." It reads the festival ending, "Israel and the festivals," the same way.
Berakhot 49aSaid in the Musaf Amidah of Rosh Chodesh. Many take off tefillin before Musaf (Shulchan Aruch 423:4). The Halacha section gives the reason and the exact moment.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 423:4The oldest copy we could open is in Machzor Vitry, a French prayer book from about 1100, by a student of Rashi (the great French commentator on the Torah and Gemara). It asks God to renew "this Rosh Chodesh day," not "this month." It adds relief and being saved to the list, and it has no "end of all our troubles" line. Shibbolei HaLeket (a 1200s Italian book of law) says some read "this month."
Machzor Vitry, Laws of Rosh Chodesh 232; Shibbolei HaLeket 176The prayer ends by saying Israel make the new moons holy. That was a real procedure. Witnesses came to the court and said they had seen the new moon. Rabban Gamliel (the head of the Sanhedrin, the high court) kept drawings of the moon's shapes on a tablet and on the wall of his attic. He would show them to ordinary witnesses and ask: did you see one like this, or like this?
Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 2:8In Birkat Hamazon (the blessings after a meal), on Rosh Chodesh you add one line: "May the Merciful One renew this month for us, for good and for blessing." It is the first request of this prayer. At the table it stands alone. Here it opens a longer list.
Birkat Hamazon, the Harachaman for Rosh ChodeshStart with the first commandment the Jewish people ever received. It is about the calendar. In Egypt, just before the Exodus, God says: "This month is for you, the first of the months" (Shemot 12:2). Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman, a Spanish Torah commentator who died in 1270) says plainly that this is the first commandment God gave Israel.
Rashi (the great French commentator on the Torah, who died in 1105) opens his commentary on the Torah with the same point. He quotes Rabbi Yitzchak, an early Sage, who said the Torah could have started right there, at "This month," since that is the first commandment given to Israel.
Why would a calendar come first? Sforno (Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno, an Italian Torah commentator of the 1500s) answers: from now on the months are yours, to do with as you wish. In the days of slavery, your days were not yours. They belonged to the work and the will of other people.
Ramban adds that the Torah gives the months no names. It only counts: the first month, the second month, counting from the Exodus. So every time a month was mentioned, the miracle was remembered. The names we use today came back with the Jews from Babylon. The Yerushalmi (the Gemara of the Land of Israel) says so, and Ramban explains why: so that we remember where God brought us up from.
The prayer then asks for what fills those days: joy, gladness, a living, peace, forgiveness.
Shemot 12:2,Rashi on Bereishit 1:1,Sforno on Shemot 12:2,Ramban on Shemot 12:2,Yerushalmi, Rosh Hashanah 1:2The prayer ends with a blessing: "who makes Israel holy, and the new moons." The Gemara notices a problem. A blessing should end with one theme, not two (Berakhot 49a). Yet Rav, a leading Sage in Babylonia, ended the Rosh Chodesh blessing this way (Berakhot 44a).
The Gemara answers in a few words: Israel are the ones who make the new moons holy. So it is one theme. Rashi explains that the festivals depend on the court, which declares each month holy after witnesses see the moon. Shabbat is different. It is holy on its own.
The Mishnah (the first written collection of Jewish oral law, about 1,800 years old) describes it. The head of the court says "It is made holy," and all the people answer, "It is made holy, it is made holy." One Sage, Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Tzadok, says that if the moon was not seen on time, the court does not declare it, because Heaven has already made it holy.
The hardest test came when Rabbi Yehoshua, a leading Sage, thought the court had accepted the wrong witnesses. Rabban Gamliel, the head of the high court, ordered him to show up, with his staff and his money, on the day that was Yom Kippur by Rabbi Yehoshua's own count. To him that meant breaking Yom Kippur, and he was distressed.
Rabbi Akiva, another leading Sage, comforted him with a verse about the festivals: "which you shall proclaim them" (Vayikra 23:4). In the Gemara's telling, he pointed out that the Hebrew word for "them" is spelled the same as the word for "you." Read it as "you," he said: you, even by mistake; you, even on purpose; you, even if misled by false witnesses.
Rabbi Yehoshua went. Rabban Gamliel stood up and kissed him on the head: "Come in peace, my teacher and my student." On this reading, the blessing keeps both halves. It is addressed to God, who makes Israel holy. And Israel make the months holy.
Berakhot 44a and 49a,Rashi on Berakhot 49a,Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 2:7 and 2:9,Rosh Hashanah 25a,Vayikra 23:4Look at the end of the list. After joy, rescue and a living, the prayer asks for forgiveness twice, three times in a leap year. But the month has only just begun. What is there to forgive? The Musaf prayer for this same day gives a first answer: "You gave Your people the new moons, a time of atonement for all their offspring."
In the Temple, a goat was brought as a sin offering every Rosh Chodesh. Abudarham says it atoned for the Temple and its holy things becoming impure. In the Gemara, Shmuel (a leading Sage in Babylonia) explains the view of Rabbi Yehuda (a Sage of the Mishnah) from the words "to Hashem": a wrong only Hashem knows about. The case there is narrow: someone impure entered the Temple or ate holy food, and never found out.
Abudarham adds a second view. Some explain that the Rosh Chodesh burnt offering atoned for "what the days of the month give rise to."
Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi (a Spanish poet and philosopher of the 1100s) reads it this way in the Kuzari, his book explaining Jewish belief. He lays out a rhythm of repair: Shabbat for the week, Rosh Chodesh for the month, then the festivals, and finally Yom Kippur. For Rosh Chodesh, he says, "their offspring" means the offspring of the months, the new things the days bring, and he quotes Mishlei: "you do not know what a day will bring forth" (27:1).
A custom grew from this. Some people fast the day before Rosh Chodesh and say prayers for forgiveness, called Yom Kippur Katan, the "small Yom Kippur." The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (a short guide to daily Jewish law from the 1860s) says the month's wrongs are forgiven that day, like the Rosh Chodesh goat, and that each place follows its own custom.
So these sources do not say you did something terrible last month. They describe Rosh Chodesh as a fixed time for clearing away what the weeks left behind, including what nobody noticed and what you could not have planned.
Siddur Sefard, Rosh Chodesh Musaf,Abudarham, Rosh Chodesh 14,Shevuot 9a,Kuzari 3:5,Mishlei 27:1,Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 97:1Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.
Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein of Sochatchov (a Chassidic rebbe in Poland, who died in 1926) asks: the moon's schedule is worked out in advance, so why call the month "chodesh," a word for something new? His answer is that Israel's newness does not come from the turning of the heavens. It comes from being close to God. He says God gives the moon the power to turn for another month, again at each Rosh Chodesh, and Israel draws new life from Him then too. Now read "renew" again.
ישראל יש להם החידוש לא מפאת סיבוב הגלגלים אלא מפאת דביקתם בהשי"ת
Shem MiShmuel, ChanukahRabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (a Chassidic master who died in 1809) reads the verse where the Torah first tells Israel about the new month: "This month is for you." He hears "for you" as "as you want." God, he says, runs the world the way the people who revere Him want it run. At the start of Nisan the flow of blessing for the whole year is renewed, and something new is easy to shape the way one wishes. Now read "renew this month for us" again.
בראש חודש ניסן מתחדש השפע על כל השנה ודבר החדש בנקל לעשות בו כרצונו
Kedushat Levi, Shemot, Parashat BoRabbi Shlomo Rabinowicz of Radomsk (a Chassidic rebbe who died in 1866) starts from the line in the first blessing before the morning Shema: in His goodness God renews creation every day. He says God also renews in His goodness over longer stretches. Each Shabbat renews it for the days of the week, each month for the days of the month, and each Rosh Hashanah for the whole year. So "renew this month for good" asks for good that is renewed across the whole month.
וכן בכל שבת מחדש בטובו לכל ימי השבוע. ובכל חודש לכל ימי החודש
Tiferet Shlomo, on the Festivals, Rosh ChodeshRabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal (a rabbi and yeshiva head who wrote his book in Budapest in 1943, during the Second World War) asks why the prayer says "an end and a finish" when one word seems enough. He says they differ. A "sof" is the end of one stretch of trouble, but the trouble could come back. A "keitz" is an end for good, so it never returns. We ask for both. Now read "end and finish" again.
לשון קץ מורה שיהיה לזה הדבר קץ לעולמי עד שלא יבא ולא ישונה עוד לעולם
Em HaBanim Semecha, third chapter, section 46The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.
Yes, that is the custom. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says people take tefillin off when they are about to pray Musaf. The Mishnah Berurah (a major law commentary, about 1900) explains: on Yom Tov (a festival) we skip tefillin because the day is itself a sign, and Musaf, which names the day's offerings, is a kind of sign too. The Radbaz (a leading rabbi of the 1500s) found the custom only in a book called Elkana, not in the Gemara or the law books, but he kept it too.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 423:4; Mishnah Berurah 423:10; Responsa Radbaz, part 4, no. 1151Siddur Sefard prints it right after the half Kaddish said once the Torah is back in the ark, just before Musaf. Peninei Halakhah (a modern law guide by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) calls that the common custom. It adds: first wrap them and put them in their bag, so they are not left lying around during Musaf. It notes that the siddur of the Baal HaTanya (the first Chabad Rebbe) has it before the Kaddish. The Pri Megadim (Rabbi Yosef Teomim, 1700s), quoted in the Mishnah Berurah, says at Uva LeTzion.
Siddur Sefard, Rosh Chodesh; Peninei Halakhah, Zemanim 1:14:5; Mishnah Berurah 423:10A leap year has a second Adar. Siddur Sefard prints "and for atonement of rebellion" in parentheses, with the note "in a leap year until Nisan." The Arukh HaShulchan (a law code from about 1900) says to add it all year, though some say to stop after the second Adar. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) reports three customs: all year, until Nisan, or only in Adar. He prefers all year, but says not to object to anyone with another custom. The Mishnah Berurah: follow your place's custom.
Siddur Sefard, Rosh Chodesh Musaf; Arukh HaShulchan 423:5; Kaf HaChaim 423:18; Mishnah Berurah 423:6No. The Mishnah Berurah rules that if you prayed the regular Amidah in place of Musaf, you have not done Musaf, even if you added Ya'aleh VeYavo (the paragraph that mentions Rosh Chodesh). You pray again, because Musaf has to mention the Musaf offerings. But if you said, in any blessing, a request that we fulfill our duties through the daily offering and the Musaf offering, you are covered. It relies on the Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi custom to the Shulchan Aruch) on Shabbat Musaf.
Mishnah Berurah 423:6; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 268:4 (Rema)Until the end of the seventh hour of the day, counting the daylight as twelve equal hours. That is about an hour after midday. Peninei Halakhah gives this for Rosh Chodesh, based on the Shulchan Aruch. After that you are called a poshea (negligent), but you still pray it, because the Musaf offering could be brought all day. The Rema rules that Musaf prayed before Shacharit still counts. Peninei Halakhah adds that Shacharit should come first.
Peninei Halakhah, Zemanim 1:14:4; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 286:1 and RemaOn Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, Siddur Sefard opens it with "be pleased with our rest, and renew for us on this Shabbat day this month," and the blessing ends "who makes Shabbat holy, and Israel, and the new moons." On a two-day Rosh Chodesh, Musaf is said on both days. Peninei Halakhah says the first day, which is the 30th of the old month, keeps all the laws of Rosh Chodesh, Musaf included, though the second day is the main Rosh Chodesh.
Siddur Sefard, Shabbat Musaf; Peninei Halakhah, Zemanim 1:4:2אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו חדש עלינו את יום ראש החדש הזה לטובה לברכה לששון ולשמחה לישועה ולנחמה לפרנסה ולכלכלה לריוח להצלה לחיים ולשלום למחילת חטא לסליחת עון ותרצה לפניך תפילת עמוסיך כתמידי יום וכקרבן מוסף
Our God and God of our fathers, renew for us this Rosh Chodesh day for good, for blessing, for joy, for gladness, for rescue, for comfort, for a living, for support, for relief, for being saved, for life and for peace, for pardon of sin, for forgiveness of wrongdoing. And may the prayer of those You carry be accepted before You like the daily offerings and like the Musaf offering.
לטובה על שם ביום טובה היה בטוב. ולברכה על שם למען יברכך. לששון על שם שוש אשיש. ולשמחה על שם ושמחת בחגך. לישועה על שם אמור לנפשי ישועתך אני.
"For good," from "on a day of good, be in good." "For blessing," from "so that He will bless you." "For joy," from "I will greatly rejoice." "For gladness," from "and you shall rejoice in your festival." "For rescue," from "say to my soul: I am your rescue."
כי אתא רב דימי אמר רב חתים בראש חדש ברוך מקדש ישראל וראשי חדשים
When Rav Dimi came from the Land of Israel, he said: Rav would close the blessing on Rosh Chodesh with "Blessed are You, who makes Israel holy, and the new moons."
מקדש ישראל וראשי חדשים ישראל דקדשינהו לראשי חדשים
"Who makes Israel holy, and the new moons." It means: Israel are the ones who make the new moons holy.
אשר תקראו אתם בין בזמנן בין שלא בזמנן אין לי מועדות אלא אלו
"Which you shall proclaim them": whether in their time or not in their time, I have no festivals except these.
מכאן ואילך יהיו החדשים שלכם לעשות בהם כרצונכם אבל בימי השעבוד לא היו ימיכם שלכם
From now on the months are yours, to do with as you wish. But in the days of slavery, your days were not yours.
וכן יש אומרים ולכפרת פשע ויש שאינם אומרים רק בשנת העיבור ואפילו בשנת העיבור יש שאינם אומרים אותו אלא עד כלות חודש העיבור
Some also say "and for atonement of rebellion." Some say it only in a leap year, and even in a leap year some say it only until the extra month ends.
ושמעתי טעם דיש שתים עשרה לשונות נגד לטובה ולברכה וכו' נגד שתים עשרה חודש לכך אומרים עוד ולכפרת פשע נגד עיבור, ואני לא מצאתי נוסחא זו באבודרהם ושום מקום
I heard a reason: there are twelve expressions, "for good, for blessing" and the rest, matching the twelve months, so we also say "and for atonement of rebellion" for the leap month. But I did not find this wording in Abudarham or anywhere.
ואחר כן יהיה עתיד לרפואה החדשית שהיא זמן כפרה לכל תולדותם, רצוני לומר: תולדות החדשים וחדושי הימים, כמו שאמר: כי לא תדע מה ילד יום
After that he prepares for the monthly healing, which is "a time of atonement for all their offspring," meaning the offspring of the months and what the days bring that is new, as it says: you do not know what a day will bring forth.
ואומרים סדר יום כפור קטן, שבו מתכפרין כל העונות של כל החדש, דומיא דשעיר ראש חדש... וכל מקום לפי מנהגו.
Some say the order of Yom Kippur Katan, because on that day the wrongs of the whole month are forgiven, like the Rosh Chodesh goat... Each place follows its own custom.
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