Family Action: Rosh Hodesh

Jews are intimately connected with the passage of time. We count the days of the week until Shabbat, pray at designated times, live within an annual holiday and Torah reading cycle, acknowledge the blessing of the gift of time--even joke about our seeming cultural tendency to disregard "starting on time"!

We embrace time. We accept its challenge. We celebrate its intervals. Marking time Jewishly sets us apart. We live at the intersection of solar and lunar times, responding to the requirements of each but finding our specific identity in the cycle of lunar months. Rabbi Arthur Waskow points out in Seasons of Our Joy that Jews live in "moonths," beginning with each new moon and living through its cycle.

The beginning of the lunar month, Rosh Hodesh, has traditionally been a time of celebration and renewal--and of the celebration of renewal. As the moon renews itself, we can participate in the renewal of our Earth.

• Get in touch with the lunar cycle by going outdoors each evening and having your children keep a calendar of the moon's cycle. Make a real Jewish calendar by beginning a month with the new moon (Tuesday, November 28 is Kislev 1) and having a family member report on the appearance of the moon each day. Assign each family member a task in your "moon watch." Older children might draw the moon as they see it, with younger children doing the coloring. Post the calendar on the refrigerator for a month.

• Select a weekly project of renewal during your moon watch month. For background and project ideas check out www.coejl.com, the website for the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.

• Renew yourselves and the earth by driving less and walking more. Can you do errands or visit friends by walking, scootering or biking instead of reaching for the car keys?

• Renew the way you warm or cool yourselves and help renew our resources. Do you all have long underwear to help keep your thermostat down (not for families in southern California!)? Can you plant shade trees to help airconditioning be more efficient (not for families in Maine!)? Conduct a draft survey by having children mark the places they feel drafts (cold or hot) with stickers. Return to the marked spots to analyze how you can cut the outdoor airflow.

• Renew your shopping habits. Have children look out for over-packaged products when you shop and avoid those items. Buy fruits and vegetables loose, not sealed in plastic. Purchase reusable items (e.g. containers and cleaning cloths--ather than disposables. Contact Garden Plant Organic Coffee (888-SAY-JAVA) (www.gardenplanetcoffee.com) to learn about "ecokashrut" and your morning habit.

• Use string bags (Seventh Generation, 10 Farrell St., Burlington, VT 05403) instead of paper and plastic. If your supermarket gives you a bonus for doing so, use the money to support an organization that works in the field of ecology or to create a family project. Have a child be the "accountant" and record what is in your tzedakah/project fund.

Each "moonth" gives us the chance to be renewed for a cycle of life and blessing!