Kiddush levana
Kiddush levana, also known as Birkat halevana, is a Jewish ritual and prayer service, generally observed on the first or second Saturday night of each Hebrew month. The service includes a blessing to God for the appearance of the new moon and further readings depending on custom. In most communities, ritual elements include the shalom aleikhem greeting and jumping toward the moon, with some also incorporating kabbalistic practices.
The oldest part of Kiddush levana, the blessing, is described by the Talmud. Other elements were introduced by Massechet Soferim in the 8th century, although their ultimate origin is obscure. In the years since, different Jewish communities have incorporated various quotations from the Bible and Talmud, liturgical compositions, and mystical customs into their version of the ritual. In the Ashkenazic rite it is an individual recitation, but a cantor may lead in Mizrahi communities. In Orthodox Judaism, it is almost exclusively reserved for men, but non-Orthodox Kiddush levana may involve men, women, or both.
Kiddush levana has featured in popular artwork, poems, jokes, stories, and folklore. Tunes based on its liturgy, especially "David Melekh Yisrael Hai veKayyam" and "Siman Tov uMazel Tov Yehei Lanu ulkhol Yisrael", have spread far beyond the original ritual. Marcia Falk has called it Judaism's most "colorful and intriguing" liturgy, while to Shai Secunda it is "one of the most peculiar and mysterious".
Since the 15th century, Kiddush levana has been "a highly visible target for rationalist critiques, both Jewish and non-Jewish". Generations of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book expurgated all ritual elements, and some other 20th-century prayerbooks ignored it entirely. By the 1970s, it was widely described as defunct, although it soon began to regain Orthodox popularity. In 1992, Chabad announced a campaign to popularize its observance.
As of 2024, Kiddush levana is included with ritual elements in all mainstream Orthodox prayerbooks, including recent editions of the Authorised Daily Prayer Book. It is endorsed by Conservative Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism, and Jewish Renewal. Although Kiddush levana remains controversial within Reform Judaism, it has recently been endorsed by Dalia Marx, Sylvia Rothschild, and other Reform leaders. Since 1976, many non-Orthodox women's groups have adopted Kiddush levana, and non-Orthodox masculine versions began appearing circa 1993. The ritual has been adapted for use in same-sex weddings, coming-out ceremonies, Brit bats, and the 2024 solar eclipse. It continues to evolve.
Development
The Talmud includes many blessings for the occasion of observing natural phenomena, but only the blessing over the moon has expanded into an elaborate service. Kiddush levana is generally understood to have resulted from the special importance provided to the moon by the rituals associated with declaring a new calendar month, which date back at least to the Second Temple period. Some scholars say that Kiddush levana evolved under their influence, while others say it was intended to replace these rituals, abandoned after the Hebrew calendar was fixed in the 4th century.A few argue that it was originally a device for secret communication during the Bar Kokhba revolt, but this is unlikely given its late date. According to Julius Eisenstein, Kiddush levana was instituted by the rabbis to comfort their flock in a time of oppression, as a protection against any harm that might come to them in that month. According to, it was intended as a substitute for regular observances in times of oppression, and maintained especially for marranos. Others say that it was instituted to protest Zoroastrian moon-worship or the Karaite calendar. Avram Arian calls it "primarily a redemptive rite", and Israel Zolli sees it as mostly penitential.
However, many other scholars ascribe Kiddush levana a pagan origin. According to, it was originally a magical practice to protect Jews from eclipses; Israel Drazin explains it as resulting from "ancient superstitious fear that the new moon might not return to its original fullness due to satanic interference". Others say it was borrowed from Zoroastrianism. Arthur A. Feldman traces it to worship of Astarte, George Margoulioth and David Sidersky, to Sin, Abraham Danon, to Ishtar, and Gerda Barag, to "the cult of the Mother-Goddess", while M. H. Segal, Theodor Reik, and Gnana Robinson argue that it was originally a form of moon-worship. Siegfried Passarge thought it had evolved from a fertility rite. Yosef Goell called it "one of the last vestiges of ancient Jewish paganism".
Talmudic blessing
The oldest part of the Kiddush levana ritual is the blessing. The Talmud describes both men and women reciting a special blessing when they see the new moon, recording several different liturgies and attributing them to 2nd and 3rd-century sages. According to Arian, the early attributions are false. The oldest form was a simple "Blessed be the Creator", but in time the version attributed to Judah bar Ezekiel became canonical:Johanan bar Nappaha attempted to upgrade its status by comparing it to "welcoming the Shekhinah". Abaye taught that the blessing should be recited while standing upright, but Maremar and Mar Zutra would recite it while being carried.
In the Talmud, the blessing for the new moon is one of many recommended for the occasion of observing a natural wonder; liturgies are also given to mark the full moon, thunder, lightning, rainbows, mountains, and the changing of the seasons. Some Orthodox halakhists maintain that this blessing should be recited immediately upon seeing the new moon for the first time. However, in general practice the blessing has been uprooted from this context and remade into a special ritual.
''Soferim'' ritual
Massechet Soferim is the first text to describe a complex ritual, to be exclusively performed "at the conclusion of the Sabbath, when perfumed and beautifully attired". According to Soferim,One looks toward the moon with straightened legs and blesses "Who didst create the heavens by thy command..." and then one says three times "A good omen on all Israel! Blessed be your Creator..." Then one jumps three times toward the moon, and says three times "Just as I jump but do not reach you, so too if others jump at me, let them not reach me", and "Terror and dread falleth upon them, by the greatness of Thine arm they are still as a stone ", and backwards, and "Amen amen selah hallelujah". Then one greets another person three times, and returns home in good cheer.
Threefold repetition, reversal of Ex. 15:16, "A good omen on all Israel", and "Amen amen selah" are typical of medieval Jewish magic spells. The unique elementsaddressing the moon with "Blessed be your Creator...", jumping towards it, and greeting others—are frequently understood as magical, but their origin is contested.
The prayerbooks of Amram ben Sheshna and Saadia ben Joseph, as well as early halakhic codes like Halakhot Gedolot, the Rif, the Eshkol, and the Mishneh Torah '', incorporate only the Talmudic practice of reciting a blessing when one sees the new moon, rejecting the Saturday-night ritual described by Soferim. Nor do Rashi or the Tosafists mention anything beyond the Talmudic blessing. According to , "Most people wait until Saturday night, following Soferim, but the posqim did not incorporate the words of Massechet Soferim because it makes no sense for someone to delay fulfillment of a commandment. Many things can happen to a person! Therefore all God-fearers bless at the first opportunity, and do not wait for Saturday night". According to modern scholars, Maimonides excluded Soferim
Yet by the turn of the 14th century, Soferim ritual's had been wholly accepted by Ashkenazic authorities, as well as by Bahya ben Asher, Joshua ibn Shuaib, and Jonah Gerondi, and it was eventually codified in the Tur and Beit Yosef. However, nothing from Soferim appeared in Baladi-rite texts until the early 17th century.
Some 14th-century Italian versions include the verse, "O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever".
Additional prayers and customs were continuously added to the ritual in the following centuries, some of unidentified origin, including a wide variety of quotes from Scripture. The order of these later additions is not consistent between prayerbooks, and they may be inserted before, between, or after elements from Soferim''. Arian provides a table tracking the popularity of many additions.
Hasidei Ashkenaz additions
A tradition in the name of Judah of Regensburg, first recorded in the early 14th century, calls for reciting "The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills ". Originally connected to the jumping component, this addition was later reinterpreted by Kabbalists, who also added 2:9. It may have been inspired by a midrash in which Moses "leaps" by introducing the Hebrew calendar before 400 years of slavery have elapsed.The Sefer Hekhalot, a lost work first mentioned in the early 14th century, called for including "Long live David, King of Israel" in Kiddush levana, and this addition was later endorsed by Samuel Schlettstadt, , Judah Obernik, the Soncino siddur, Abraham Saba, Meir ibn Gabbai, a Romaniote prayerbook, a Sephardic prayerbook, Isaac ben Eljiah Shani, Naphtali Hirsch Treves, and other prayerbooks, before being codified by Moses Isserles and Jacob Castro. Schlettstatt compares the Hekhalot