1-AV 5784 Year of Months Nov 9

The podcast episode is discussing the theme of each month in the Hebrew calendar. The host explains that they will be focusing on the month of Av instead of finishing with Tishri. The month of Elul, which comes after Av, is important for the theme of Teshuva (repentance) and the lead up to Yom Kippur. The host mentions that Elul does not have many observances or holidays, except for Rosh Chodesh. They also explain the significance of Rosh Chodesh Elul and the blowing of the shofar. The host briefly mentions Shabbat Mevachim, a special Shabbat before the new moon, where a prayer is recited for blessings and good fortune for the upcoming month. The host suggests that in the future, they may do an episode on observing Rosh Chodesh. Shalom, friends, and welcome to this month's episode of Footsteps of the Messiah. I'm your host, Kevin Baksh, and happy to be here with you for the last episode, 5784. So shalom, Hebrew, and this year's theme has been the year of month. So we're sharing insights and facts and doctrine and observances and halakha about each month. So remember, if you were listening in last month, we are not going to finish with Tishri for the year 5784, but rather with the month of Av. That's because we did over 30, yes, actually 30 almost, episodes on the month of Elul covering Teshuva, or Teshuva, back a year and a half ago, two years ago, which is the main theme and month of Elul, and it is also without any holidays or observances. Other than that, Elul is part of the 40 days of Teshuva, leading to Yom Kippur. Now there may be anniversaries of some sort or some specific observances or anniversaries on, for instance, like Chabad.org has a calendar of many observances for almost every day of the year, different points in Jewish history and the history of Israel, but as far as observances and Torah observances on the calendar, Elul has, other than Rosh Chodesh, it does not have any. So, in case you are listening to this podcast in the month of Av on any given year, here's a fun fact. Rosh Chodesh of Elul, which is the month after Av, is actually observed on Av 29, considered to be day one of Rosh Chodesh Elul, but we do not blow the shofar until Elul 1, which is the second day of Rosh Chodesh. So as you probably know, we blow the shofar every day for the month of Elul, also in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah, the biggest Rosh Chodesh of the year, we do not do a Shabbat Mevachim prior to Tishri 1. What is Shabbat Mevachim? Well, usually, glad you asked, usually the Shabbat prior to a new moon is called Shabbat Mevachim, and it is a special Shabbat, meaning the Shabbat of blessings or blessing as a verb in the Jewish calendar or the biblical calendar, and the Shabbat that occurs just before the beginning of a new Hebrew month has this name. So the name Mevachim, like I said, comes from the root for blessing, like bracha, bet b'eshaf, and on this Shabbat, which happens 12 or 13 times, sorry 11 times a year because you don't do it prior to Tishri, 12 months per year in a leap year, the people of Israel or the Jewish people traditionally recite a prayer to bless the upcoming month, and this blessing includes asking for good fortune, peace, well-being, health, prosperity for the coming month. So there's a new moon or new month announcement and prayer for prosperity and other blessings and good tidings. Now, if you study the month and how Rosh Chodesh is observed, you will find that a shorter month requires two days of Rosh Chodesh prayers, particularly more in the Shacharit service, which is the morning service, and if a month is 30 days long, then you only do that Rosh Chodesh service and extra prayers like Hatzi Hallel, I mean, and extra prayers such as those and the Ya'alei V'yavoh paragraph that's added into the Amidah blessing for one day. So maybe in 5785 we'll do an episode on how to observe Rosh Chodesh and how it was observed in the past and how we observe it today and its implications and prophetic significance for the future. So now, back to Av.