Sanctifying the moon

May 22, 2010 - 8:31 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, Religion 

We’re at half a moon tonight, which is a major event on a number of counts. I’ll start with my 1.7-month-old twin boys, for whom the moon has become an important factor of each day, the first thing they ask to see when they get up in the morning (which is often possible at 6:00 am), tool around outside during the day, and before they go to sleep.

“Moon? Moon?” they say, turning their little heads to the sky, and straining to see it, somewhere up there. Given that they go to sleep before it’s dark out means they don’t get to see it in all its night-glow glory. But as the moon goes through its phases they do see its slivers high in the sky in the late afternoon and early evening, and then their reading of “Goodnight Moon” is that much more meaningful.

Tonight, however, they had just gone to sleep when we heard the sounds of another kind of moon celebration, Kiddush Levana. It was coming from a minyan of men on the sidewalk outside our house, who had emerged from the Sephardic shtiebel next door. Kiddush Levana means Sanctification of the Moon, and it is a series of prayers said after Rosh Chodesh, or the new moon, although it can be said until the moon is full. It’s also customary to say Kiddush Levana after Shabbat, with the moon visible by the crowd coming from Saturday evening services.

Which is what they were doing. There’s something great about knowing that moon celebrations continue from the early years of amazement, that we never quite get over the phases of the moon. I have a friend who tends to send an SMS on the first night of the full moon, and while I used to make fun of her, now I’m starting to appreciate her sanctification.

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Foto Friday – Marco Jona’s Sun & Moon

August 14, 2009 - 4:33 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Environment, Foto Friday, General 

Jerusalem-based Marco Jona is a professional photographer with a passion for nature, and a particular fascination with the heavenly bodies.

His series, entitled “The Sun and The Moon”, is a work in progress that is being created over time…

Marco_Jona_craters

…sunrise by sunrise…

Marco_Jona_sunrise_at_massada

…lunar eclipse…

Marco_Jona_eclipsed_moon

… by solar eclipse

Marco_Jona_eclipse

…and sunset by sunset.

Marco_Jona_rays_over_kinneret

More of Jona’s work is on view at his website – www.marcojona.com.

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