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ירח yareach {yaw-ray'-akh} from the same as 03391; TWOT - 913a; n m AV - moon 26; 26 1) moon

Gematria: 218

Isa 30:26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.	Bk Chpt Vs
Verse # = 18244   |   Words = 21   |   Letters = 82 Data from Strong's Concordance KJV Hebrew Strong's # Value Moreover the light אור H0216 'owr 207 of the moon לבנה H3842 lebanah 87 shall be as the light אור H0216 'owr 207 of the sun, חמה H2535 chammah 53 and the light אור H0216 'owr 207 of the sun חמה H2535 chammah 53 shall be sevenfold, שבעתים H7659 shib`athayim 822 as the light אור H0216 'owr 207 of seven שבע H7651 sheba` 372 days, יום H3117 yowm 56 in the day יום H3117 yowm 56 that the LORD יהוה H3068 Yehovah 26 bindeth up חבש H2280 chabash 310 the breach שבר H7667 sheber 502 of his people, עם H5971 `am 110 and healeth רפא H7495 rapha' 281 the stroke מחץ H4273 machats 138 of their wound. מכה H4347 makkah 65	Total = 5151 Original Text Hebrew Value Inc והיה 26 אור 207 הלבנה 92 כאור 227 החמה 58 ואור 213 החמה 58 יהיה 30 שבעתים 822 כאור 227 שבעת 772 הימים 105 ביום 58 חבש 310 יהוה 26 את 401 שבר 502 עמו 116 ומחץ 144 מכתו 466 ירפא 291

לבנה lebanah {leb-aw-naw'} from 03835; TWOT - 1074c; n f AV - moon 3; 3 1) moon (as white)

Gematria: 87

EL SIMBOLISMO DE LA LUNA

• EL SIMBOLISMO MÁS HABITUAL:

El simbolismo de la luna es muy complejo y amplio. En general representa el poder femenino, la Diosa Madre, la reina del cielo y la protección. No obstante también tiene otros significados como por ejemplo el lado oscuro y el aspecto invisible de la naturaleza; el aspecto espiritual de la luz en la oscuridad; el conocimiento interior; lo irracional, intuitivo y subjetivo. Es el ojo de la noche, el que ve todo lo que sucede en una etapa del día considerada prohibida. Tiene un papel regulador de las mareas, lluvias, aguas, inundaciones y estaciones por lo que se convierte en la mediadora entre el cielo y la tierra. La luna se relaciona también con el huevo del mundo, la matriz y el arca. Su metal correspondiente es la plata por su color y pureza. La luna se asocia con la fantasía y a la imaginación por su misterio y representación dentro de la noche, de la cual es representante.

Los símbolos más habituales que representan gráficamente a la luna son la media luna como unos cuernos de vaca (considerada “nave de luz en el mar de la noche”); las diosas lunares controlan y tejen el destino, y por esta razón a veces se la simboliza como la araña en el centro de su tela; un hombre viejo y decrépito puede simbolizar la luna menguante.

• SIMBOLISMO ATRIBUIDO A LAS FASES LUNARES:

Las fases de nacimiento, crecimiento y muerte de la luna simbolizan la inmortalidad y la eternidad, la renovación perpetua; iluminación. Se utilizan como recreación periódica, es el tiempo y su medición que en un principio se realizaba por fases lunares. La luna llena significa la totalidad, la plenitud, fuerza y poder espiritual. El cuarto menguante es funeral, la luna menguante representa el aspecto siniestro y demoníaco, mientras que el cuarto creciente o la luna creciente representa la luz, el crecimiento y la regeneración. Los tres días que la luna no esta visible (luna llena) representan el descenso del dios al mundo subterráneo del que emerge, al igual que la luna (luna creciente). Estas fases, por analogía, se parecen a las estaciones anuales, a las edades del hombre (el crecimiento -infancia y juventud- y el decrecimiento -madurez y ancianidad-), de ahí nace el mito que la luna nueva, tiempo donde no está visible, corresponde en la muerte,

• EL SIMBOLISMO DE LA UNIÓN ENTRE EL SOL Y LA LUNA:

La luna y el sol juntos representan la perfección, el matrimonio sagrado entre el cielo y la tierra, el rey y la reina, el oro y la plata, …

• DIFERENTES SIMBOLISMOS SEGÚN CULTURAS Y REGIONES:

• Islámica: Representa la medida del tiempo. La media luna representa la divinidad y la soberanía. Es el símbolo del Islam y una muestra clara es su representación en las banderas de todos los países islámicos.

• Africana: El tiempo y la muerte. Pero en algunas tribus la asocian con los arboles, y en otras significa una deidad masculina.

• Amerindia: “La anciana que nunca muere” y “La doncella del agua”. Se relaciona con la palmera y el maíz en Sudamérica y en Norteamérica con un árbol. La luna llena se asemeja con la luz del Gran espíritu, y en algunas tribus representa un poder maligno.

• Budista: Paz, serenidad, belleza. La luna llena y la nueva indican tiempos de fortaleza del poder espiritual. También es símbolo de unidad o del yo. La luna y las aguas juntas representan la naturaleza no obstructiva.

• China: La esencia del principio femenino de la naturaleza, lo pasivo y transitorio pero también la inmortalidad.

• Cristiana: La luna es la morada del arcángel Gabriel, la seguridad u pureza.

• Egipcia: “La hacedora de la eternidad y la creadora de la duración eterna”. La media luna principalmente es la Reina del Cielo.

• Esquimal: La luna es quien envía la nieve.

• Hindú: La media luna representa al recién nacido impaciente por crecer.

• Japonesa: La luna es de carácter masculino.

• Maorí: La luna es el dios padre.

• Oceánica: La luna es masculina y simboliza la eterna juventud.

• Sumerio-semita: El dios masculino de la sabiduría y el medidor del tiempo.

• Taoísta: La luna es la verdad absoluta y el ser sobrenatural.

• Teutónica: La luna es el poder divino masculino.

• SIMBOLISMO DE LA LUNA DESDE OTROS ASPECTOS:

• Alquímica: La luna o la plata son los efectos purificados.

• Astrológica: El alma animal; donde reside la sensibilidad, el impulso y la vida sexual. Representa el comportamiento.

• Chamanística: Contiene poderes mágicos

• http://html.rincondelvago.com/simbolismo-de-la-luna.html

Kiddush levana

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Kiddush levana
Kiddush Levanah is recited on seeing the New Moon.
Halakhic texts relating to this article:
Babylonian Talmud:	Sanhedrin 41b–42a
Mishneh Torah:	Laws of Blessings 10:16–17
Shulchan Aruch:	Orach Chaim 426
* Not meant as a definitive ruling. Some observances may be rabbinical, customs or Torah based.

Kiddush Levanah (Hebrew: קידוש לבנה ; trans. Sanctification [of the] Moon) is a Jewish ritual in which observant Jews recite a series of prayers shortly after Rosh Chodesh, though it may be done until the moon is full. The ritual is done at night when the moon is shining. The ritual may be performed from three days after the molad; others wait a full seven days from the molad. The latest time for Kiddush Levanah is mid-month, i.e., fourteen days, eighteen hours and twenty-two minutes (some authorities extend this limit to fifteen full days) after the molad.^[1]

It is customary to say Kiddush Levanah at the conclusion of Shabbat if possible. The moon must be visible and not totally covered by clouds and the ceremony is normally performed outside. While it is customary to say the prayer with the large crowd after the Saturday evening services, or at least with a minyan, it can be also said without a minyan and in the middle of the week. In places where cloudy or rainy weather is very common, many people will recite the blessing as soon as they see the moon for the first time after the "three days".

In the month of Tishrei, it is usually delayed until after the conclusion of Yom Kippur; others have a custom to say it specifically before Yom Kippur. In the month of Av, it is traditionally postponed to following the fast of Tisha B'Av, as the beginning of the month is a time of mourning and the prayer should be said in a spirit of joy. If a holiday falls on Sunday, Kiddush Levanah is delayed until after that day.

The source of the Kiddush Levana is in the Babylonian Talmud,^[2] (Sanhedrin 42a), Rabbi Yochanan taught that one who blesses the new moon, in its proper time, is regarded like one who greets the Shechinah (Divine Presence), as it is written in Exodus 12:2:, "This month (is to be for you the beginning of months..)”

This verse in Exodus 12:2 is the source of what is considered to be the first commandment in the Torah, which is to sanctify the new month, and is based on the lunar calendar. Although Kiddush levana is not the method of sanctifying the new month, we may be able to understand Rabbi Yochanan opinion that one who ‘blesses the new moon’, is also showing respect to the first commandment in the Torah, and therefore it is like greeting the Shechinah (Divine Presence).

It is customary to say the additional passages that were added to this blessing in the 16th century by Rabbi Yitzhak Luria.. These are Kabbalistic verses that are difficult to understand their deeper meaning.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiddush_levana

Jewish Cycles of the Moon (Jill Hammer)

The Jewish calendar is rooted in the cycles of the moon. Each month of the year is a lunar month, beginning on the new moon and ending when the moon is dark. Jews celebrate the first day of the month, the new moon or Rosh Chodesh, as a minor holiday. Sometime during the first two weeks of the month, often at the end of the Sabbath, Jews recite a blessing over the moon in gratitude for having been given the cycles of time. In the last week of the month, on the morning of the Sabbath, Jews announce the name and date of the coming month both as a welcome and a reminder to the community. This announcement signals that the current month is coming to a close. Some Jewish traditions refer to the last day of the month, the dark of the moon, as Yom Kippur Katan (a little day of atonement), and regard it as a day of fasting and penitence. Then the new moon of the next month begins. When the moon dies we contemplate our own mortality, and at the birth of the moon we celebrate our potential for rebirth.

One of the words for "moon" or “month” is chodesh, renewal. The traditional Jewish blessing over the waxing moon says to the moon: “You are a crown of glory for those who are borne in the womb, for they, like you, are destined to be renewed.” Jewish tradition sees the cycles of the moon as a metaphor for the renewal of life.

The New Moon: Rosh Chodesh

In biblical times, Rosh Chodesh was a festival, and priests offered special celebratory sacrifices (Numbers 29:6). In rabbinic times, when a court of rabbinic judges sat in Jerusalem, witnesses came to the court every month to announce that they had seen the new moon, and Jews lit bonfires on the mountains to announce its arrival (Mishnah Rosh haShanah 1:1-9). Today Rosh Chodesh remains a minor holiday for all traditional Jews, marked by the reciting of special Psalms and sections of the Torah.

According to both the Talmud and mystical tradition, the new moon is a time to celebrate the reappearance of the Shekhinah, the feminine Divine presence (Babylonian talmud, Sanhedrin 42a). This is one reason that, from Talmudic times, Jewish tradition has designated Rosh Chodesh as a special holiday for women. In the Middle Ages, Jewish women did not work on Rosh Chodesh. Instead, they held feasts, charity collections, and even gambling parties with one another (or, sometimes, they saved their laundry to do on Rosh Chodesh!). In recent years, modern women have reclaimed Rosh Chodesh as a special day for women, creating Rosh Chodesh groups for study and creative ritual.

The tradition offers three reasons for this. The one I like best goes as follows: when the Israelites in the wilderness gave their most beautiful materials for the making of the mishkan (the dwelling place of God's presence, coming from the same word as Shekhinah), women donated more than men. The Torah says that “the men gathered upon the women”, implying that the women were more quick to come to give the Shekhinah their treasures. Therefore, women refrain from weaving, spinning, and sewing on Rosh Chodesh in honor of their generosity and zealousness (Rashi on Megillah 22b). In this story, women are the most enthusiastic givers to the mishkan, which represents the indwelling Divine Presence. This parallels women's association with the Shekhinah.

Another midrash credits women with faith in the oneness of God. This legend
comments on the story of the Golden Calf, when the Israelite nation made and
worshipped a golden statue of a calf while Moses was receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai:

The women heard about the making of the Golden Calf and refused to give
their jewelry to their husbands. Instead, they said to them: ‘You want to
construct an idol, a molten form which is an abomination? We won't listen to
you!’ And the Holy One of Blessing rewarded them in this world that they
would observe the new moons more than men, and in the next world they are
destined to be renewed like the moon... (Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 45)

This midrash suggests when the Israelites are afraid God had abandoned them, the women have faith that God's presence will return. So women are especially associated with the moon, which disappears and returns.

The third story explaining the connection between women and the new moon is
perhaps the most telling. According to the Talmud, the moon starts an
argument because she and the sun are the same size:

The moon said to God: ‘Sovereign of the Universe, can two kings share a
single crown?’ God replied: ‘Go and make yourself smaller.’ ‘Sovereign of
the Universe,’ she said to him, 'because I made a proper claim before you, am
I to make myself smaller?’ He said to her, 'Go, and you will rule over both
the day and the night.' She said 'What good is a lamp in broad daylight?' He
said, 'Go! Israel shall use you to count the days and the years.' (The moon
went on complaining).... On seeing that the moon would not be consoled, the
Holy One of Blessing said 'Bring an atonement for me for making the moon
smaller.' (Hence the sin-offering of the new moon was offered in the Temple.) (Babylonian Talmud, Chullin 60b)

In this story, the moon asks: how can two beings be equally powerful? Instead of answering her, God commands the moon to make herself smaller implying that one luminary does have to be bigger. But the moon finds this unfair, no matter what other gifts God gives her in compensation. God is eventually forced to admit the injustice of this situation, and makes a sin-offering every month on the new moon to atone. So too, though women have been unfairly diminished within the tradition, they have continued to pursue equity and fairness. Just as the moon, according to legend, will be restored to her full size in
the time of the Messiah, so many women hope to achieve full equality when society is transformed.

Rosh haShanah, the new year and festival of the rebirth of the world, falls
on the new moon. Like the new moon itself, Rosh haShanah is a time of celebrating the Shekhinah’s presence among us and of beginning again. The end of Chanukah, which is a time of increasing light, also falls on Rosh Chodesh.

The Waxing Moon: Kiddush Levanah

The waxing moon is marked by the Birkat Levanah or Kiddush Levanah, the blessing over the moon. From three days after the new moon to fourteen days after the new moon, it is permitted to recite the blessing, but only if one can actually see the moon in the sky. Kiddush Levanah is one Jewish ritual that takes Jews outside into nature, and it is often performed Saturday night, at the end of the Sabbath, on the steps of the synagogue.

One must be able to see the moon at the time that one recites the blessing. After reciting the blessing over the moon, it is proper to dance joyfully and to greet three people with the worlds "shalom aleichem." It is also customary to sing the song "David melekh yisrael chai vekayam" (David the king of Israel lives forever)--because the new moon is also associated with eternal life and messianic times of perfect peace.

The blessing is as follows: Blessed are you, God, ruler of the universe,whose word created the heavens and whose breath created the heavenly hosts, who gave them ordinances that they not change their orbits. Joyful and happy are they to do the will of their creator, a worker of truth whose work is truth! To the moon God said; renew yourself, crown of glory for those borne in the womb, for they like you, are destined to renew themselves,and to give glory to their creator for the sake of God's holy honored sovereignty (malkhut/Shekhinah). Blessed are you, God, renewer of months.

The Talmud states: Rabbi Yochanan said: "Those who recite the blessing over the new moon in its time is as if they greeted the presence of the Shekhinah." The new moon, symbol of rebirth, is a messenger of the Shekhinah, reminding us that we hold change within us.

Kiddush Levanah is a protective time: one practice that some people have is to dance toward the moon and recite three times: I dance toward you but cannot touch you! So may my enemies not be able to touch me for evil."

Some men have reclaimed Kiddush Levanah as a time for celebrating and worshipping with one another. In the Zohar, David, the king of Israel, is a male figure representing the Shekhinah. Kiddush Levanah allows men to greet the David—the poet, scholar, dancer, lover, shepherd—in themselves.

Shavuot, the holiday of the revelation of the Torah and a spring harvest festival, falls at the waxing moon, the time of growth and blessing. Yom Kippur, the holiday of personal growth and change, also falls at this time.

The kabbalists believed that the waxing moon was an auspicious time when the Shekhinah's power increased in the world. Oddly enough, Tisha B'Av, the commemoration of the Temple's destruction, falls at this time too—perhaps because even destruction can be a time of growth. A friend once reported to me the Zen saying, “Yesterday my house burned down. Today I have a better view of the rising moon."

The Full Moon: Keseh

The fifteenth of the Hebrew month is the full moon. The Psalms use the word keseh to describe a festive time, and some commentators believe this word refers to the full moon. Keseh is like kos, cup, and the full moon is like a brimming cup of abundance. Many festivals of freedom and abundance, such as Sukkot, Tu B'Shevat, Purim, and Passover, fall on the full moon. Several years running I have had the privilege to dance in the sukkah, the ritual roofless hut of Sukkot, under a full moon. The roundness and brightness of the moon made me feel that the Shekhinah was watching and celebrating my companions and me in our joy.

In the Zohar, the full moon signals the time when the Divine womb creates
pure and blessed souls. It is the time when the moon and sun, which in kabbalists thought represent the feminine and masculine faces of God, are most in contact. The Zohar writes that at the full moon the Shekhinah is called field of apples, while at the dark moon She is called field of Anatot (meaning poverty).

The Waning Moon: Birkat haChodesh

The two weeks of the waning moon are marked in the synagogue by Birkat haChodesh, the prayer for the next new month. This prayer , recited on the Shabbat before the new moon, focuses not on the renewal of time but on the human desire for safety and sustenance. The prayer asks for "a life of peace, a life of goodness, a life of blessing,
a life of honorable work, a life of bodily health, a life of fearing heaven and fearing wrongdoing,. a life that has no shame..." The prayer then announces: “The new month of ___ will be on ___ day of the week. May it come to us and all Israel for goodness.”

The new moon is a symbol of eternal renewal, and the full moon is focused on the present. The last weeks of the month are focused on hopes and fears for the future. The prayer we use is adapted from the prayer the Talmudic sages used to recite at the end of the Amidah prayer —words that acknowledge our need and vulnerability.

Holidays that fall during the waning days include Chanukah (which extends into the new moon), a holiday celebrating victory after near defeat, and Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, a holiday that marks the end of the Torah and its beginning. These are holidays of descent and ascent—of gateways from death into life.

The Dark of the Moon: Yom Kippur Katan

The dark of the moon, in mystical terms, represents the exile or veiling of
the Shekhinah. It is a time of difficult journeys and of longing for
illumination. This time occurs at the end of the Hebrew month, just before Rosh Chodesh.

Moshe Cordovero of Sfat, a Jewish mystic, began the custom of Yom
Kippur Katan, fasting at the dark of the moon in imitation of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and seeking sanctification before the new moon arrives. This seems a typical purification practice before rebirth, just as some hold vigils or bathe in a ritual bath before times of spiritual transition. Yet the custom is not widely observed today. Even for those of us who dislike fasting, Yom Kippur Katan can be a time of examining our fears and the hard journeys we must make. Shefa Gold has written a song called “The Dark Rays of the Moon” that honors the sanctity of this time.

Though the mystics believe that every dark moon is a time for reflection, Yom Kippur Katan is not observed before the following months: Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, because Yom Kippur has just occurred and we do not need another one; Tevet because it would fall during Chanukah, which is a time of joy; Iyar, because it would fall during Nissan which also is a month of joy and doesn't allow fasting; and Tishrei because it would fall on the day of Erev Rosh Hashanah, when penitential prayers are not said. If Rosh Chodesh falls on Shabbat, we observe Yom Kippur Katan on the preceding Thursday, because
Friday is too close to Shabbat to be a fast day.

No holidays fall on Yom Kippur Katan, though Chanukah spans it. It is a time of solemnity and inner reflection.

Beginning Again/em>

In the evening service, in the prayer for the falling of night, we find the
words: "In Your wisdom You change the times and turn about the seasons."
This happens not only throughout the year but throughout the month. A month is a complete cycle of life, and the five phases of the moon bring us from spring to winter, from youth to old age, and from innocence to experience. When the new moon's sliver of light appears, we begin, once again, to change the times.

more water wisdom

http://telshemesh.org/water/jewish_cycles_of_the_moon_jill_hammer.html