A fast day
associated with the new moon.
By Rabbi Louis Jacobs
Excerpted with permission from The
Jewish Religion: A Companion, Oxford University Press.
"Minor Yom Kippur" [is] the name given to the day
before Rosh Chodesh ("New Moon"), in that this day is treated as one
of fasting, repentance, and supplication on the analogy of Yom Kippur. Yom
Kippur Katan originated among the Safed Kabbalists in the 16th century and
is referred to by a disciple of Moses Cordovero, Abraham Galante, who states
that it was a local custom in Safed for men, women, and schoolchildren to fast
on this day and to spend the whole day in penitential prayer, confession of
sin, and flagellation.
There is no reference to Yom Kippur Katan in the standard
Code of Jewish law, the Shulchan Arukh, but
a later Halakhist, Joel Sirkes, in his commentary to Jacob ben Asher's Tur,
mentions it and as a result the day acquired something of a Halakhic footing
and came to be observed in communities with little connection to the Kabbalah.
A number of small booklets were published containing the prayers and customs of
the day. Nowadays, Yom Kippur Katan has largely fallen into disuse, yet the rite
itself is of interest for its amalgam of Talmudic and Kabbalistic themes.
The Talmud (Hullin 60b) quotes an amazing comment of Rabbi
Simeon ben Lakish that the he‑goat offered on Rosh Chodesh is called
"a sin offering unto the Lord" because it is an atonement for God
Himself for having made the moon smaller than the sun. Arising out of this is
the idea, expressed in the Rosh Chodesh liturgy, that Rosh Chodesh affords
pardon for Israel's sins.
There is a pre‑Safed reference to people fasting on
the eve of Rosh Chodesh, since Rosh Chodesh is a minor festival on which no
fasting is allowed. The waning and waxing of the moon became associated with
the fate of Israel which is compared in the Talmud to the moon. In the Kabbalah
these ideas were interpreted so as to convey the mystery of the exile of the
Shekhinah [God's presence], brought about by the sins of Israel.
According to the doctrine of the Sefirot [a kabbalistic
notion of the divine emanations], the sun represents Tiferet and the
moon MaIkhut, the Shekhinah, hence
the mythically charged notion that the exile of the Shekhinah from Her Spouse,
the disharmony in the Sefirotic realm, is caused by Israel's sinfulness, and
harmony above will only be fully restored when Israel repents. Everything in
the great cosmic drama is leading up to the coming of the Messiah. With the
advent of the Messiah the exile of the "holy moon," the Shekhinah,
will be ended. The new moon is welcomed as evidence of the future redemption of
the Shekhinah from Her exile but, on the day before, Yom Kippur Katan, there
has to be prayer, fasting, and supplication in order to find atonement for the
sins committed during the previous month and thus hasten the redemption.
Louis Jacobs, a
British rabbi and theologian, currently serves as rabbi of the New London
Synagogue. Rabbi Jacobs lectures at University College in London and at
Lancaster University. He is the author of numerous books including Jewish
Values, Beyond Reasonable Doubt, and
Hasidic Prayer.
Excerpted with permission from The
Jewish Religion: A Companion, Oxford University Press.© Louis Jacobs,
1995. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of
this material may be stored, transmitted, retransmitted, lent, or reproduced in
any form or medium without the permission of Oxford University Press.
