Tefillah le-Rosh Chodesh — A Prayer for Rosh Chodesh (The New Month)

A wondrous prayer for the days of Rosh Chodesh, to be recited each Rosh Chodesh,

by the Gaon Rabbi Nachman of Tcherin,

brought in his book Tefillot ve-Tachanunin.

The beginnings of months You gave to Your people as a time of atonement for all their descendants.

Master of the Universe:

Grant me, within the whole community of Israel, the merit to raise all our children

to Torah, to the wedding canopy, and to good deeds.

Deliver us from this time forward from every kind of grief in raising children, God forbid,

and draw down from now on, upon us and upon all who come forth from our loins,

good and long life.

Master of the Universe:

You have made known to us that the death of children while they are young — may the Merciful One protect us —

flows from the secret of the moon's diminishment,

from which derives the aspect of 'me'erat' — the word for light, written deficiently without a vav —

which corresponds to the croup that strikes the young, God forbid.

And You have made known to us as well

that at Rosh Chodesh, when the moon begins to fill and to be repaired,

that is a time of atonement for all their descendants,

for then atonement, forgiveness, and sweetening are drawn down

upon all the descendants of Israel,

so that good and long life may flow upon them.

Therefore, spare us and have compassion upon us,

and grant us the merit to receive the holiness of Rosh Chodesh as is fitting.

May it be Your will

to bring us up in joy to our Land and to plant us within our borders,

and there we will bring before You our obligatory offerings,

the daily sacrifices in their order and the additional sacrifices according to their law,

and the additional offerings of Rosh Chodesh we will perform and bring before You with love,

as the commandment of Your will,

as You wrote for us in Your Torah through Moses Your servant, from Your own glorious speech, as it is said:

'And on the beginnings of your months you shall offer a burnt offering to Adonai:

two young bulls, one ram,

seven yearling lambs without blemish,

and their meal offering, and so forth.'

For in Your people Israel You chose from all the nations,

and the statutes of Rosh Chodesh You established for them.

Master of the Universe:

You have made known to us that when one engages with the scriptural portion of the offerings,

it is accounted before You as though one had brought all the offerings in their proper time and place, according to their law.

Therefore, may it be Your will

that through the recitation of the passage beginning 'And on the beginnings of your months'

at whatever time we recite that passage,

even when it is not Rosh Chodesh,

it shall be accounted before You as though we had brought the Rosh Chodesh offering in its time.

And through this, draw down the aspect of repair and fullness of the moon,

and through this may atonement, forgiveness, and sweetening be drawn down

upon all the descendants of Israel,

that they may be granted good and long life.

And grant us the merit to fulfill the commandment of the blessing of Kiddush Levanah

each month in its proper time.

May it be Your will to fill the diminishment of the moon,

that there be no deficiency in her at all,

and may the light of the moon be as the light of the sun,

as the light of the seven days of Creation,

as it was before her diminishment,

as it is said: 'The two great luminaries.'

And may there be fulfilled in us the verse that is written:

'And they shall seek Adonai their God and David their king.'

Amen.