Chanuka & Rosh Chodesh

30 Kislev 5770
(Rosh Chodesh – 6^th Day of Chanukah, at night we light 7 candles)

Besides Chanukah, today we also celebrate Rosh Chodesh Tebet.

The month of Tebet is the tenth Hebrew month counting from Nisan. The name Tebet was coined in Babylonia, as is the case with the names of the other Hebrew months.

Rosh Chodesh Tebet is sometimes observed as one day and sometimes –for example, this year- as two days because Kislev, the preceding month, is sometimes "full" (consisting of 30 days) and sometimes not (consisting of only 29 days).

The first day of Rosh Chodesh is the 30^th day of the preceding month, and the second day is the 1^st day of the new month. The month of Tevet itself always consists of precisely 29 days; because of this lack of variation in the length of Tevet, Rosh Chodesh of Shevat, the month which follows, always consists of only one day, namely, the 1^st of Shevat (from OU.org).

Today and tomorrow morning we say in the Amida (Lachash) Yaale veYabo and al haNisism and we read the full Halel. Then we take out two Sifre Torah . On the first one we read the Rosh Chodesh portion, but instead of dividing it into 4 parts (4 Alliot) as we do every Rosh Chodesh, we divide the reading into 3 Alliot. In the second Sefer Torah we read the part corresponding to the 6^th day of Chanukah. Tomorrow we will do the same thing except that in the second Sefer Torah we will read the text for the 7^th day of Chanukah.

Recommended link: A contemporary Chanukah: http://www.aish.com/h/c/s/70134357.html