While the world has been centered around the sun, Jews have always looked to the moon. Though some Jewish practices do rely on the solar calendar, for thousands of years every month, the Jews have searched the night skies to bless the moon.

The moon cycle doesn’t just shape our monthly calendar, but the very act of intimacy.

Just as the moon throbs- ebbing and flowing, so do women with their menstrual cycle. And it is this cycle that determines when a couple can touch and be intimate every month.

It’s not just the practical implications but the deeper meaning as well. The moon waxes and wanes, disappearing from sight yet always reemerging. A couples love and passion too may sometimes feel like they’re gone, but then there is renewal and it suddenly glows again.

In Jewish tradition, god initially created the sun and moon as celestial equals. The moon complained to god asking, “How can two kings wear one crown?” because of this, God diminished the moon and made its light dependent on the sun, reflecting off of it.

In Judaism, in this imperfect world we inhabit, men are likened to the sun and women to the moon. according to chassidic teachings, the masculine gives and the feminine receives- comparable to the act of intercourse. The moon too receives light given from the sun.

But unlike the sun, always exposed, the moon is mysterious. Like the moon, feminine sexuality is wavelike and in a constant state of motion. Yet, (according to science) we revolve around the sun.

Historically, this has been true. It’s been a man’s world. But this is a state of imperfection. This dynamic is not the ultimate.

We are told that when redemption comes with Mashiach, the moon will be restored to its full glory. We are now ushering in that era, refining the world to it’s more perfect state- when the moon and the feminine reclaim their own individual beaming light.