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I am vaguely aware that in some Orthodox communities, there are Women's Rosh Chodesh celebrations. As I do not live in such a community (and in any case am not a woman), I don't really have any idea what goes on in such an event. I imagine there is usually some learning; I have also seen references online to reading Tehillim or special Rosh Chodesh tekhines, but these lack specifics. I have also seen a number of sites that talk about inventing modern Jewish women's rituals, but these mostly seem to be aimed at a non-Orthodox audience.

I don't expect any kind of definitive answer of what should be done -- I assume there is no normative halakha on this -- but it would be very helpful to have a sense of the parameters governing what could be done, or what is typical at such events.

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  • Some women have a custom not to do Melakha on Rosh Chodesh (pseudo-source)
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 0:23
  • What could be done would certainly be on topic.what is done, might not be.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 3:15
  • @mevaqesh I am certainly interested in both, but presumably (?) if these are events sponsored by Orthodox organizations, and done with the approval of an Orthodox rabbi, then what is done would be a subset of what may be done.
    – mweiss
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 3:18
  • @mweiss Agreed.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Dec 23, 2016 at 11:42
  • @mevaqesh what is done for rosh chodesh as an expression of Judaism is squarely on-topic.
    – msh210 ♦
    Commented Dec 25, 2016 at 19:47

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Historically, there was a precedent for women (and, I guess men, as well) to visit the prophet as we see in Kings II 4:23. I assume, then, that this may have set a precedent for women to gather on Rosh Hodesh to hear a shiur from the rav followed by a Rosh Hodesh seudah (meal).

This is done in my neighborhood - one consisting of numerous shuls - I stopped counting them! For practical reasons, though, few shiurim are done on Rosh Hodesh, itself unless it's on Shabbat. Usually it is done on the Shabbat preceding Rosh Hodesh. Most women either work or are busy with their kids during mid-week.

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