Moonlit hike in Israel's desert highlights spiritual connection to lunar cycles

Night has fallen, and we are out on the trail again. This time, we’re traversing a desert canyon near Sde Boker. We walk along in the darkness in near silence, listening for sounds of movement from the shadows, our path lit only by the luminescent moon. In this light, the desert looks like a scene from a science fiction movie. Hills and valleys are illuminated in the gentle glow of moonlight, a landscape of white and tawny rock under a black sky with no sun.

Tonight, on the 14th day of the Hebrew month, we are on a mission to complete a moonlight hike, something that can properly take place only when the moon is high and bright in the sky. Although the night of the full moon is ideal for this adventure (usually, the 15th of the Hebrew month), a nearly full moon works almost as well.

Earlier in the afternoon, we had driven south towards Havarim Valley, a journey of less than two hours from our home near Jerusalem. With flashlights tucked away in our backpacks, we set out on the desert trail at sunset, taking in the most magnificently beautiful time of day. We witnessed the sky shift from pink to orange to purple and watched the desert dunes change color in the diminishing light. The moon was already up then; during the days leading up to the full moon, it ascends before dusk and sets just before dawn.

Throughout the month, the moon rises at different times each day. Hike on the 17th of the month, for example, and you won’t see the moon rise until a couple of hours after sunset. After that, as the days pass and the size of the moon dwindles, the moon rise occurs later each night. On Rosh Chodesh (the first of the month), the invisible new moon rises at dawn and sets at nightfall.

Spiritual significance of the moon in Judaism

MOST OF us don’t consider the moon’s cycle or how different phases of the moon could have practical implications for our own lives. Ancient man, on the other hand, possessed an understanding of the sun, the moon, and the stars, which was an essential part of his ability to mark time and navigate. For this reason, praying to celestial bodies was a fundamental component of spiritual life for most ancient peoples. Thus, the Torah warned Jews away from the worship of heavenly bodies, including the moon.

At the same time, the importance of the moon in Jewish tradition is clear. As opposed to the solar calendar adopted by most of the world, the Jews use a lunar calendar, balanced by corrections to account for the earth’s yearly orbit of the sun. Sanctification of the new moon is considered by religious commentators to be the first mitzvah, or commandment, given to the Israelites during their first days as a nation, after they were freed from Egyptian slavery. By marking time with our own sighting of the new moon, we were taught that we were masters of our own time and partners with God in the creation of His calendar.

There’s additional significance to using the moon, as opposed to the sun, to mark the Jewish calendar cycle. The sun is ever-present and unchanging, a constant. The moon, on the other hand, waxes and wanes, its light weakening and becoming stronger. Our sages have compared the moon to the Jewish people. No matter how dark it gets, or how bleak things appear, time moves forward, and both the moon and our nation become strong once again.

Out in Nahal Havarim, it’s easier to pick up on this message and to understand why the full moon was once considered to be a formidable force. Throughout our nighttime journey, we have no need for flashlights except for when we stop for a picnic dinner. (And then, only because food tastes far more delicious when you can see it.) After our picnic in a desert valley in the darkness, we manage to navigate along the rest of the moonlit path at Nahal Havarim with no need for artificial light.

Hiking this way, through the desert in the dark, feels spiritual somehow, as if we’ve completely turned ourselves over to God and the forces of nature. One can almost imagine what it must have felt like thousands of years ago for the Israelites, a new nation, who sojourned in the desert before electric light was even a thought. The complete darkness of the new moon each month must have been frightening.

For the ancient Israelites, the sanctification of the new moon turned an otherwise dark day into a day of hope for the month and the light and blessing that could come along with it. Modern Jews continue to mark the new month with Kiddush HaChodesh, a prayer of hope for the month ahead. Through this prayer and through natural observation of lunar phases in action, we can tune into the powerful biblical meaning behind the cycles of the moon.