Rosh Chodesh Av By: Machberes Avodas Hashem The Kabbalists use different verses to focus on the Name of God during the Mussaf – Additional prayer – on Rosh Chodesh – The New Month. They use the following verse on Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av: ”Moses and the Cohanim, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, Be Attentive and Hear O Israel.” (Deuteronomy 27:9) The Ibn Ezra explains that there are two steps, “be attentive”, and “hear”. He applies the steps of this verse to Shema: One must be attentive to what one hears in Shema. How does this reflect God’s attributes? How do we use this to concentrate on God’s Name in our Rosh Chodesh prayer? God speaks to us in layers. We must listen, as the people of Israel did not to the warning of the prophets before the destruction of Jerusalem. We must listen to and hear the messages God sends, even during a month of tragedy; the month of Av. Once we listen and ...