Ask The Rabbi

Ask The Rabbi

category:  Holidays

Women Working on Rosh Chodesh

I understand that on Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the new Jewish month), women are not allowed to perform certain melachot (kinds of work which are forbidden to do on Shabbat and Yomtov), in merit of the fact that they came speedily to contribute to the building of the sanctuary in the Sinai desert, more so than the men, and also in merit of their not contributing gold to the construction of the golden calf. My problem is that if I won’t go to work on Rosh Chodesh, I will likely be fired from my job, and I need to support my family.

In the Shulchan Oruch it states “and the custom of women who do not perform melachot on Rosh Chodesh is a good one.”


Some melachot are customarily refrained from and others are not. Women are permitted to work for income because that was not included in the activities they took upon themselves to refrain from. (Aruch haShulchan)

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