782. What’s special about Rosh Chodesh Teves?
In the days of the Beis Hamikdash the first day of Teves was celebrated as a special day. In addition to celebrating the festival of Chanukah (from the time that it was established) and Rosh Chodesh, it was one of the dates, as recorded in the Gemara, that the Par’osh family merited to donate the wood used on the mizbeach (altar). (Another date associated with the wood donations of the Par’osh Family is the fifth of Menachem-Av.) When the Beis Hamikdash will be rebuilt—may it be now—we will again celebrate this joyous occasion.
In shul, we read from two sifrei Torah. From the first sefer, we read the parashah (portion) of Rosh Chodesh for the first three aliyos (“callings-up”). Then, the second sefer Torah is placed on the bimah (reading table) alongside the first (so as not to leave the bimah without a sefer Torah), and the parashah of the nesi’im ([the gifts of] the heads of the tribes) for the sixth day of Chanukah is read: “On the sixth day…” (Rosh Chodesh Teves is always the sixth day of Chanukah; whenever Rosh Chodesh Teves is two days, they are the sixth and seventh day of Chanukah.)
It is customary not to cut hair on Rosh Chodesh, even when it falls on erev Shabbos as per the tzava’ah (will) of Rabbi Yehudah Hachasid, since it is considered chashash sakanah (a possible danger). The tzava’ah also cautions against cutting nails on Rosh Chodesh—also on Friday—but this particular warning is not found in other halachic sources.