seudas Rosh Chodesh

The Shem m’Shmuel makes the interesting observation that we never see in Tanach a portrayal of a Shabbos meal or a Yom Tov meal, but we do see a Rosh Chodesh meal (Shmuel I ch 20).  It’s not just coincidence.  He explains that each month corresponds to a particular sheivet [i.e. each sheivet embodied a particular type of avodah and that particular type of avodah is most easily achievable at a specific time of the year].  In truth, each Rosh Chodesh should be celebrated only by members of the sheivet that corresponds to the particular month.  If it’s not your month, you can’t relate to this type of avodah, so why are you celebrating?  However, Ya’akov Avinu, after blessing each sheivet individually, blessed them all together and gave them as a group the talents emphasized in each individual.  The achdus of Klal Yisrael brings to the tzibur as a whole the gifts of each individual member. 

There is nothing like a good meal to bring people together.  The seudah of Shabbos or of Yom Tov is a siman, something that makes us more aware of the intrinsic holiness of the day.  The seudah of Rosh Chodesh is a sibah, it is the active ingredient that creates the achdus that transforms the day from one of private celebration of a particular sheivet into a day of celebration for all of Klal Yisrael.