On the first of Shevat in the year 2488 from creation, Moses convened the Jewish people and began the 37-day "review of the Torah" contained in the Book of Deuteronomy, which he concluded on the day of his passing on Adar 7 of that year.
Today is Rosh Chodesh (“Head of the Month”) for the month of Shevat.
Special portions are added to the daily prayers: Hallel (Psalms 113-118) is recited -- in its "partial" form -- following the Shacharit morning prayer, and the Yaaleh V'yavo prayer is added to the Amidah and to Grace After Meals; the additional Musaf prayer is said (when Rosh Chodesh is Shabbat, special additions are made to the Shabbat Musaf). Tachnun (confession of sins) and similar prayers are omitted.
Many have the custom to mark Rosh Chodesh with a festive meal and reduced work activity. The latter custom is prevalent amongst women, who have a special affinity with Rosh Chodesh -- the month being the feminine aspect of the Jewish Calendar.
Links:
The Jewish Month of Shevat
The Laws of Rosh Chodesh
How Does a Jewish Woman Celebrate Rosh Chodesh?
Your mind is held hostage and cannot speak with your heart.
That is how the master of the Kabbalah, the Ari, describes the enslavement of Ancient Egypt as it plays out within the human soul.
You understand very well how you should be. You envision all that you could become. But your heart does not hear of it, and runs wild.
So nothing changes. You remain a mindless slave to the moment.
Indeed, the Hebrew letters that spell Pharaoh are the same as those for the Hebrew word oref, "the back of the neck."
Pharaoh grabs you from the back of your neck and strangles your wisdom.
He hijacks your mind so your thoughts are devoted to building pointless structures up to the sky, chasing ephemeral pleasures, wasting time on nonsense, and swelling the ego, not allowing more than a trickle of your higher mind to enter your dry, sleeping heart.
How will you escape?
Go out of yourself and do something purely good, a mitzvah that feels far beyond your self-image.
Forget yourself, the limits of your understanding, the coldness of your heart.
Wrapped together within a light utterly beyond them all, mind, body, heart and soul will surrender and bond in perfect union.
With one small deed, you have liberated yourself from bondage.