Shabbat, New Moons and Cosmic Timing
Kabbalah sees time as a cycle of energies, not a flat line. Shabbat and each new moon are described as windows when connecting is easier.
We usually think of time as a straight road: Monday, Tuesday, next year. Kabbalah treats it more like a wheel. Certain moments come back around, and each carries its own spiritual energy. Rav Berg taught that aligning your efforts with these cycles makes the inner work easier.
Shabbat: a weekly reset
The Sabbath, from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall, is the heart of the Kabbalistic week. In Rav Berg's teaching, Shabbat is less a day of rules than a weekly window when the Light is especially available – a time to recharge the soul, the way you'd plug in a phone. Even if you don't keep a traditional Shabbat, you can borrow its spirit: a shared meal, candles, time without screens, a deliberate pause from getting and spending.
Rosh Chodesh: the new moon
Each Hebrew month begins with the new moon, called Rosh Chodesh ("head of the month"). Kabbalah treats the new moon like a seed: whatever energy you plant at the start of the month grows through it. His school describes each month as carrying its own qualities, connected to a sign of the zodiac and to particular Hebrew letters, and recommend using the new moon to set intentions and to ask what that month's challenge will be.
Kabbalistic astrology
Rav Berg wrote about astrology in Kabbalistic Astrology (first published as Astrology: The Star Connection). His key teaching was that the stars impel; they don't compel. Planets and signs may describe the tendencies you're born with, but your choices – proactive or reactive – decide what you do with them. Astrology, in this view, is a map of your tikkun, not a sentence.
The holidays
The traditional Jewish holidays – Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Passover and more – are taught in this school as annual cosmic windows, each offering a particular kind of energy, from renewal to freedom from the ego.