Subject: Re: The New Moon
Date:    Thu, 23 Apr 1998 23:35:23 +0000
To:      "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

>
>From:          Watchman on the Wall
>To:            <heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
>Subject:       Question : Moons
>
>Shalom Eddie,
>
>I have a question for you. I believe in the setting of months by the
>new moon, and that the spring equinox sent notice that the next new
>moon was the first month and thus 14 days past that new moon began the
>feast of passover. Now, my question is this:  How do we establish this
>fact via the word. I have looked up "new moon" , "months", "feasts",
>etc.?  But the simple statement that we begin our calandar by the
>first new moon after the Spring Equinox and not spring equinox evades
>me.
>
>There are some who teach that the ancient Hebrews used a solar
>calandar therefore the current dating and celebrating of passover is
>off and should have been on April 4th this year. I disagree with them,
>but want better proof than to just list the number of times the word
>new moon and feasts are connected.
>
>Thanks in advance
>
>Christina
>

From:          Westley Hall
To:            <heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Subject:       Re: The New Moon

Shalom Christina,

In the Jewish calander, every year there are 12 normal months and every so
often, a "leap month" is added in to even up the calander (with the seasons)
since a lunar month is between 28 - 30 days (every month).  This would make
Nissan 1 sometimes fall before or after the spring equinox depending on how
long it was to the next leap month. This being the case, the spring equinox
doesn't figure in to the Jewish calander at all, but was used by the Roman
church to determine when to celebrate Easter Sunday. One interesting fact to
note is that the Hebrew word for month is Chodesh which comes from the root
of the word Chadash (New).  This is a direct referance to the new moon.
More evidence of this fact is found in Mishna Yoma (the mishna tractate for
Yom Kipporim).  In this text, the system for determining the begining of the
month is explained in detail- when someone who was a valid witness (it
defines who is a valid witness) saw the new moon, he would go to Jerusalem
to the cort of the Sanhedrin and report it.  They had to have two witnesses
for this who could not be directly related.  This was especially important
on the months where feasts were celebrated since the begining of the month
is vital for calculating the day of the feast(s).  If the new moon was not
visible, they assumed the day after the latest expected appearance of the
new moon was the first day of the month.  There is much more on this subject
and I hope you find all the answers you are looking for.

-Westley

>From Eddie:
**************

      You might want to get a copy of the Encyclopedia Judaica and 
look up the article "new moon". It is very good and will provide you 
with a good backround about the new moon.

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From: HaShalom
To:       heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The New Moon


                          NEW MOON - ROSH CHODESH

In the Bible the beginning of each new month begins on the New Moon.
The Biblical calendar is based on the moon and not the sun as is the
case with our western calendar. The reason given by the rabbis for
this is that the sun was worshiped primarily by the pagans in the past
whereas the moon was minor in comparison to the sun. So God said my
people will not use what the heathens have made into a god. It is also
forbidden to worship the moon. 

19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the
stars--all the heavenly array--do not be enticed into bowing down to
them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all
the nations under heaven. 
                                    Devarim 4:19 (Deuteronomy)

There are twelve or thirteen months in a Biblical year. They are
Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Chesvan, Kislev, Tevet,
Shevat, Adar and Adar II. The lunar year has 354 days as compared to
the solar calendar which has 365 days. If an ex tra month was not
added every so often the festivals like Passover would move backward
every year. Instead of Passover being in the spring, in time it would
move to the winter, fall, summer, and back to the spring again. In
order to avoid this problem a n extra month called Adar II is added
every so often. Modern Judaism adds the thirteenth month 7 times
during a 19 year cycle: 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19. This is not how it
was accomplished in the first century. The extra month was added based
upon agricultural conditions in the land of Israel. (Sanhedrin 11b).
The extra month would be added depending if the lambs were being born,
the almond trees blossoming and how the barley harvest was
progressing. In this way God could affect the agriculture and adjust
the calendar as He desired. If for some reason He wanted Passover to
be early in the year there would be a short or mild winter. If He
wanted Passover to arrive later, then winter would last longer. 

The current Jewish calendar has its origin in the fourth century A.D.
It is credited to Hillel II in the years 358/359. As had happened in
the past the Romans decreed that the Jews were not to celebrate the
New Moon or announce it. So Hillel II establi shed a fixed calendar so
the people would know when to celebrate the festivals. The current
Jewish calendar was finalized no earlier than the 10th century A.D. 


                        HOW THE NEW MOON WAS DETERMINED

During the first centuries the New Moon was determined by witnesses
seeing the New Moon and traveling to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem to
give their account.  Something to keep in mind is that the Biblical day begins at
night when the sun goes down. This is from Bereishit (Genesis) where
it states: 

                        And there was evening, and there was
                        morning-the first day.
                                       Bereishit 1:5b (Genesis)

The witnesses would be questioned as to what they saw and from their
testimony it would be determined if the New Moon had been seen. All
the people that came to Jerusalem as witnesses would be fed so as to
encourage people to report the sighting of the New Moon. The
importance of announcing the New Moon is seen by the fact that the
people were allowed to violate the Sabbath to get to Jerusalem to
report the sighting.. For example, they were permitted to ride a horse
on the Sabbath to report the New Moon whereas normally this kind of
activity was prohibited on the Sabbath. The reason they questioned the
witnesses is that the Sadducees and the Samaritans would deliberately
lie when they had seen the New Moon in order to disrupt the calendar.
Now you can see why the Sadducees and Samaritans were hated. 

Once two valid witnesses had been heard they would still listen to all
those who arrived to testify in order to encourage people who saw the
New Moon to ride to Jerusalem and report to the Sanhedrin. Once all
the witnesses were heard the head of the cour t would say, "Hallowed"
and the people would respond with "Hallowed". Since the lunar month is
either 29 or 30 days if they did not sight the New Moon for what ever
reason by the 30th day the next day would automatically be the first
of the next month. 

After this the announcement of the New Moon had to be relayed to all
the Jewish communities in the world. At one time they would light
fires on specific hilltops in order to get the message to Babylon.
However, the Samaritans would light other fires a day early and later
to confuse the people in the out lying areas. The Samaritans were not
loved by the Jews. It was because of this that messengers were sent by
horseback to deliver the message. Unfortunately it took up to 14 days
to get the message to some places. Instead they established the custom
for communities outside of Israel to celebrate most of the Festivals
for two days instead of one. This way they knew they celebrated the
festival on at least one of the correct days. This custom still 
exists in Judaism today. 


                                   CELEBRATED IN THE PAST

The following verses show that the New Moon was celebrated and the
various activities that happened on that day.

28 The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron's descendants in the
service of the temple of the Lord: to be in charge of the courtyards,
the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the
performance of oth er duties at the house of God. 29They were in
charge of the bread set out on the table, the flour for the grain
offerings, the unleavened wafers, the baking and the mixing, and all
measurements of quantity and size. 30 They were also to
stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the
same in the evening 31and whenever burnt offerings were presented to
the L-rd on Sabbaths and at New Moon festivals and at appointed
feasts. They were to serve before the Lord regularly in the proper
number and in the way prescribed for them. 

                                1 Divery Hayamim 23:28-31 (Chronicles)

5 So David said, "Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival, and I am
supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field
until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 

18 Then Jonathan said to David: "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. You
will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 

24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon festival came, the
king sat down to eat. 25 He sat in his customary place by the wall,
opposite Jon athan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David's place was
empty. 26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, "Something must
have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean--surely he is
unclean." 27 But the next day, the second day of the month, David's
place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, "Why hasn't
the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?"
                                  Shmu'el 20:5, 18, 24-27 (Samuel).

23"Why go to him today?" he asked. "It's not the New Moon or the
Sabbath." "It's all right," she said. 
                                      2 Melechim 4:23 (Kings)

5 After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon
sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred feasts of
the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. 
                                            Ezra 3:5

32 "We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give
a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God:
33 for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings
and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moon
festivals and appointed feasts; for the holy offerings; for sin
offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the
house of our God. 
                                   Nechemiah 10:32-33 (Nehemiah)


                                CELEBRATED IN THE FUTURE

These following verses show that the New Moon and Sabbath will be
observed in the Millennium and its Temple. 

>From one New Moon to another and one Sabbath to another, all mankind
will come and bow down before me, says the Lord. 
                                      Yeshayahu 66:23 (Isaiah)

17 It will be the duty of the prince to provide the burnt offerings,
grain offerings and drink offerings at the festivals, the New Moons
and the Sabbaths--at all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel.
He will provide the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings
and fellowship offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel. 
                                      Yechezkel 45:17 (Ezekiel)

1 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court
facing east is to be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath
day and on the New Moon it is to be opened. 2The prince is to enter
from the outside through the portico of the gateway and stand by the
gatepost. The priests are to sacrifice his burnt offering and his
fellowship offering. He is to worship at the threshold of the gateway
and then go out, but the gate will not be shut until evening. 3On the
Sabbaths and New Moons the people of the land are to worship in the
presence of the Lord at the entrance to that gateway.
                                      Yechezkel 46:1-3 (Ezekiel)

The New Moon is so important that there is a specific place in the
Millennial Temple where it will be celebrated. 

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