2005/03/12
Dear All,
The New Moon was seen clearly from Israel last night (Friday 11th March 2005). Rina Hoffman and I saw it at 18:07 and Baruch Ben Yosef at 18:11 from Maale Adumim. Despite thin high-level clouds, the Moon was easily visible. The Moon was already easily visible when we first saw it.
Now, an update on last month (Thursday 10th February 2005). Ehud Urieli saw the Moon briefly through a gap in the clouds from Hertzliya. This is in addition to Eli Slavin’s report from Kibbutz Saad that I posted a couple of weeks ago bringing the total of positive sightings from Israel last month to two.
Next month's New Moon might
be visible from
The Jewish calendar is a lunar-solar calendar. This means that in addition to fixing the start of each month, a decision has to be made for the start of each year in order to match the solar year. The calendar is kept in step by adding an extra month of Adar to make a 13th month. In the calculated calendar that we use today, this is done seven times in each 19-year cycle; on the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years. This year is the 8th year of the cycle and this New Moon is the start of the second month of Adar.
However, when the Sanhedrin fixes the calendar by observation (which is not the case today) it also decides each year if to add an extra month. It is interesting to consider what their decision might have been be especially as in the 19 year cycle, the 8th year is also the year that ends the latest relative to the solar year. There are three major criteria that may be used and it turns out that all three may be relevant this year. 1) If the 16th of Nissan would fall before the vernal equinox then a month is added. This year 16th Adar II (March 27th) is a few days after the equinox (March 20th) so we continue to the next criterion. 2) Will there be enough barley ripe to reap on the eve of Nissan 16th, grind into flour and sacrifice on the next day? For this, three regions are taken into consideration: Judea, Samaria and the East Bank of the Jordan. I have received reports that there are a few pockets of barley in Judea that will be ripe enough a few days before 16th Adar II. However, this is so marginal that it is unlikely that there will be ripe barley in Samaria which is cooler and wetter and it is questionable also on the East Bank of the Jordan because it is wetter than in Judea. If ripe barley is not available in Judea then an extra month is added. If barley is available in Judea and at least one of the other regions then no extra month is added. If barley is available only in Judea, as might be the case this year, then the third criterion comes into play. 3) Are the fruit trees that normally blossom in Nissan in flower by the end of Adar in order to provide first-fruits in time for Shavuot. Unfortunately, I am not an expert on this but it does seem quite possible that they are beginning to bloom.
It appears that this year the addition of an extra Adar would be an extremely marginal decision if the Sanhedrin were ruling the case. My best guess is that they would not have made this a leap year. In any case this is purely hypothetical as we add a second month of Adar this year according to our calculated calendar.
Yours,