Comments on Astro Torah: Korban Pesach in the Sky

I apologize, but even with all that I forgot a maj...

2012-01-27T10:37:48.895-05:00

I apologize, but even with all that I forgot a major point. Additionally, the Molad is taken into account for Rosh Hashana and from there we have a set amount of days per month (with 2 exceptions of cheshvan and Teves), so once th calendar is in "in motion" for the year then the Molad doesn't even have to be so close to Rosh Chodesh. (There are times when even Rosh Hashana is not on th day of the Molad, but that it is a whole different story.)

That is a great question! The Molad is the estimat...

2012-01-27T09:24:24.346-05:00

That is a great question! The Molad is the estimated time of a lunar conjunction. That means that it is actually estimating a time when the moon is not visible, but about to begin the process of becoming visible. A lunar conjunction is when the moon is in line with the sun and earth so the sun's light is actually being completely reflected back into space with none of it seen from Earth (the reason why there is no lunar eclipse at this time, generally, is because the moon is usually a little higher or lower than the direct line, but in terms of the reflected light, there is no angle that it can be seen from Earth). From this point, the moon will start to "move" away from from the sun which will allow some of the light to reflect off the sides of the moon and make that sliver seen from Earth (first easy visibility is on average 24 hours after the conjunction). Our current calendar bases everything on the Molad and not the visibility. Additionally, the announced Molad is not intended to announce the actual conjunction, rather, the estimated conjunction based on hte average amount of time between conjunctions (29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 1/3 seconds) The actual conjunction can be significantly off from this estimation. Chazal only instated a calendar that would keep things in line with the seasons, but did not see the need to have the new months actually dependent on a real new moon. Averages accomplish this task. Sorry for the long winded answer.

A question prompted by my 6 year old daughter: ...

2012-01-26T17:52:16.935-05:00

A question prompted by my 6 year old daughter:

Rosh Chodesh Shvat was yesterday January 25th. What then is reason for the secular calendar designating January 23rd as having the "New Moon."

Akiba