Kiddush Levanah Advisory

The custom amongst most Ashkenazim is to wait at least 72 hours after the molad to recite kiddush levanah. The announced molad for Rosh Chodesh Adar was less than a minute before midnight, Wednesday night. It is once again important to make it clear that this is Yerushalayim (local) time. Therefore, in the Eastern time zone, the molad was really before 5 pm. Therefore, North American Ashkenazim should be able to say Kiddush levanah this Motzaei Shabbos, weather permitting. (Note: According to scientific data, the true new moon occurred at 6:47 pm. If one wishes to wait a full 72 hours from that moment, it might be a close call for cities further east.)

קדוש לבנה Advisory

The מולד for this month was at 12:59am Thursday morning, ירושלים time. That translates to 5:59pm EST. If we were to subtract the 21 minutes from the conversion to Standard Time, that would make the מולד at 5:38pm. Many shuls on the Eastern Time Zone might very well be leaving shul at exactly that time on מוצאי שבת. Although I have previously advocated adjusting for the 21 minutes, my "Rabbinic Advisory board" has advised against it for concerns regarding the Equation of Time which at present, I don't quite understand.