Talk:Rosh Chodesh

Modification Project: Cleanup, linking, references, and additional content

I'm going to be working on some modifications to this page over the course of the next few days. This is my first foray into working on a wiki, so it might be slow-going. I plan to clean up the text (while preserving the work of the original author(s) where I think it appropriate), add references, additional links/print resources, and more information about the modern observance of Rosh Chodesh. I also plan to link this page a bit better, tying it to the Judaism page and the Jewish Feminism page, among others. I welcome any comments or suggestions concerning my work. I see that several people have been working hard on this page and I hope to make a respectful, helpful contribution. RainaB 22:30, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Disputed

lede and photo caption: unsourced definition

Several facts contradict the false statement in the lede: "the new moon in the Hebrew calendar is marked by the day and hour that the new crescent is observed." and as the photo caption: "In Judaism, a new moon begins in a new month".

"Rosh Chodesh is still announced in synagogues on the preceding Shabbat" because it is forecast. It is false to say that it is based on the observance of a first crescent (as with Islam).

"The name of the new month, and the day of the week on which it falls, is given during the prayer." It is announced in advance, not after a crescent observed.

"Some communities customarily precede the prayer by an announcement of the exact date and time of the new moon, referred to as the molad, or birth." The birth is a calculated time. The ancient Babylonians were able to calculate this moment with great precision. It is ridiculous to assert that the Jews lacked this knowledge. The evidence is that they had this knowledge.

Mahar Chodesh ("Tomorrow is the New Moon", I Samuel 20:18-42) is ample statement that the speaker knew that a new moon was coming and did not need to wait after it was observed and announced.

Seeing the crescent merely confirmed that the calculation was correct. The birth of the new moon is essentially the same as the astronomical new moon (conjunction). There is no contrast. 173.13.107.101 (talk) 00:36, 6 October 2014 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Rosh Chodesh/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

At the beginning of the article, at the right side, is a photograph of what is supposed to be a new moon in the evening sky. Most of us live in the northern hemisphere. In the northern hemisphere, the new crescent moon in the evening sky always points to the left. The crescent in the photograph points to the right, and is either an old crescent moon in the morning sky, or else a new moon seen in the southern hemisphere. It is a common mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Kepipesiom (talk) 14:36, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Last edited at 14:36, 24 May 2009 (UTC). Substituted at 20:13, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

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Announcement

I'm thinking we need to play with this just a bit. The molad as announced (or used for Kiddush Levana) actually has nothing particular to do with the real astronomical new moon (conjunction time) per se. Rather, it is simply the next in a series of intervals, each of which is equal to the mean length of the astronomical new moon period. To be sure, that number remains quite accurate. (See New moon § Jewish calendar.) But that was part of Hillel II's simplification. The actual length of the lunar conjunctions varies by several hours according to some overlapping sinusoidal curves, the most prominent of which has a period of about 14 months. And using that would have been too complicated in general; hence, using a fixed interval instead.

This section should be revised to reflect this. Anyone want to take it on? StevenJ81 (talk) 17:02, 25 September 2019 (UTC)