Parshat Eikev

A weekly feature of Torah Tidbits to help clarify practical and conceptual aspects of the Jewish Calendar, thereby better fulfilling the mitzva of HaChodesh HaZeh Lachem....

We bench Rosh Chodesh Elul this Shabbat, August 15th. Shabbat is 23 of Menachem Av. The 23rd of the month is the earliest possible date for Mevorchim. Av has 30 days in our fixed calendar; therefore Elul always has two days Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh Elul will be the following Shabbat and the day after, Sunday. In Hebrew we will say:

ROSH CHODESH ELUL Y'H'YE B'YOM SHABBAT KODESH U'L'MOCHRATO* B'YOM RISHON HABA ALEINU V'AL KOL YISRA'EL L'TOVA.

* The word U'L'MORCH'RATO, and its morrow, is properly used only when Rosh Chodesh is Shabbat and Sunday. Since there is another Sunday between Rosh Chodesh benching and Rosh Chodesh, we identify which Sunday we mean in this way.

The molad will be next Shabbat, 18h 11m 14p. That's how we announce it in shul. It translates to 6:51pm on Shabbat afternoon, summertime (Israel). The actual Molad (the astronomical moment when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth) will be 4:02am on Shabbat morning.

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