Parashat Shoftim 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... 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... With the Molad of Elul occurring a bit after midnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, August 29-30, the earliest time for Kidush L'vana would be 72 hours later, which is early Shabbat morning. That makes the first opportunity of K.L. this month is Motza'ei Shabbat Parshat Sho'f'tim, September 2nd. Seven-day people would start saying it next Wednesday night. With the actual Molad being about 12 hours earlier than the announced Molad, the Moon was nicely visible on Wednesday evening, its first night of visibility. The Israel New Moon Society had asked observers in the UK and Norway, where visibility was very borderline, to report their observations (or lack thereof). It was for practice purposes that they were ask for their observations, not because witnesses from abroad would actually be able to testify before the Sanhedrin. The society's goals include the improvement of observations and in their predictions, in order to assist a Sanhedrin of the (near) future to better perform the mitzva of Kidush HaChodesh.
[The Shoftim Homepage]
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