WORD OF THE MONTH

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... 

This Shabbat we "bench" Rosh Chodesh Iyar, which will be on Yom Sheni (Monday) and Yom Sh'lishi (Tuesday)

The Molad will be Monday morning, 25 minutes and 11 chalakim after 6
Note: This is the way the Molad is announced everywhere in the world. The announced time is not to be adjusted for time zones or for daylight savings time.

Rambam's notation of the Molad looks different (but it is the same time) because he counts hours from the night before the day (in other words, rather than counting hours from midnight, he starts counting from 6:00pm) and he does not use minutes, just hours and chalakim (which means 1080 chalakim to an hour rather than 18 chalakim to a minute and 60 minutes to an hour - 18x60=1080). The Molad according to Rambam is YOM SHENI 12 hours 461 chalakim

Here's where you can adjust the time. The Molad will be Monday (April 23rd) 7:05am Israel Summer Time.

The three Molad times so far mentioned are all the same, i.e. the Molad of Iyar based on calculating averages.

The actual, astronomical Molad will be Monday at 6:27pm IST.

These last two times - 7:05am and 6:27pm can be adjusted for your time zone. E.g. the announced Molad (as above) is equivalent to 12:05am EDT and the actual Molad is 11:27am EDT

With the Molad on Monday morning, 3 days makes Thursday morning. First op for Kiddush L'vana (Minhag Yerushalayim) is Thursday night, April 19th