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...

If you have not said Kiddush L'vana yet this month, you still have the opportunity to "greet the Divine Presence" for another few days. This Motza'ei Shabbat is fine, as is Sunday night, and even Monday evening, but only until 7:00pm (in Israel). This time is calculated by adding 14 days 18 hours and 22 minutes to the previous Molad. 14:18:22 is half of a lunation, the time between successive Moladot (average). The moment is called the NIGUD (opposition) and it is Full Moon (based on average, not actual, figures). 

And here's the point. The timing of the Moon around the Earth, through its phases, varies from month to month. At 8:00pm this coming Monday night (an hour after the deadline for saying K.L.) the moon will not yet appear to be diminishing (and it would then be inappropriate and improper to say K.L. any more this month). In fact, real full moon is not until Tuesday morning. So "really" we should be able to still say K.L. all Monday night. Except we accept the p'sak of the Rama that 14d 18h 22m after the Molad (avg.) is the deadline for the bracha, regardless of when full moon actually is. That's the way it works.