The Israel New Moon Society functions with two related goals in mind: To practice watching for the first visibilty of the lunar crescent and to test the reliability and accuracy of existing computer programs that can be used by a Sanhedrin of the future to provide the details that they are required to know before the arrival of potential witnesses. The implication in last week’s TT piece on the hypothetical Shabbaton participant in Tzfat who just happened to notice the moon on its night of first visibility, notwithstanding, it has been reported that of 11 experienced “molad watchers”, all with good vantage points and knowledge of what and where to look, only two saw the L’VANA B’CHIDU- SHA. Neither “witness” would qualify before the Sanhedrin, by the way. The point is - it isn’t as easy as you think. [The
Parshat Emor Homepage]
|
