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...

Not only is B'reishit the first Shabbat M'vorchim of the year, it is also the ONLY sedra that is always M'vorchim. Always. Hence, you will find in the middle pages, our annual Rosh Chodesh Benching sheet for 5764. May all our months be blessed.

The molad of Cheshvan will be on Shabbat afternoon; see the chart for details and text.

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan (always 2 days because Tishrei has 30 days) will be on Sunday and Monday. Again, see the chart for text.

First opportunity for Kiddush L'vana (according to Minhag Yerushalayim, the 3-full-days-after-the-molad opinion) is Tuesday night, October 28th. Even if the Moon seems small to you on Tuesday night, the numbers are correct and that is the first (and best) op. Many will wait for Motza'ei Shabbat, November 1st. One way or the other... CHODESH TOV!

Birchat Hachodesh
We bench Rosh Chodesh as a commemoration of the practice in the time of the Sanhedrin (past AND future) of proclaiming Rosh Chodesh based on the testimony of eye-witnesses who saw the “first visibility of the lunar crescent”. We pray for a good month, announce the Molad (the instant of the new moon), and announce the day(s)of the upcoming Rosh Chodesh. The introductory passage is modified for this monthly use from a prayer composed by RAV, as mentioned in the Gemara, originally intended by its author for daily use.

Notice that we ask G-d to "give us a life of..." 12 times - corresponding to the number of months in a year. Also notice that among the requests, we ask for YIR'AT SHAMAYIM twice. There are (at least) two explanations to this fact. The first time we ask for YIR'AT SHAMAYIM, it is linked with "fear of sin", fear of punishment. This is the basic level of YIR'AT SHAMAYIM, a feeling motivated by YIR'A, fear. But the second time we ask for YIR'AT SHAMAYIM, it is paired with AHAVAT TORAH, love of Torah. This is a higher level of YIR'AT SHAMAYIM, better translated (perhaps) as REVERENCE for G-d, this time motivated by love. When our YIR'AT SHAMAYIM reaches that exalted level, then we can ask for a "life that G-d will fulfill the requests of our hearts to the good".

The other explanation of our asking for YIR'AT SHAMAYIM twice is that after asking the first time, we ask G-d for wealth and honor. A person so blessed, would need to ask for YIR'AT SHAMAYIM again, since wealth and honor are two things that lead a person to the arrogant feeling of self-accomplishment. It is relatively "easy"to achieve YIR'AT SHAMAYIM when one is poor; the humility that usually accompanies poverty helps one achieve Fear of G-d. With wealth and honor, we need to ask for YIR'AT SHAMAYIM again.

The Molad
The Tradition is to announce the Molad in Jerusalem Solar Time. In the chart below you will find the (suggested) wording for the announcement of the Molad, followed by the time of the Molad in D/h/m/p notation, in [square brackets]. This time is used by Jews all over the world in Rosh Chodesh Benching, without adjusting for time zones or daylight savings time. The chart below has three additional times of the Molad, for your further edification. From right to left, after the name of the month is the average Molad in Rambam’s notation. This is the same time as the one we announce, but it differs in form in two ways. Rather than midnight being the “zero hour”, Rambam uses the previous 6:00pm as his starting point for the day. Therefore, if the Molad of Shvat (check the chart) is a little after 7:00 in the morning, in Rambam notation the hour will be 13 (adding the 6 hours from 6:00pm to midnight). Furthermore, Rambam does not use minutes in his notation.

Generally, AV HARACHAMIM is not said when we bench Rosh Chodesh, so continue with ASHREI (in your siddur).

On the two SHABBATOT MEVORCHIM during the OMER (for IYAR and SIVAN) we DO say AV HARACHAMIM (even if there is a person present who would usually "knock out" AV HARACHAMIM. And even if there is a BRIT MILA in the shul on that day.)

When we bench Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av, some say AV HARACHAMIM, some don't say it.

The opinion of the GR"A is not to say AV HARACHAMIM when we bench Rosh Chodesh (even during the Omer), except for Shabbat M’vorchim Menachem Av.

More on the Molad...
Rather than an hour having 60 minutes and a minute having 18 chalakim, Rambam uses 1080 chalakim in an hour (that’s 60 x 18). Again using Shvat as an example, 23 minutes and 9 chalakim become 423 chalakim (23 x 18 + 9). Render it all into Hebrew and you get the molad of Kislev being HEI (that’s Thursday) YUD-GIMMEL (that’s13 hours) and TAV-KAF-GIMMEL (that’s 423 chalakim). Looking at Tevet, you will realize that Rambam’s day of the molad is a day later than the “Traditional” Molad notation. But it refers to the same time.

The next box to the left is the same time, but expressed as clock time. To convert the Molad to local Israeli time (known as European time or Cairo horizon), we subtract 21 minutes (on average) in the winter and add 39 minutes during Summer Time. Unlike the “Traditional” Molad time and Rambam’s notation (which do not get adjusted), this clock time can (and should) be adjusted to your time zone (for informational purposes only — remember that the announcement of the Molad at Rosh Chodesh Benching is the same all over the Jewish World), by adding or subtracting the number of hours you are different from Israel. And the time is also adjusted for Daylight Savings Time. (But don’t change the “announcement time”.)

The box on the far left is the Actual Molad (astronomical). It differs from the average time partly because of Kepler’s Second Law of Planetary Motion (really it’s G-d’s Law of Planetary Motion, discovered by Kepler), which explains why the length of time from one Molad to the next is not always the same (as it is in the calculation of the Molad we use in our fixed calendar). The actual time of the Molad is not used for any halachic purpose today, but in the time of the Sanhedrin - may it be restored speedily in our time - it will be used to help determine the time of the first visibility of the lunar crescent, which in turn will be used by the Sanhedrin committee for Kidush HaChodesh to know if and when to await witnesses.

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