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...

We bench Rosh Chodesh this Shabbat. There have been suggestions that we should not announce the month of Av because of the mournful nature of the month. The prevailing opinion, however, is that no month needs to be "benched" more than Av.
Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av will be on Yom Sheni (Monday).
ROSH CHODESH MENACHEM AV YIH-YEH B'YOM SHENI HABA ALEINU V'AL KOL YISRA'EL L'TOVA
The Molad is today, Shabbat Kodesh, 11 hours, 47 minutes, 15 chalakim
HAMOLAD YIH-YEH HAYOM, SHABBAT KODESH, ARBA'IM VASHEVA DAKOT V'CHAMEISH ESREI CHALAKIM ACHAREI ACHAT ESREI BA'BOKER
which is 12:27pm Israel Summer Time. Rambam notation: Shabbat 17h 861p.
Actual (astronomical) molad is 2:24pm Shabbat afternoon.
Note: With the molad occurring at 12:27pm on Shabbat, the announcement in Israel should be: The molad WILL BE...
But in North America, the molad occurs at 5:27am EDT, 2:27am PDT, etc. - meaning that by the time they (you) bench Rosh Chodesh, the molad will have occurred. Therefore, the announcement in shul in the US and Canada should be: The molad WAS...
That will sound wrong - the molad was 47 minutes 15 parts after 11 - when it's only 10:00am local time - but it is not wrong. It is correct to say WAS.
In England, the molad will be 10:27am local time. Depending upon when a particular shul gets up to Rosh Chodesh Benching, the gabbai will announce WAS, WILL BE, or maybe even The Molad is right now...
Please note that the time of the molad - 11h 47m 15p stays the same all over the world. Do not adjust to local time. Do not adjust for daylight savings time. The time stays as is. Just the way it converts to local clock time gets adjusted.

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