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...

Rosh Chodesh Av (always one day because Tammuz has 29 days in our fixed calendar) will be on WED, July 26th. When we bench Rosh Chodesh this Shabbat - and we most certainly do, despite some opinions that perhaps we ought not announce the coming of the month upon whose entrance, we minimize our joy - we refer to it as MENACHEM AV.

ROSH CHODESH MENACHEM AV YIH-YEH B'YOM R'VI'I HABA ALEINU V'AL KOL YISRA'EL L'TOVA

The molad as announced:
HAMOLAD YIH-YEH B'YOM SHLISHI, TEISHA DAKOT V'ARBA'A CHALAKIM ACHAREI SHEISH BA'EREV
which is TUE, 6:48pm Israel Summer Time
and in Rambam notation: (Yom) Dalet:166
Actual molad: TUE 25 JUL 07:31 summer time - that's 11h 17m earlier than the announced molad.
The molad at 7:31am is about 12½ hours before dark on Tuesday night. The moon on that night is not "old" (large) enough to be seen, meaning that if we had a Sanhedrin today, there would be no eye-witness testimony to the first visibility of the lunar crescent and therefore Tammuz would have a 30th day this time around and Rosh Chodesh Av would be Thursday rather than Wednesday. That's the way it goes, sometimes. Not a problem.

Wednesday is Rosh Chodesh because in the system that we use without a Sanhedrin, Rosh Chodesh Av this year comes out on Wednesday. End of story.

TTreader FeedBack
ZR writes...
In the "Word of the Month" section you write: "Hair cutting and shaving is not permitted (Ashkenazim) during the Three Weeks between 17 Tamuz and halachic noon of the 10th of Av."

Since the 10th of Av falls on Erev Shabbat this year, hair cutting and shaving is permitted before noon on the 10th (Mishna B'rura 558:3) - [Point taken]

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