Hebrew In Israel | The New Moon Conundrum – Learn Torah

Hillel, Rabbi Hillel, enoch calendar, hebrew calendar, israel calendar, jewish calendar, moon sighting, new moon calendar, solar calendar, torah calendar

Hebrew In Israel | The New Moon Conundrum – Learn Torah

5 comments

Yoel presents the history behind the new moon conundrum and the Hillel II calendar.  Should we use calculations, the dark moon, the sighted moon?  Who has biblical authority regarding the calendar and what about the Enoch calendar? 

 

Mentioned In This Podcast

Biblical Calendar

 

Sources

אורבך אפרים, חז״ל- פרקי אמונות ודעות, ירושלים, תשכ״ט

אלון גדליה, ״הסנהדרין והנשיא״, בתוך תולדות היהודים בארץ ישראל בתקופת המשנה והתלמוד כרך א, תל-אביב (תשט״ז)

״הנשיאות והסנהדרין-מפעליהן והיחס שביניהן״, בתוך תולדות היהודים בארץ ישראל בתקופת המשנה והתלמוד כרך ב , תל-אביב (תשט״ז)

גודבלאט דוד, ״ראשיתה של הנשיאות  הארצישראלית המוכרת״, מחקרים בתולדות עם ישראל וארץ ישראל ד, חיפה (תשל״ח)

״על סיפור סיפור הקשר נגד רבן שמעון בן גמליאל השני״, ציון מט (תשמ״ד)

ספראי שמואל, ״התאוששות הישוב היהודי בדור יבנה״, בתוך  ״ארץ ישראל מחורבן בית שני ועד הכיבוש המוסלמי״ א, ירושלים, (תשמ״ב)

רוזנפלד בן-ציון, ״מעמדו ופועלו של רבן גמליאל לפני הליכתו ליבנה״, ציון נה (תש״ן)

שפירא חיים, ״הדחת רבן גמליאל-בין היסטוריה לאגדה״, ציון סד (תשנ״ט)

 


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5 comments

Ana Lopes

May 31, 2018 at 8:08 pm

Great podcast!
Thank you, Yoel, for bringing us trustworthy information!

Anita

April 21, 2019 at 3:01 am

Thank-you, Yoel, for sharing all the historical background leading up to the Hillel calendar. It was a lot of information, difficult to follow at times. But the bottom line, if I summarize accurately, is that the intent of the Scriptures is for the new moon to be seen by reliable witnesses, in the land of Yisra’el… and now that Yehudah is back in the land, there is no longer the need to rely on caculations. Praise Yah!

arturo navarro

September 8, 2021 at 12:34 am

thank you very much for all the information presented in this podcast .

Ovadiah

September 8, 2021 at 12:55 am

Very enjoyable and informative. I thought there was a more organized Sanhedrin during Second Temple times, so that was very different than my belief/understanding. However, Exodus 12 seems clear that it must be the prophet or high priest that proclaims the new moon. Then, there is the issue of witnesses. I would trust you but not someone of another faith and I would have to know the provenance of the second witness. I’ve come full circle and follow the calculated calendar. “Thou shalt not follow the majority to do evil” intimates we should follow the majority in these issues. Blessings!

Vusi Ngqokomashe

September 9, 2021 at 4:04 am

Thank you Yoel I have really enjoyed listening to the podcast and would like to learn more abouth the historical biblical authority over the calendar and the Hillel II Calendar, you are raising very important point about sighting the New Moon in Israel, yesterday I noticed a certain group of feast observers in Australia declaring Yom Teruach from having sighted the new moon in Australia, I also notice how the Enoch Calendar is generally thought to be solar as in the sectorial calendar of the Essenes as found in the Qumran scrolls, having studied the book of Enich myself, specifically chapters 72 to 75 which deal with the calendar and refers to both luminaries, the sun and the moon, I think it is a mistake to suggest that the Enoch Calendar is similar to the solar calendar of the Essenes, one very important aspect about the calendar according to the book of Enoch and not what is generally thought to be the Enich Cslendar is the verse that speaks of the eight year cycle, when the moon and the sun finish the year on the same day, in other words the moon does not recede the sun nor the sun precedes the moon, as was in the beginning with the moon recession of ten days as it finishes the year on 354 days and the sun finishing the year on 364 days, if anyone can present this information in a set of calendricals and have the year exactly finish on the same day for the moon as well as for the sun, then a truly lunidolar calendar would have been produced which is exactly what I have done and it rules out completely the need to adjust for seasons with a thirteenth month second addar as in the Jewish calendar, but as you say it is important to consider history and tradition of the biblical authority of the calendar as well as actual sighting of the moon, in as much as I wouldn’t like to go out to publish my findings of the calendar of Enoch as lunisolar and how it is misunderstood to be the calendar of the Essenes sect without having thoroughly studied the historical aspects of the biblical control of the calendar as you put it, I would also very much appreciate your look at the calendrical I built from precepts of the book of Enoch and a paper I had published in Academia recently about how the calendricals work.

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