Sanctification of New Moons – Pt. 2

Defective and full Months
The Pharisees established rules that limited not only the number of months which could be defective (i.e., only 29 days long) or full (i.e., consisting of a full 30 days) but even limited which months were eligible.

The Mishnah states:

There are never less than four “full” months in the year, nor do more than eight (full) months require to be taken into account.³¹

In turn, they point out that there were never more than eight or less than four defective months. Meanwhile, a 12 lunar-month year has no less than 352 days and no more than 355 days, while a 13 lunar-month year has no less than 383 days and no more than 385 days.³²

These reckonings were further encumbered by other restrictions which ignored the reality of the new moon phases. For example, the last month of the year, Adar—the month which precedes Nisan, the first month of the next year—is always defective,³³ as was, except in special cases, the sixth month, Elul.³⁴ The first and seventh months, on the other hand, i.e., Nisan and Tishri, were “never intercalated,” that is, they were always full.³⁵ Continue reading “Sanctification of New Moons – Pt. 2” →

Sanctification of New Moons – Pt. 1

The Hillelic Pharisees differed from their religious counterparts in that they followed the Babylonian custom of demanding that there must be witnesses who could testify to a Calendar Court confirming the sighting of the moon’s crescent on the very first day of the new moon. They also required official sanctification of the new moon by their Calendar Court.

Our attention will now shift to examining the rules for sanctification and dissemination for the Hillelic New Moon Day. As we shall see, many of these regulations prove to be arbitrary and counter to scriptural intent.

Sanctification
The Hillelic Pharisees considered it “a religious duty to sanctify (the new moon) on the strength of actual observation.”¹ This duty was required, “even though the observation is not necessary for the purpose.”²

Maimonides argues this Pharisaic position when he writes: Continue reading “Sanctification of New Moons – Pt. 1” →

The Pharisaic Calendar and Court – Pt. 2

The Calendar Court 
The Hillelic system for determining the New Moon Day and how to intercalate the year operated through a court panel of three judges.²⁵ In the time of the Temple, these judges represented the Court of Elders and, after the Temple’s destruction in 70 C.E., the Great Sanhedrin of Pharisees.

The Mishnah reports:

The intercalating of the month and the intercalating of the year (are decided upon) by three (judges). So (says) Rabbi Meir. But Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: The matter is begun by three, discussed by five, and decided upon by seven; but if it is decided upon by three the intercalation is valid.²⁶

Later, the number of the assembly of participating members was changed to 10 judges.²⁷ The leading judge was the Nasi. New Moon Days were sanctified by at least two of the three members of the court.²⁸ Continue reading “The Pharisaic Calendar and Court – Pt. 2” →

The Pharisaic Calendar and Court – Pt. 1

In 41 C.E., the Aristocratic system of determining new moons and the intercalation of a year, previously calculated only by the priests who were the descendants of Aaron, the high priest, was officially usurped by the Nasi of the Hillelic Pharisees.

Thus began a process wherein the Hillelic party, beginning with Gamaliel I, using the “traditions of their fathers” and heavily influenced by Babylonian customs, instituted a series of modifications that forever changed the requirements for determining the beginning of a month and a year in what became known as Orthodox Judaism.

These new calendar regulations were created for two reasons: Continue reading “The Pharisaic Calendar and Court – Pt. 1” →