From: Rabbi Moshe Joseph Koniuchowsky (ravmoshe@bellsouth.net)
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: New Moon: ROSH CHODESH TEACHING.

THE FOLLOWING TEACHING FROM THE KARAITE WEBSITE IS FACTUAL IN REGARDS
TO THE ROSH CHODESH OR THE BIBLICAL NEW MOON/MONTH. HOWEVER THE
KARAITES DO NOT BELEIVE IN YAHSHUA AND THUS THIS DISCLAIMER IS
NECESSARRY. NEVERTHELESS, THEY ARE VERY ACCURATE IN REGARD TO
DETERMINING NEW MOONS.

RMJK

The New Moon in the Hebrew Bible

The Biblical month begins with the crescent New Moon, also called
First Visible Sliver. The Hebrew word for month (Hodesh) literally
means New Moon and only by extension the period between one New Moon
and the next.

The Rabbanite Midrash relates that when God said to Moses "This month
(HODESH) shall be for you the beginning of months" (Ex 12,2) the
Almighty pointed up into the heavens at the crescent New Moon and said
"When you see like this, sanctify! [=declare New Moon day]". This
Rabbinic fairy-tale highlights an important point, namely that the
Bible never comes out and says we should determine the beginning of
months based on the New Moon. The reason for this is that the term for
"Month" (Hodesh) itself implies that the month begins with the
crescent New Moon. As will be seen, this would have been obvious to
any ancient Israelite present when Moses recited the prophecies of
YHWH to the Children of Israel and therefore there was no need to
elucidate this concept any more than such terms as "light" or "dark".
However, due to the long exile, we have lost the use of Biblical
Hebrew in day to day speech. Therefore, we will have to reconstruct
the meaning of Hodesh from the usage of the word in the Biblical text
using sound linguistic principles.

He Created the Moon for Holidays

There can be no doubt that the biblical Holidays are dependent on the
moon. The strongest proof of this is the passage in Ps 104,19 which
declares:

"He created the moon for Mo'edim [appointed times]"

The Hebrew term Mo'edim [appointed times] is the same word used to
describe the Biblical Holidays. Leviticus 23, which contains a
catalogue of the Biblical Holidays opens with the statement: "These
are the Mo'edim [appointed times] of YHWH, holy convocations which you
shall proclaim in their appointed times [Mo'adam].". So when the
Psalmist tells us that God created the moon for Mo'edim [appointed
times] he means that the moon was created to determine the time of the
Mo'edim of YHWH, that is, the Biblical Holidays.
"Hodesh" Is Related To the Moon

The above verse clearly teaches us that the holidays are related to
the moon. But when the Torah was given Ps 104 had not yet been written
by the Levitical prophets, and the question still remains of how the
ancient Israelites could have known this. The answer is that the
Hebrew word for month (Hodesh) itself indicates a connection to the
moon. We can see this connection in a number of instances in which
Hodesh (month) is used interchangeably with the word "Yerah", the
common Biblical Hebrew word for moon, which by extension also means
"month". For example:

"...in the month (Yerah) of Ziv,
which is the Second month (Hodesh)..." (1Kings 6,1)

"...in the month (Yerah) of Ethanim... which is the Seventh month
(Hodesh)..." (1Kings 8,2)

Another proof that Hodesh is related to the moon (Yerah) is the phrase
"A Hodesh (month) of days" (Gen 29,14; Nu 11,20-21) [meaning a period
of 29 or 30 days] which is equivalent to the phrase "A Yerah (month/
moon) of days" (Dt 21,13; 2Ki 15,13). Clearly then Hodesh is related
to "Yerah", which itself literally means "moon".

"Hodesh" Means New Moon (Day)

The primary meaning of Hodesh (month) is actually "New Moon" or "New
Moon Day" and it is only by extension that it came to mean "month",
that is, the period between one New Moon and the next. This primary
meaning is preserved in a number of passages such as 1Sam 20,5 in
which Jonathan says to David "Tomorrow is the New Moon (Hodesh)".
Clearly, in this verse Hodesh is used to refer to the specific day on
which the month begins and not the entire month. Another passage which
uses Hodesh in its primary sense is Ez 46,1 which talks about "The Day
(Yom) of the New Moon (Ha-Hodesh)". Clearly in this verse Hodesh (New
Moon) is a specific event and the beginning of the month is the day on
which this event (New Moon) occurs.

The Biblical New Moon is the "First Crescent"
"Hodesh" (New Moon), is derived from the root H.D.SH. meaning "new" or
"to make new/ renew". The Crescent New Moon is called Hodesh because
it is the first time the moon is seen anew after being concealed for
several days at the end of the lunar cycle. At the end of the lunar
month the moon is close to the sun 1 and eventually reaches the point
of "conjunction" when it passes between the Sun and the Earth.2 As a
result, around the time of conjunction very little of the moon's
illuminated surface faces the Earth and it is not visible through the
infinitely brighter glare of the sun. After the moon moves past the
sun it continues towards the opposite side of the Earth. As it gets
farther away from the sun the percentage of its illuminated surface
facing the Earth increases and one evening shortly after sunset the
moon is seen anew after being invisible for 1.5-3.5 days. Because the
moon is seen anew after a period of invisibility the ancients called
it a "New Moon" or "Hodesh" (from Hadash meaning "new").

Crescent New Moon vs. Astronomical New Moon

Many people have been led astray by the inaccurate use in modern
languages of the term "New Moon". Modern astronomers adopted this
otherwise unused term, which had always referred to the first visible
sliver, and used it to refer to conjunction (when the Moon passes
between the Earth and the Sun, at which time it is not visible). The
astronomers soon realized that the inaccurate use of "New Moon" to
refer to conjunction would lead to confusion so to be more accurate
scientists now distinguish between "Astronomical New Moon" and
"Crescent New Moon". "Astronomical New Moon" means New Moon as the
term is used by astronomers, i.e. conjunction. In contrast, "Crescent
New Moon" uses the term in the original meaning of the first visible
sliver. A good English dictionary should reflect both meanings. For
example, the Random House Dictionary of the English Language,
Unabridged Edition defines New Moon as: "The moon either when in
conjunction with the sun or soon after being either invisible
[Astronomical New Moon] or visible [Crescent New Moon] only as a
slender crescent." (square brackets added by NG).

The Supposed Evidence For "Concealed Moon"

Having been confused by the use of the term New Moon in modern
astronomy some people have sought Biblical support for this incorrect
meaning of the term. Ps 81,3 [Heb. 81,4] is usually cited which says:
"Blow on a horn for the Hodesh (New Moon)

On the Keseh (Full Moon) for the Day of our Hag (Feast)."

According to the "Concealed Moon Theory", the term "Keseh" is derived
from the root K.S.Y. meaning "to cover" and thus means "covered moon"
or "concealed moon". According to this interpretation, when the verse
says to blow on a horn on the day of Keseh it actually means "[blow on
a horn] on the day of Concealed Moon". However, the language does not
support this argument for the second half of the verse also refers to
the day of Keseh as "the day of our Feast (Hag)". In the Bible, Feast
(Hag) is a technical term which always refers to the three annual
pilgrimage-feasts (Matzot, Shavuot, Sukkot; see Ex 23; Ex 34).3 New
Moon Day (Hodesh) is never classified as a "Pilgrimage-Feast" so
Keseh/ Hag can not possibly be synonymous with New Moon Day (Hodesh).
It has further been suggested that Keseh refers to the Biblical
holiday of Yom Teruah (Day of Shouting), which always falls out on New
Moon Day. However, the Bible describes Yom Teruah as a Moed (appointed
time) and never as a Hag (Pilgrimage-Feast) so Keseh/ Hag can not
refer to Yom Teruah either.

What Does Keseh Really Mean?

It is likely that Keseh is related to the Aramaic word "Kista" and the
Assyrian word "Kuseu" which mean "full moon" (see Brown-Driver-Briggs
p.490b) [Hebrew, Aramaic, and Assyrian are all Semitic languages and
often share common roots]. This fits in perfectly with the description
of Keseh as the day of the Hag since two of the three
Pilgrimage-Feasts (Hag HaMatzot and Hag HaSukkot) are on the 15th of
the month, which is about the time of the Full Moon!

More on "Concealed Moon"

Another point to consider is that there is no actual "day" of
concealed moon. In fact the moon stays concealed anywhere from 1.5 to
3.5 days in the Middle East. It has been proposed that the "day" of
concealed moon is actually the day of conjunction (when the moon
passes between the Earth and Sun). However, it was only 1000 years
after Moses that the Babylonian astronomers discovered how to
calculate the moment of conjunction. Therefore, the ancient Israelites
would have had no way of knowing when the moment of conjunction takes
place and would not have known on which day to observe "Concealed Moon
Day".

It has been suggested that the ancient Israelites could have looked at
the "Old Moon" and determined the Day of Conjunction by when the Old
Moon was no longer visible in the morning sky. However, such a method
would not work in the Middle East where the so-called "concealed moon"
can remain concealed for as many as 3.5 days! It is in fact common for
the moon to stay concealed for 2.5 days and in such instances how
would the ancient Israelites have known which day was the Day of
Conjunction?

In contrast, the ancient Israelites would have been well aware of the
Crescent New Moon. In ancient societies people worked from dawn to
dusk and they would have noticed the Old Moon getting smaller and
smaller in the morning sky. When the morning moon had disappeared the
ancient Israelites would have anxiously awaited its reappearance
1.5-3.5 days later in the evening sky. Having disappeared for several
days and then appearing anew in the early evening sky they would have
called it the "New Moon" or "Hodesh" (from Hadash meaning "New").

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