Rabbis Desire Calendar Change
Why Hebrew Calendar Is Wrong and How Sanhedrin Could Fix it With Ancient Mitzvah
A few of my comments and other related information on an article provided by "Israel365News" on Oct. 24, 2022 titled, "Why Hebrew Calendar Is Wrong and How Sanhedrin Could Fix it With Ancient Mitzvah" are given with the entire article.
I learned that a "mitzvah" is a commandment given in the Torah (first five books of the Bible) and the establishment of a calendar being an "important" mitzvah.
I think it is worthwhile to see the importance that Rabbi Hillel Weiss has for the Biblical calendar by placing it at the forefront of Israel's "redemption from Egypt".
The 19 year cycle is referred to but the calculation that make up the Hebrew calendar is not spoken of except for the fact that it is not in sync with actual lunar cycles
The information of the Sanhedrin is important. The following is taken from "Mishneh Torah, Sanctification of the New Month 5".
This concept is a halachah communicated to Moses on [Mount] Sinai: When there is a Sanhedrin, the monthly calendar is established according to the sighting of the moon. When there is no Sanhedrin, the monthly calendar is established according to the fixed calendar that we follow now, and the sighting of the moon is of no consequence.
When the fixed calendar is followed, there are times when the day established [as Rosh Chodesh] will be the day on which the moon is sighted, and there are times when the sighting will either precede or follow it by a day. It is, however, an extremely extraordinary phenomenon for [the day established as Rosh Chodesh] to be a day after the sighting [of the moon], [and this is possible only] in the lands that are west of Eretz Yisrael.
For information on the "new" Sanhedrin you may refer to "The New Sanhedrin - Israel My Glory".
The last two lines of the article reveal so much of spirit of the leadership and community of Rabbinical Judaism. For them unity, concerning a matter, is of the utmost importance. To them it is more important than an appreciation and obedience to a law of God. It is apparent that they understand the Biblical instruction for Gods calendar. So called "unity" was the principle motivation for the usage of a humanly devised, mathematically designed, calendar.
I have included the highlights in the article.
Why Hebrew Calendar Is Wrong and How Sanhedrin Could Fix it With Ancient Mitzvah
by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz | Mar 29, 2017 | Uncategorized
On Wednesday evening, one of the most important Torah commandments is not going to take place, and as a result, in two weeks, the world’s Jews will celebrate Passover on the wrong night. The nascent Sanhedrin is attempting to begin fixing this problem.
The Sanhedrin will meet on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Wednesday as the sun sets to observe the new moon. This event is meant as a small first step towards reinstating the important mitzvah (Torah commandment) of establishing the calendar via witnesses reporting to a Sanhedrin.
“The beginning of our redemption from Egypt began with this,” Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the Sanhedrin, told Breaking Israel News. “Reinstating the new month and witnesses appearing before the Sanhedrin will be the true beginning of this redemption. The new moon is God sending us a sign of new beginnings, and for us to establish Pesach (Passover) in its time.”
In Temple times, the new month was a festival, marked by the blowing of the shofar and special sacrifices. Messengers were sent out and a series of mountaintop pyres lit to spread the word to outlying communities.
The Temple festivities were part of the observance, but declaring the new month had practical implications for setting the calendar. The Jewish calendar is based on the lunar cycle and by setting it according to eyewitness observance of the new moon, the Biblical Sanhedrin ensured that Jews observed the holidays in their proper time.
Today’s problem, Rabbi Weiss explained, is that the true date of the appearance of the moon no longer synchronizes with the beginning of the month as it appears on the calendar. He pointed to the current month of Nisan as an example. According to the Jewish calendar, the month began on Monday evening. But the first sliver of the new moon which should appear on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of the new month) will not actually be visible until Wednesday evening.
“It is a national imperative to re-establish this mitzvah,” Rabbi Weiss said. “All of the mitzvot pertaining to the holidays emanate from this one act.”
The discrepancy occurs regularly because the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE led to the dissolution of the Sanhedrin. Without the Sanhedrin to hear testimonies, it was no longer possible to determine the new month by witnessing.
The modern Jewish calendar was set according to a 19-year cycle with an additional month added seven times during that cycle. Even with this correction, the Hebrew calendar falls behind the actual lunar cycle at the rate of one day every 216 years. As a result, the established calendar is now out of sync with the lunar cycles.
Witnessing the new month is an important mitzvah and establishing correct times for the holidays is of utmost importance. But it is especially auspicious to witness the month now, as the Bible counts Nisan as the first month.
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Exodus 12:2
“Israel is a nation, and this mitzvah is what made us a nation,” Rabbi Weiss told Breaking Israel News, noting that the word ‘you’ in the verse is plural. “Today, every Jew looks at the calendar on his wall and his entire framework of time is a personal issue. Time, the calendar, is the most important element that brings us together as the Jewish nation.”
“The Nation of Israel needs to re-establish this mitzvah in its completeness,” the rabbi asserted. “But this can only happen when the people acknowledge a Sanhedrin to accept the witnesses’ account of the new moon. When this happens, when there is a Sanhedrin sitting in Jerusalem, the impact will be perceived by an global increase in serving God.”
The rabbi quoted the Prophet Isaiah as an explanation.
And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Hashem, to the house of the God of Yaakov; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Tzion shall go forth the law, and the word of Hashem from Yerushalayim. Isaiah 2:3
However, Rabbi Weiss made one important disclaimer.
“Even though the calendar needs to be adjusted, unity is of the utmost importance,” the rabbi said. “Jews are required to adhere to the calendar accepted by the entire nation.