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Double Trouble

By Toby Janicki | Comments (1) | Posted on September 10, 2007

Many of you by now have received in the mail hard copies of next month’s e-Rosh materials for Tishrei. Tishrei is an extremely busy month filled with lots of dates and anniversaries. In fact there was so much material on Tishrei’s calendar we had to cut quite a bit out to make it fit.

One of the points of discussion that came up surrounded Rosh Chodesh [the new moon or head of the month]. On the traditional calendar some months have two days of Rosh Chodesh while others have one. We had an internal debate as to whether or not include these doubled dates on FFOZ’s e-Rosh calendar or not. When you look at the calendar this month, it becomes obvious that we decided to include it. But why?

There is actually a precedent for having the doubled Rosh Chodesh in scripture itself:

It came about the next day, the second day of the new moon… (1 Samuel 20:27)

Saul was holding a feast for the second day of Rosh Chodesh in the same manner that he had on the first day.

Rosh Chodesh used to be determined visually and declared as the new moon by the Sanhedrin. As a lunar month can either have 29 or 30 days, the new moon sighting would have only been in doubt if a month contained possibly 30 days… so when day 29 arrived and the Sanhedrin’s messenger or message had not yet arrived, day 29 (at the end of it) was “sanctified” for reasons of caution.

Although today the calendar is pre-calculated and Rosh Chodesh is not determined based upon visual sightings anymore due to the lack of a Sanhedrin, nonetheless the custom is still to double on the months that would have been close calls. So based on Biblical precedence and long standing historical tradition, we decided to include the doubled Rosh Chodesh days on our e-Rosh calendar. This does not really have any practical implications other than doubling the Rosh Chodesh liturgical additions for both day 1 and day 2 in the siddur.

About the Author: Toby Janicki is a teacher, writer and speaker for FFOZ. He is also a writer for messiah magazine and the author of the Restoration Workbook and a new book on the Mezuzah.

Visitor Comments

Another way to look at it is this: since a lunar cycle is about 29.5 days, there must be some months with 29 days and some with 30 days. However, on months with 30 days, there still will be only a 29.5 day lunar cycle, so the moon actually renews itself some time into that 30th day. Therefore both the 30th and the 1st are observed as Rosh Chodesh.

**Toby's Response: That is a great way to look at it.

Posted by: Aaron Eby | September 10, 2007 2:05 PM

Clear, black and white, easy-to-follow logic! Boundary Stones presents a compelling and positive case for the Torah to return as life's guidebook for every disciple of the Messiah.

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