A Calendar for YHVH’s People The New Moon Series Part 5 חֹ דֶ ֶש ֶ חֹ דֶ ֶש The New Moon Series • The New Moon Series Contains 5 parts: 1. The New Moon’s Significance 2. Historical Practice and Debate of the New Moon 3. Astronomy 4. Calendars Including the Metonic Cycle 5. A Calendar for YHVH’s People 2 חֹ דֶ ֶש The New Moon Series • The goals of this series are: • To teach the significance of the new moon. • To fully educate YHVH’s people who desire to walk in obedience to His commandments regarding the new moon’s role in observing the feasts of YHVH. • To introduce and address the debate over conjunction versus new crescent moon. 3 חֹ דֶ ֶש The New Moon Series • The goals of this series are (continued): • To equip YHVH’s people with the astronomical knowledge necessary to evaluate subject matter regarding the new moon and the various proposed calendars currently being used by His people. • To propose a calendar that YHVH’s people worldwide can follow without reliance on other assemblies. • To encourage unity and observance of holy convocations around the world. 4 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • As we begin this last presentation of our new moon series: • Please remember what we have learned so far. • Let’s try to avoid isolating ourselves from other believers in the Hebraic Roots movement during the feasts of YHVH as much as possible. 5 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • As we begin this last presentation of our new moon series (cont.): • Let’s remember we are not just to observe the feasts of YHVH as individuals or individual families. • Let’s consider the implication of the holy convocations. These are times of gathering the body of Messiah together. We should be gathering together as single assemblies and/or groups of assemblies. 6 A Calendar for YHVH’s People Remember our key verses: Genesis 1:14 says, “Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for u-le-moadim; appointed times), and for ; ֶו לְמוֶֹ ֲעדדֶי םֶ) signs and seasons days and years.” yareach) for ; יָרֶחַ) Psalms 104:19 says, “He appointed the moon le-moadim; appointed times); The sun knows its ; לְמוֶֹ ֲעדדֶי םֶ) seasons going down.” 7 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • Based on Genesis 1:14 and Psalms 104:19, the sun, moon, and stars are that which have a role in determining our calendar. • Knowing their roles will help us establish a lunisolar calendar for observing the feasts of YHVH in their appointed times. 8 A Calendar for YHVH’s People The first step for creating a calendar for YHVH’s people is to determine the beginning of the calendar. By Divad [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons A Calendar for YHVH’s People Remember that although the earth really orbits the sun, from our perspective on the earth, it appears that the sun orbits the earth. By Divad [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons A Calendar for YHVH’s People This apparent movement of the sun, traveling in the ecliptic plane, passes over the equatorial plane at the First Point of Aries (0 degrees of right ascension). This is the March equinox, which is the time frame when the mixed multitude Note: Egypt and Israel are in the northern hemisphere where spring begins in March. left Egypt. By Divad [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons A Calendar for YHVH’s People • The conjunction occurs on the last day of each month. • Don’t forget, days are reckoned from sunset to sunset (erev ad erev). • (See Leviticus 23:32). By Stonebird Waxing Crescent at 1% https://www.flickr.com/ 12 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • The new crescent moon DOES NOT NEED TO BE SIGHTED. By Stonebird Waxing Crescent at 1% https://www.flickr.com/ 13 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • The frustration of not being able to sight the new crescent moon for a variety of reasons does not need to be an issue. By Stonebird Waxing Crescent at 1% https://www.flickr.com/ 14 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • The first full day of the new crescent moon is the day after the conjunction occurred because the moon has already begun to wax immediately after the time of conjunction. By Stonebird Waxing Crescent at 1% https://www.flickr.com/ 15 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • The first day of the month obviously determines the timing of the feasts throughout the month. By Stonebird Waxing Crescent at 1% https://www.flickr.com/ 16 A Calendar for YHVH’s People Based on what we learned earlier, the March equinox should occur before Nisan 16. 17 A Calendar for YHVH’s People Chag HaMatzot must be observed after the equinox, but not so much that the sun is in the constellation of Aries. Nisan must be in Pisces, because of precession of the equinoxes, until the age of Aquarius begins. 18 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • We should be aware of the sun passing through the proper constellations at the appropriate times throughout the year for each Hebrew month. 19 A Calendar for YHVH’s People Recall that constellations on the celestial field are measured by coordinates called right ascension and declination; these are measured from the First Point of Aries (March equinox). Right ascension is measured in hours (time zones) but can be measured in degrees (24 hours = 360 degrees); declination is measured in degrees (+/- 90 degrees above/below equator). By Tfr000 (talk) 15:34, 15 June 2012 (UTC) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons 20 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • Because of precession, I recommend we pay attention to the degrees of right ascension that the sun is in instead of the actual constellation. • We can do this by using planetarium software. 21 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • At this point in time, we are not offering a wave-sheaf offering so the aviv stage of the barley should not be a primary determining factor for spring. • With the exception of the Karaites, checking the green stage of the barley was a secondary factor when the Jews were determining spring; they wanted to have enough By zeevveez from Jerusalem, Israel (Barley in Deer barley for a wave-sheaf ValleyJerusalem-2) [CC BY 2.0 offering. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 22 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • The March equinox and the position of the sun in the correct constellation (range of right ascension) should be sufficient to determine spring (aviv). • In addition, once the leap years are correctly identified this way, the aviv stage of barley maturation should be appropriate. By zeevveez from Jerusalem, Israel (Barley in Deer ValleyJerusalem-2) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 23 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • Using Nisan 15 as the last day the equinox can occur on, we can plan far enough in advance for holy convocations. 24 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • Shortly, we will look at a few slides from our last presentation. • They are based upon information gathered by using a free virtual planetarium program called Stellarium 0.17.0. for the current 19-year Metonic Cycle. • Dates for the 15th of Nisan for the current 19-year cycle were collected from the Hillel II calendar (HebCal www.hebcal.com) and examined visually in Stellarium to see which constellation (range of right ascension) the sun was located in for the middle of the month. 25 A Calendar for YHVH’s People • As we look at this chart, keep in mind that: • If Nisan 15 was/is in the constellation of Aries and/or if the date for Nisan 15 fell on or after April 20, the previous additional Adar was/is not needed. • If this is corrected (removed), this will cause the need for an additional Adar in the following year. 26 A Calendar for YHVH’s People # Year Nisan 15 Zodiac Degree Comments For Cascade of Correction Hillel II of (HebCal) Ascen. 1 5776 4/23/2016 Aries 30-45 Additional Adar is not needed; remove it so Nisan is in Pisces 0-15. 2 5777 4/11/2017 Pisces 15-30 Add additional Adar to have Nisan in Pisces 15-30. 3 5778 3/31/2018 Pisces 0-15 No change needed. 4 5779 4/20/2019 Aries 30-45 Additional Adar is not needed; remove it so Nisan is in Pisces 0-15. 5 5780 3/2/2021 Pisces 15-30 Add additional Adar to have Nisan in Pisces in 0-15. 6 5781 4/16/2022 Pisces 0-15 No change needed. 7 5782 4/6/2023 Pisces 15-30 Leap year is appropriate; keep additional Adar. 8 5783 4/25/2024 Pisces 15-30 No change needed. 9 5784 4/13/2025 Aries 30-45 Additional Adar is not needed; remove it so Nisan is in Pisces 0-15. 10 5785 4/2/2026 Pisces 15-30 Add additional Adar to have Nisan in Pisces 15-30. Original Hillel II leap years are noted in regular or light red. Blue years should be leap years instead of light red years.27 A Calendar for YHVH’s People # Year Nisan 15 Zodiac Degree Comments For Cascade of Correction Hillel II of (HebCal) Ascen. 11 5786 4/2/2026 Pisces 0-15 No change needed 12 5787 4/22/2027 Aries 30-45 Additional Adar is not needed; remove it so Nisan is in Pisces 0-15.