{"id":5139,"date":"2010-02-01T02:00:03","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T00:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=5139"},"modified":"2010-02-01T02:00:03","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T00:00:03","slug":"05-01-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-01-02\/","title":{"rendered":"2 \u2013 The Authority to Fix the Months was Entrusted to Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new month does not automatically begin when the moon reappears. Rather, the judges of the <em>Beit Din<\/em> sanctify the month, as it says, &#8220;<em>This month shall be <\/em><em><strong>for you<\/strong><\/em>&#8221; (<em>Shemot,<\/em> 12:2). <em>HaShem<\/em> showed <em>Moshe Rabbein<\/em>u the configuration of the moon in its renewed state and said, \u201cThis testimony shall be given over to you\u201d (<em>Rosh HaShanah<\/em> 22a). That is, witnesses must come before you (the judges) and testify that they saw the new moon, and you shall sanctify the month based on their testimony<sup><a id=\"_ze01fenref1_2\" class=\"aup1\" href=\"#_ze01fen1_2\">[2]<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>After <em>Moshe Rabbeinu\u2019s<\/em> death, the authority to establish the Jewish calendar was conferred upon the high court of every generation, on condition that its judges had received rabbinic ordination (<em>semichah<\/em>) in an unbroken chain from <em>Moshe Rabbeinu<\/em>; and with the stipulation that such ordination can only be transmitted in <em>Eretz Yisrael<\/em>(Rambam, <em>Hilchot Sanhedrin<\/em> 4). If a time comes when the Jews are unable to fix the months by way of a <em>Beit Din<\/em>, the <em>halachah<\/em> states that they must do so using mathematical calculations.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, even though the lunar cycle is a natural phenomenon, the renewal of the moon does not, by itself, sanctify the month. Rather, the Jewish people consecrate the months, and they cause the holiness within time to be revealed. This explains why our Sages decided to end the central blessing of the <em>Musaf<\/em> prayer on <em>Rosh Chodesh<\/em> with the words \u201cBlessed are You, <em>HaShem<\/em>, Who sanctifies <strong>Israel<\/strong> and the beginnings of the months\u201d (<em>Berachot<\/em> 49a). Perhaps this is also why the first <em>mitzvah<\/em> the Torah commanded the Jewish people was the <em>mitzvah<\/em> of sanctifying the new moon (<em>Shemot,<\/em> 12:2), for this <em>mitzvah<\/em> displays a facet of Israel\u2019s unique sanctity \u2013 our ability to reveal the holiness within time.<\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<p><a id=\"_ze01fen1_2\" href=\"#_ze01fenref1_2\">[2]<\/a> If witnesses who saw the new moon on the night of the thirtieth come before the <em>Beit DinBeit Din<\/em> the next day, the court would sanctify the month on that day, transforming the thirtieth day of the previous month into the first day of the new month, <em>Rosh Chodesh<\/em>. They would then immediately offer up the special <em>Rosh Chodesh<\/em> sacrifices. Consequently, the previous month would become an incomplete one, having only twenty-nine days. If, however, no witnesses arrive on that day (the thirtieth), it is clear that <em>Rosh Chodesh<\/em> will be the next day \u2013 the thirty-first \u2013 and the previous month was a full one, consisting of thirty days. In such a case, there is no need for the <em>Beit DinBeit Din<\/em> to accept witnesses or declare the beginning of the new month, for in any case there are only two possible days on which <em>Rosh Chodesh<\/em> can fall, and if no witnesses come on the first day, <em>Rosh Chodesh<\/em> will [automatically] fall out on the next day (<em>Rambam<\/em>, <em>Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh<\/em> 2:8).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new month does not automatically begin when the moon reappears. Rather, the judges of the Beit Din sanctify the month, as it says, &#8220;This month shall be for you&#8221; (Shemot, 12:2). HaShem showed Moshe Rabbeinu the configuration of the moon in its renewed state and said, \u201cThis testimony shall be given over to you\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-01"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2 \u2013 The Authority to Fix the Months was Entrusted to Israel - Peninei Halakha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/05-01-02\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2 \u2013 The Authority to Fix the Months was Entrusted to Israel - Peninei Halakha\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new month does not automatically begin when the moon reappears. Rather, the judges of the Beit Din sanctify the month, as it says, &#8220;This month shall be for you&#8221; (Shemot, 12:2). 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