When looking into Jewish Hebrew calendars we find several different opinions. Different writers have different meanings for the same word! In this article we are going to look at definitions of the words used in determining different Holy Day calendars.

Scripture says, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Exo 12:2). How do we know what a new moon or month this is?

Some Judaism writers say it is the true conjunction and some say it is the mean [middle] conjunction! Some use the molad to establish a new moon and some use the first crescent. What is the truth?

Today as we search into the calendar issue to establish the appointed time for God's Holy Days we have to look into the meaning of words. According to many Jewish writers, the word molad means different things.

2. Rabbi Nathan Bushwick says in his book "Understanding the Jewish Calendar" pg. 71: "As the moon moves around the Earth, there is one moment it is exactly between the Earth and the sun. At that moment the Earth faces the dark side of the moon. Already for about a day before this moment the moon has not been visible from any point on the Earth and it will remain invisible for about a day more (1*). This moment is called the molad, the birth of the new moon. We use the molad as the official beginning and end point of the cycle of the moon (2*)." (*1 Rambam, KHC 1:3 and *2 Rambam, KHC 6:1,3).

3. Arthur Spier in his book "The Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar" pg.1 says: "Since Biblical times the months and years of the Jewish calendar have been established by the cycles of the moon and sun. The traditional law prescribes that the months shall follow closely the course of the moon, from its Molad (birth, conjunction) to the New Moon." Pg. 14 says: "Every month must begin on a day close to the Molad" [this is included in the Postponement rules].

4. Maimonides says in the "Code of Maimonides, Book Three Treatise Eight, Sanctification of the New Moon" translated by Solomon Gandz, Pg. 26 & 27: Ch.6, 1. "The court used to ascertain by calculation, and with great precision, according to the methods of the astronomers, the exact time of the (True) conjunction of the moon with the sun, in order to find out whether the moon could be visible (on the night of the 30th day) or not. Pg. 89, Chapter 6, 1. Cf. Pg. 34, where the molad [mean conjunction] is defined as the moment in which sun and moon, in their uniform motion, become conjoined in a certain part of the sky, which occurs in the same way everywhere--in contrast to the varying times at which the new crescent first becomes visible in different areas."

5. Karaite Jews and some Christian churches use the first sighting of the crescent moon for the new moon. Nowhere in God's Word is crescent used for a new moon. There is a Hebrew word for crescent and it is not used for new moon. It has only been used for pagan jewelry! The Karaite's say, "It is easier to find the waning crescent moon than the waxing crescent moon."

6. Encyclopedia Judaica Vol. 5 C-DH, titled Calendar, Page 45: "The True and the Mean Molad," Owing to inequalities in the rate of both the solar and the lunar motion in longitude, the mean conjunction may precede or be preceded by the True conjunction. The absolute maximum interval between them, arising from the combined effect of the maximum quotas of the solar and the lunar anomaly, is approximately 14 in Tishri – never far from the combined effect of the maximum effect of the decrease in solar velocity, the solar apogee being July 1– approximately 14 hours is the maximum interval from the true conjunction to the mean conjunction."

7. Dr. Philip Birnbaum in his book "A Book of Jewish Concepts" says: "In ancient Israel the day after the crescent of the new moon was first sighted in the sky was celebrated as a festival with special offerings in the sanctuary and the suspension of everyday occupations." "In the middle of the fourth century, Hillel II published scientific rules for the computation of the calendar, making it possible to determine the Jewish calendar without actual observation of the lunar phases. According to this system, the months alternate between thirty and twenty-nine days."

If we follow Judaism for our information, we can become confused. There is no way to accurately understand the calendar if you follow Jewish teachings. Each one teaches something different. We must take our authority from God's Word, the Holy Bible.

The Church of God, In Truth uses the dark moon-- the true conjunction of the moon and sun---to establish a new moon. This is when the waning crescent has ended and the moon first goes dark. [Some Jewish writers call this conjunction – molad]. God's Word has established that all re-creation has started out of darkness. "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen 1:2) this was the first day. We follow what God says in Genesis. "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gen. 1:14). The sun and moon did not appear until the fourth day.

We use the true conjunction of the sun and the moon. When the moon first goes dark, the new month begins. The day the moon goes dark, is the new moon day. God does not say to use the conjunction of the sun, moon and earth, which determines the mean conjunction or molad as some teach!! Sunset, sets the precedent for the new month. "He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down" (Psa 104:19). The day when the moon goes dark, is the first day of a new month! This year 2003, April 1st was the new year day!! This is not the mean conjunction that is used by astronomical tables and the Roman calendars today.

The true conjunction occurs the instant the sun and moon come into conjunction, and when the sun's light strikes the face of the moon at an angle which makes it not visible to us on earth. The true conjunction of the moon is the instant when the sun and moon come into conjunction. This happens every where on earth at the same time. The Church of God, In Truth calculates that instant of conjunction to Jerusalem time zone to see what date this occurs, using sunset to sunset, as the new moon day.

The Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland says, "The dark moon happens before the astronomical new moon used in astronomical tables put out by the Observatories! The only reason they [the astronomers] use the astronomical [mean conjunction] new moon is to keep time uniformly regulated around the world. The new moon is defined as the time at which the sun and moon have the same celestial longitude. The celestial sphere on which this measurement is based is a theoretical sphere, centered on the earth which we look through when we observe astronomical objects. The time of all lunar phases quoted by the astronomical community are therefore what an imaginary observer at the center of the earth would see." Greenwich mean times is the time used for most calendars---but some calendars used Babylon time zone.

We see, if we use the astronomical table as published by the U. S. Naval Observatory we will be following the mean conjunction of the moon, not when the moon and sun first become conjoined, as the Bible prescribes.

Some Churches of God are teaching that the new moon day is like the Sabbath and Holy Days. They say no servile work should be done on the new moon day. Is that what the Bible teaches? No! Nowhere, in Scripture does it say you cannot do your everyday work on the new moon day. Nor does it say we are to have a holy convocation on that day. Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28 and 29 tells us on what days we are to do no servile work and have a Holy convocation. It is our responsibility to follow God's Word, not the words of man. The Feast of Trumpets is the only new moon day that says we are to do no servile work, except if the new moon day falls on the weekly Sabbath.

It has been said that we should compromise for the sake of unity in God's Church! Should we, as God's people compromise, when we know something wrong is being taught? God's Word tells us that the Sabbath is a sign between Him and us. "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. ......It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever:...... " (Exo. 31:12-13,17).

A spiritual barometer of God's people is how they keep the weekly Sabbath and God's Holy Day Sabbaths. Because of this, God uses the Sabbath as a gauge of the attitude of His people toward Him. Most people today do not feel its important to keep the Holy Days on the days appointed by God! They feel its alright to follow the Jewish Hebrew Calendar which incorporate the postponement rules. If we can postpone the Holy Days by one day, then we can postpone the weekly Sabbath day by one day, as many religions do? What's the difference?

It is easy to drift with the crowd, but it takes character and a will controlled by the Spirit of God to stem the tide toward compromise where one's own personal life is concerned. The prize for which we strive is so great that the essential costs which must be paid for its attainment are small in comparison with the glory which will be our if we win the race set before us. Few, in comparison to the many who attain to eternal life secure this greatest of all rewards. The great reward is reserved for those who have overcome their own desires and who will not compromise with the truth from God's Word. How foolish, in the light of scripture revelation, are the multitude of church members who are failing to believe the truth, and are compromising for the sake of unity. You can be unified in deception by following the Hebrew Jewish calendar with the postponements rules added!

The Church of God, In Truth has stated since 1992, "If the Churches of God would take the postponement rules out of the Holy Day calendar, they would be more accurate than keeping the postponements as instituted by the Jewish calendar makers."