Month 9:14, Week 2:6 (Sheshi/Kippur), Year:Day 5937:251 AM
Gregorian Calendar: Monday 16 December 2013
Sanhedrin Shock
Truth About the Jewish Calendar
The Jewish Calendar is 'New'
Few Christians and Messianics realise that the Jewish (as opposed to the Biblical) Calendar came into existence over 325 years after the death and resurrection of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). It is widely assumed, quite wrongly, that the calendar in use by Judaism today - both Messianic and non-Messianic varieteis - is the same one that was used in the days of Messiah and the Apostles. It wasn't. It wasn't around for the earlier 4,000+ years of earth history either.
Calendar Controversies
A great conroversy rages in the Messianic Community today over what the true biblical calendar should be. If you believe, as we do, that Yahweh has commanded the observance of the 12 moedim (appointments) of Torah - the monthly New Moon, the weekly Sabbath, the Annual Festivals, the Sabbatical Year (every 7 years) and Jubilee Year (every 50 years) - and that these are essential to true discipleship, and if you accept that these are precisely dated in Scripture (as they unedeniably are) - then it becomes essential to know what the true Biblical Calendar is.
Three Main Messianic Factions
There are, broadly-speaking, three different calendars in use by the Messianic Community today:
- 1. The Jewish Calendar;
- 2. The Enochian Calendar; and
- 3. The Luni-Solar or Creation Calendar.
An Illustration of the Differences
To give you an idea of the discrepencies or differences that can be involved, especially when it comes to the intercalation of the 13th leap-year month, I have prepared a table showing and example of the different dating systems of these three calendar systems:
THE THREE CONFLICTING CALENDAR SYSTEMS FOR 2013
Roman and Jewish Systems
Obviously they can't all be right. Yahweh is not the author of confusion (1 Cor.14:33). Because the Talmudic Jewish system has been in operation since the Roman year 359 AD ('4119' according to Jewish system of dating) - that's for the last 1,654 years - this is the one that almost all Jews and Messianics follow. That's almost as long as the Roman Catholic Church has existed (by Protestant reckoning) which is responsible for giving us the universally-used Gregorian Calendar in 1582 (though not adopted in the USA until 1752). Prior to that a pre-Catholic Roman calendar was in use known as the Julian Calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. The Talmudic Jewish Calendar that exists today is basically an amalgam or fusion of the Pope Gregory's reformed Julian Calendar and the one established by Rabbi Hillel II. But it is not the biblical one.
For a detailed discussion on this, please see the series of articles in our Creation Calendar sub-site.
The Simplicity of Yahweh's Biblical Creation Calendar
The beauty of Yahweh's Creation or Luni-Solar Calendar is that it is self-adjusting for any irregularites in lunar and earth orbits caused by cosmic catastrophes such as meteor and comet impacts or the gravitational distortions caused by theoretical or actual roaming planets and dwarf stars. No complicated calculations need be made requiring special councils of religious men to authorise them. And they don't need any of the man-made postponment rules invented by the Rabbis.
The Dilemma of the Jewish Calendar
Modern Judaism has a dilemma:
"For over a thousand years, the Hebrew (sic) calendar has been fixed by calculation. Today, the Hebrew (sic) calendar does not match that fixed by observing the Moon. Even thought the gap between the two calendars continues to increase, we do not have the authority to alter the calendar until a new Sanhedrin (religious high court) is reestablished and is widely recognized." [1]
Is a Sanhedrin Really Required to Establish the Divine Calendar?
Judaism is now in the process of creating its own 'Sanhedrin' but it doesn't seem very sure as to how it is to resolve an insoluble problem in their calendar:
"A special court has been established to accept evidence concerning the sighting of the New Moon, as required by Jewish Law. This court is made up of various justices who are assembled to hear evidence as the opportunity permits. The purpose of the court is to increase awareness, develop skills, and resolve halachic issues that arise when determining the Jewish Calendar according to testimony by witnesses. At this point there is no intention to supercede the mathematical calendar currently in use and fix the calendar on the basis of the testimony, such a step should be unacceptable to the public and spiritual leadership." [2]
Crescent Moons and a Summer Passover!
We will not go into the matter of the false Babylonian method of siting the new moon by the first visible crescent in use by Judaism all these centuries - if you are interested in an in-depth study, please pause and see, Yahweh's Gift of the New Moon. What we must do, though, is take up the issue of a fundamental error in the Jewish Calendar which is admitted by this modern 'Sanhedrin' and which, if not addressed, will one day result in Pesach (Passover) being celebrated in the summer instead of the spring:
"It should be noted that the mathematical calendar of Hillel II has been in use since the year 4119 (359 CE), and it has functioned for approximately 1600 years without difficultly. However, in recent years, a situation has been created where more and more frequently the onset of spring does not coincide with calendar currently in use. This means that the calendar is beginning to drift noticeably. Albeit, the rate of drift is very slow, much slower than other lunar calendars (such as the Islamic calendar). However, if continued unchecked, we will be celebrating Pesach in the summer, rather than the spring. Our current calendar will exceed halachically acceptable limits and we will be celebrating Biblically commanded holidays at times other than when Scripture requires them to be celebrated. One could argue that if a change is necessary in any event, it would be most correct according to Biblical and Jewish Law to once again use the system of witnesses. But it is certain that we will not longer be permitted to use the mathematical calendar of Hillel II in the near future." [3]
Everything Will Be Two Months Late
This is a significant admission.
"There is a requirement from the Torah (deOraisa) that Pesach come out two weeks after the first new moon of spring. The first day of spring according to the Solar Calendar [Gregorian] is always March 21. The Jewish Calendar has a discrepancy of about one day every century. This means that by the year 6000, Pesach will come out two news moons (Sivan) after the first day of spring. The Natziv was one of the first poskim to bring up this question about a hundred and fifty years ago. Some poskim replied that Mashiach would come by the year 6000, so there was nothing to worry about. Others said this would become an halachic question that will eventually require the re-establishment of the Sanhedrin to universally authorize a change in the calendar." [4]
No Sanhedren Required
In other words, the Jewish calendar is plain wrong (and on several other counts I don't have time to do into in this short article). It means that in the future it may be up to two months off, all the other New Moon and Sabbath errors included. Moreover, we don't need any 'Sanhedrin' to sort the matter out. So long as they continue to use the false hybrid calendar created by Hillel II, they will be forced to invent new man-made rules to 'compensate' for the calendar's imnbuilt error. And we don't need to wait for the Messiah to come either because the rules are simple and deducible from the Scriptures.
Determining the New Year and Other New Moons
So how do you calculate the moedim (appointments) of Yahweh? How do you know the correct way to calculate the New Moons each month and the important one at New Year's Day on Aviv 1? It's very easy. For the latter you need only determine the spring equinox and the New Year starts on the first New Moon afterwards.
How to Calculate the New Moons
The regular monthly Rosh Chodesh or New Moon is set or established when the moon is dark or invisible to the naked eye when an observer views the moon as the sun is rising. If the sun rises before the moon is visible (the moon remaining invisible), the day starting with that sunrise and the period to the following sunrise determines Rosh Chodesh. If the crescent moon is visible at sunrise, we can then know for certain that is it not Rosh Chodesh, in which case Rosh Chodesh is on its way or has already passed (depending whether it is a waning or waxing crescent). This factor can lead to the commonest mistakes made by observers.
The New Moon is Dark, Not a First Visible Crescent
Yahweh has ordained that Rosh Chodesh and the beginning of each month be determined when the moon is dark or invisible to the naked eye. The apparent 'discrepancies' that users of the Dynamic Calendar report to us are caused by the fact that the moon is invisible to the naked eye for a certain number of hours before and after man's 'calculated moment of conjunction'.
An Example
Let's take the Biblical New Year in 2012 as an example. The calculated moment of conjunction took place on Thursday 22 March (about 14:37 GMT time according to NASA's website [4]). The Dynamic Calendar marks Friday 23 March 2012 as Rosh Chodesh. If you had gone outside to observe the moon at sunrise [5] on 22 March, you would have still seen a small crescent, showing that Rosh Chodesh had not yet begun. But had you gone outside at sunrise on 23 March, the moon would have been invisible to the naked eye, thus establishing Rosh Chodesh from sunrise 23 March to sunrise 24 March. Had you gone out at sunrise on 24 March you would have seen the first visible crescent. Thus the calendar is accurately fixed:
23/03/2012 - Day 1 (Rosh Chodesh)
24/03/2012 - Day 2
25/03/2012 - Day 3
26/03/2012 - Day 4
27/03/2012 - Day 5
28/03/2012 - Day 6
29/03/2012 - Day 7
30/03/2012 - Day 8 (Shabbat)
For a quick summary, see The New Moon Festival Made Simple.
Conclusion
There is no room for error in Yahweh's Calendar otherwise people would be meeting at all the wrong times. Talmudic Judaism, along with most of Messianic Judaism, Seventh-Day Adventism and most 'Sabbatarianism', perpetuates numerous calendar errors, including the Satyrday Error - and, as we know, observing the true Sabbath is one of the signs of the true remnant Israel against the counterfeit one and the "synagogue of Satan" (Rev.2:9; 3:9). The Way to Salvation is not through Judaism [6][7][8] of any stripe, and the Jewish Calendar is just one more piece of evidence demonstrating that. No calendar - Roman, Jewish, other - will align you to Yahweh's proper timekeeping other than the Creation Calendar. If we don't get this right we may not lose our salvation but we are warned that if we are alive when the Anti-Messiah (Antichrist) takes power and we are still following satanic calendars and not following Torah that we may well be given into his hands:
"He shall speak pompous words against El Elyon (the Most High), shall persecute (lit. 'wear out') the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) of El Elyon (the Most High), and shall intend (think) to change times (Aram. zemam = appointed times, moedim, festivals) and Torah (Law). Then the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time (3˝ years, last half of the 7-year Great Tribulation)" (Dan.7:25, NKJV).
Don't make that mistake.
Endnotes
[1] Roy E. Hoffman & Tuvia Kaatz, Deciding the Jewish leap year when there is a Sanhedrin in the Israeli New Moon Society
[2] Sanhedrin.org, Committee concerning the fixing of the Calendar
[3] Ibid.
[4] NASA, Moon Phases
[5] The Jewish Calendar also errs in the matter of the beginning and end of each biblical day which it observes from sunset - see our series, Day's Beginning
[6] See, for example, Michael Hoffman, Judaism's Strange Gods (Independent History & Research, Coeur d'Alene, ID:2011)
[7] See Talmudic Judaism: The Dark Truth
[8] See America Under the Talmud: Will It Work for US?
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