The New Moon -Traditions of Men
Versus the Word of Elohim
byYa’acov Natan Lawrence

A s more and more Christians begin to return to the Hebrew roots of their faith they find themselves having to make difficult choices. Whose Hebraic traditions are we to follow? Which choice lines up with the truth revealed in the Word of Elohim? What do we do when different “experts” claim biblical authority for what they do and teach, yet hold opposing viewpoints? Many Believers feel they have been lied to in traditional Christianity ( Jer 16:19) as they begin to learn about the unbiblical and even pagan roots of many “sacred cow” Christian traditions. Many are turning to the Jewish rabbis for the answer. After all, they have remained immovably faithful to the Torah-law of Elohim for thousands of years, right?

The subject of the biblical calendar is of great concern to many Believers who are first learning about יהוה’s appointed times (moedim) or set-apart feast days including the weekly seventh-day Sabbath (Shabbat). After all, how can one properly observe these commanded assemblies, which are central to properly understanding יהוה’s plan of salvation (or redemption), of which the work of Yeshua the Messiah is a central part, if one cannot even determine when to keep them?

The calendar issue can be a very technically involved subject and a daunting task to understand for even the most astute students of Scripture. Yet did יהוה intend this to be the case? Didn’t Yeshua teach that the basic Gospel message and plan of salvation should be so simple that even a child could comprehend it (Matt 18:1-5)? Shouldn’t even the children among us easily understand something so crucial to the basic Gospel message and plan of salvation as the feast days and Sabbath of יהוה including when to observe them?

This simple stream of logic can easily get lost in the flurry of controversy surrounding the calendar forcing many to throw up their hands in confusion defaulting to the concept that “if it’s good enough for the Jews then it must be okay.” To back this notion up some will even quote (out of context, to boot) Paul in Romans 3:2, which says, “[U]nto [the Jews] were committed the oracles of Elohim” (Greek: logion, from logos meaning the Word of Elohim), so therefore, it is reasoned, whatever calendar the Jews use today must be the divinely inspired one. The concept that ignorance is bliss never helped the proverbial ostrich who buried his head in the sand, and it is doubtful that such a mentality will help anyone to uncover the truth of Scripture, and hence the perfect will of the Creator for their lives.

Perhaps the major flaw in the argument that the Jews must be right is this: Is what the Jews do today the same as in Paul’s day—especially regarding the calendar? Furthermore, can we carte blanche accept what they say if it does not line up with the Word of Elohim? After all, most religious Jews deny the deity and Messiahship of Yeshua. Are we to follow them in this? Obviously not, unless our model to follow in returning to our Hebrew roots is Rabbinic Judaism, and not Scripture. After all, if Yeshua accused the Jewish religious establishment of his day of making of none effect the Word of Elohim through various man-made laws and traditions (Matt 15:6-9; Mark 7:7-9), then, one must logically ask, how much more is this the case 2000 years later? Furthermore, it may be reasoned, if Christianity has strayed from its Hebraic roots over the millennia perhaps the same has happened with our rabbinic Jewish brothers. Indeed, this is the case. History and the writings of the Jews prove it and the unchanging and infallible Word of Elohim undeniably confirms it.

A very simple illustration of this fact is the start of the Jewish new year. Look at any Jewish calendar and the first day of the Jewish new year is on the first day of the seventh month (or Tishrei) and is a festival known by the non-biblical term Rosh Hashana (meaning, the Head of the New Year). Yet, the astute observer should immediately ask why should not the first rather than the seventh month begin the new year? After all, does not יהוה plainly state in Exodus 12:2 that the first day of the year falls in the month when the Passover is observed, which by the way is what Scripture calls the first month (usually in March or April)? Assuredly, the Jews have all kinds of reasonings for the incongruence of their traditions with the truth of Scripture. In the Mishnah (which is a partial precursor to the Talmud and was committed to writing by ca. a.d. 200 and contains Jewish oral legal tradition) the Rabbinic Jews have four new years (Yom Teruah 1:1). They speak of civil versus religious calendars and of their tradition that the earth was created in the seventh month, not in the first month, and so on. But the fact remains, for them the new year starts in the late summer or early fall, and not in the spring as יהוה clearly instructed Moses.

The simple truth is that the calendar the Jews use today is but a modified version of the one used at the time of Yeshua and the Apostles in the first century and originates from ca. a.d. 360 and is the work of a Jewish rabbi named Hillel II (a.d. 330-365) (Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion, p. 78). Up until that time the entire Jewish Diaspora ( Jews living outside the Holy Land) depended upon the Judean Sanhedrin (the ruling Jewish body of elders in Jerusalem) to determine the calendar and legal observance of the biblical feast days. Yet because of the persecution in the Roman world against the Jews, the messengers from Judea were often menaced or threatened as they attempted to convey calendric rulings from Judea to Jewry elsewhere.This presented a perplexing problem for synagogues in distant lands that depended upon news from Judea to determine their calendar, and hence feast day observances. “But as the religious persecution continued, Hillel determined to provide an authorized calendar for all time to come, though by doing so he severed the ties which united the Jews of the Diaspora to their mother country and to the patriarchate” (Dictionary of Ancient Rabbis, p. 200).

Central to the establishment of the calendar was the sighting of the new moon (Rosh Chodesh) each month from Jerusalem. Scripture states that, “out of Zion shall go forth the Torah-law, and the Word of יהוה from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:3), yet after the Second Jewish Revolt (a.d. 132-135) the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem and the surrounding region by the Romans and were told to stay out on pain of death, so how could they properly sight the new moon? (Our Father Abraham, p. 82). Therefore, obtaining biblically accurate new moon sightings was difficult if not a life-threatening activity, not to mention the dangers involved in getting word out about the new moon through hostile territory to the dispersed Jews in distant regions.

The Torah-Word of Elohim states that the new year should start on the month when the barley was green in its head (i.e., abiv) at the sighting of the crescent new moon (Exod 9:31; 12:1-2; 13:4) thus determining the entire calendar for the upcoming year including when to observe יהוה’s commanded annual feasts (Lev 23). In an effort to be faithful to יהוה’s Word, the rabbis of the Second Temple era established elaborate rituals and proto- cols to determine when the new moon had occurred. Edersheim notes that credible eyewitnesses were relied upon to provide this information for the Jewish religious leaders. “To supply this want the Sanhedrin sat in the ‘Hall of Polished Stones’ to receive the testimony of credible witnesses that they had seen the new moon.” The Mishnah attests to this, as well, in Yom Teruah 2:6ff. When it was determined that the new moon had been sighted by several witnesses Edersheim writes, “Immediately thereon men were sent to a signal-station on the Mount of Olives, where beacon-fires were lit and torches waved, till a kindling flame on a hill in the distance indicated that the sig- nal had been perceived. Thus the tidings, that this was the new moon, would be carried from hill to hill, far beyond the boundaries of Palestine, to those of the dispersion ‘beyond the river.’ ... But these early fire-signals opened the way for serious inconvenience. The enemies of the Jews lit beacons to deceive those at a distance, and it became necessary to send special messengers to announce the new moon” (The Temple–Its Ministry and Services, pp. 156-157; see also Mishnah Yom Teruah 2:1-4). And as noted above, for this and other reasons the Jews devised a calendar not dependent on observing the new moon from Jerusalem or from examining the ripening of the barley.

To the credit of Hillel II who devised a very accurate calendar that was not dependent upon having to be physically present in the land of Israel, the Jews have been able to keep יהוה’s feast days in a manner that is still surprisingly accurate biblically 1640 years later. However, as those who have learned to sight the new moon each month will confirm, there are times when the rabbinic calendar or Hillel II calendar, as it has been named, does not coincide with the Torah-Word of Elohim. For example, the Torah-law states that the fourth of יהוה’s appointed times (moedim), the Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), is to be celebrated on the first day of the seventh month (Lev 23:24) (which falls during our month of September), but there are times when Yom Teruah on the Hillel II calendar is a day or two earlier or later than when the actual crescent new moon is visible from Jerusalem or environs. When this occurs Bible Believers have to choose either to follow Jewish traditions or the Word of Elohim. My position on this matter is clear, “As for me and my house, we will serve יהוה” ( Josh 24:15).

Thankfully, in our age of instant communications this information is readily available to those who are seek- ing to align their lives not with man-made traditions that often negate יהוה’s written Word, but with the actual Word itself. Doing such is one more step in the restoration of all things that the Gospel writer stated under the inspiration of the Spirit of Elohim must occur before Yeshua the Messiah can return (Acts 3:21).

The Feast Days and New Moon In More Detail

What does the Word of Elohim say about the relationship between the biblical appointed times (moedim) or feast days and the new moon (Rosh Chodesh)? Psalm 104:19 states, “[ יהוה] appointed the moon for seasons [moedim]; the sun knows his going down.” The purpose of the moon is to determine seasons or moedim. Keep this in mind.

In Genesis 1:14 יהוה Elohim 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 [moedim], and for days, and years.” Here we see the linking of the astrobodies with the sacred seasons and feast days of יהוה Elohim. The word signs in Strong’s Hebrew dictionary is number 226 and is the Hebrew word owth meaning a distinguishing mark, banner, a remembrance, a proof, an omen, a warning, a token, an ensign, or a miracle. The heavenly bodies were created as signs or signals of something. The word seasons (Strong’s H4150 is moed or plural, moedim) means a congregation, feast, season, appointed time, assembly. What is being taught here is that the sun, moon and stars are signals which set the appointed times, sacred assemblies or feast days of יהוה for his people. In Leviticus 23:4 we see further proof of this point:

“These are the feasts of יהוה, even set-apart convocations, which you shall proclaim in their seasons [moedim]” (emphasis added).

Please note the possessive pronoun their indicating that the feast days “own” or “possess” the seasons and thus predate the seasons that are determined by the astral bodies. In other words, יהוה created the heavenly bodies and seasons for his appointed times or set-apart (holy) feast days, which are a shadow-picture of his plan of salvation or redemption for the world. It could be said that the entire physical creation was made in order to have a place wherein to implement and showcase יהוה’s glorious plan of salvation. The moon is central to the process of determining the feasts of יהוה, which are central in understanding the seven steps, as outlined in the seven moedim, of יהוה’s plan of salvation.

What does the word Rosh Chodesh mean? Rosh (spelled Xar; Strong’s H7218) is a common word meaning head, top, beginning or first. Chodesh (spelled Xdx; Strong’s H2320) means the new moon, monthly, the first day of the lunar month. In the KJV it is translated as month (254 times), or new moon (20 times). This is its primary meaning. The root of the word chodesh is chadash (Strong’s H2318) and means to be new, renew, or repair. It is translated in the KJV as renew (seven times) and repair (three times). This is its primary meaning. The word chodesh meaning new moon and translated as such in the KJV is found in many places in Scripture (e.g., 1 Sam 20:5,18,24; 2 Kngs 4:23; Ps 81:3; Isa 66:23; Ezek 46:1,6; Amos 8:5).

The Crescent New Moon is called Hodesh because it is the first time the moon is seen anew after being concealed for several days at the end of the lunar cycle. At the end of the lunar month the moon is close to the sun and eventually reaches the point of ‘conjunction’ when it passes between the Sun and the Earth. As a result, around the time of conjunction very little of the moon’s illuminated surface faces the Earth and it is not visible through the infinitely brighter glare of the sun. After the moon moves past the sun it continues towards the opposite side of the Earth. As it gets farther away from the sun the percentage of its illuminated surface facing the Earth increases and one evening shortly after sunset the moon is seen anew after being invisible for 1.5-3.5 days. Because the moon is seen anew after a period of invisibility the ancients called it a ‘New Moon’ or “Hodesh” (from Hadash meaning new)”

Bibliography

Edersheim, Alfred, The Temple Life: Its Ministry and Service, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, MA: 1994

Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion, first edition, Massada– P.E.C. Ltd. Jerusalem: 1965, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. N.Y.: 1966

Neusner, Jacob. ed., Dictionary of Ancient Rabbis—Selections from the Jewish Encyclopedia. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2003.

Wilson, Marvin R., Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, Eerdman’s Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 49503: 1989