Jewish Calendar Tutorial Worksheet 3 (2000)

YEAR BEING CALCULATED: 2000

PART III: CHECKING THE MOLAD AGAINST THE POSTPONEMENT RULES AND THEN DETERMINING THE KEY DATES FOR THE WHOLE YEAR IN ROMAN CALENDAR TERMS

1.
DATE AND TIME OF THE MOLAD: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28 at H19 P310, this being 1:17:13 p.m.

2.
EVALUATING THIS AGAINST RULE #1: noon or later? YES!

3.
RESULT:POSTPONE TO FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

4.
EVALUATING THE RESULT AGAINST RULE #2:
Is this a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday? YES!

5.
RESULT:POSTPONE TO SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

6.
IF RULES #1 AND #2 DID NOT APPLY, EVALUATE THE MOLAD AGAINST RULE #3:
Rules #1 and #2 did apply. Therefore rules #3 and #4 are excluded.

7.
RESULT:We have our final result for Tishri 1 in 2000 A.D.

8.
IF RULES #1 AND #2 AND #3 DID NOT APPLY, EVALUATE THE MOLAD AGAINST RULE #4:

9.
RESULT:Not applicable for this year.

10.
ASSESSING THE RESULTS OF ALL 4 RULES AGAINST THIS MOLAD:
Rules #1 and #2 combined to cause a 2-day postponement away from the day of the molad.

11.
NOW DETERMINE THE DATE FOR TRUMPETS:
DAY OF TRUMPETS IN 2000 = SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30

12.
NOW EVALUATE TRUMPETS AGAINST THE REAL ASTRONOMICAL NEW MOON DATA:
The real new moon conjunction was on September 27 at 10:13 p.m., being the first part of September 28, sunset to sunset. Thus even though the molad was already over 15 hours AFTER the actual conjunction in 2000, the start of the month (i.e. Tishri 1) was postponed even further away from the time of the conjunction. Tishri 1 started a full day AFTER the new crescent would have been visible. Clearly the postponements had no astronomical justifications whatsoever. Tishri 1 was 2 days after the new moon conjunction day. Compare this to the results for the year 2002.
WITH TISHRI 1 ESTABLISHED, WE NOW DETERMINE THE REST OF THE YEAR AS FOLLOWS:
STARTING WITH THE DATE FOR TRUMPETS, WE PUT TOGETHER ALL THE RELEVANT DATES FOR THIS PARTICULAR YEAR:

A. ATONEMENT = TISHRI 1 + 9 DAYS =    OCTOBER 9

B. FIRST DAY OF TABERNACLES = TISHRI 1 + 14 DAYS = OCTOBER 14

C. LAST GREAT DAY = TISHRI 1 + 21 DAYS = OCTOBER 21

D. DATE FOR NISAN 1 = TISHRI 1 - 177 DAYS = APRIL 6

E. EVALUATING NISAN 1 AGAINST THE ASTRONOMICAL NEW MOON FOR THE FIRST MONTH:  NEW MOON CONJUNCTION = APRIL 4, at 8:34 p.m.
Thus Nisan 1 was 1 day after the new moon conjunction day. Compare this to Tishri 1 being 2 days after the new moon conjunction day.

F. PASSOVER DATE = NISAN 1 + 13 DAYS: APRIL 19 (Observed the previous evening after sunset)

G. FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD = NISAN 1 + 14 DAYS: APRIL 20

H. SEVENTH DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD = NISAN 1 + 20 DAYS: APRIL 26

I.PENTECOST = SUNDAY (in the period from Nisan 15 to 21) + 7 WEEKS: SUNDAY, JUNE 11

THAT CONCLUDES ALL THE CALCULATIONS FOR THE JEWISH CALENDAR FOR THIS PARTICULAR YEAR. NOW LET'S EXAMINE THIS YEAR AS A WHOLE.

FINAL EVALUATION OF THE JEWISH CALENDAR FOR THIS PARTICULAR YEAR:

The calculation of the molad of Tishri resulted in a time that was over 15 hours after the actual new moon conjunction in 2000. The postponement rules then postponed the start of the 7th month still further away from the time of the conjunction. This resulted in Tishri 1 being 2 days after the day of the lunar conjunction. The Jewish rule of always placing Nisan 1 exactly 177 days before Tishri 1 resulted in Nisan 1 being 1 day after the day of the lunar conjunction. That is because in 2000 there were in actual fact only 176 days between the 1st and the 7th new moons.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE NOW COMPLETED THE ENTIRE CALCULATIONS FOR THE JEWISH CALENDAR FOR THE YEAR 2000.

ARE YOU READY TO TRY CALCULATING THE JEWISH CALENDAR DATES FOR ANOTHER YEAR? IT IS REALLY QUITE SIMPLE, ISN'T IT?

Frank W. Nelte