The above scenario presumes that the sun sets at 5:00 PM on day #29 and the new moon becomes visible a half hour after sunset.  In this scenario, day #1 of the new month has officially begun and the old month had 29 days.  But what if the sun sets later than 5:00 PM?  What happens when the sun sets at 8:00 PM?  Will that new moon crescent be visible when day #29 comes to an end?  The answer is no because the moon will have already set by 8:00 PM (it probably set by 6:00 PM) and prior to sunset, the sun so outshone the moon that it was not visible. The following illustration depicts what conditions one should expect if the moon sets at 6:00 PM and the sun sets at 8:00 PM. With the understanding that you need to generally wait a half hour after sunset to see a new moon crescent, here is what you would expect to see in the western sky at 8:30 PM: 

What Happened to the New Moon Crescent?

        By 6:00 PM on day #29, the new moon crescent had already set.  Before it set, the sun outshone it so much that it was simply not visible.  Thus, we have no choice but to add an extra day to the month.  It is a 30-day month.

        Now if the conjunction that occurred just prior to our current month occurred precisely at midnight (12:00 AM), this means that the next month’s conjunction will occur 29.53059 days later (i.e., 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes later).  In other words, the next month’s conjunction occurs at 12:44 PM.  The following month’s conjunction would occur at 1:28 AM, then the following month’s conjunction would occur at 2:12 PM.  As you can hopefully see, the dynamics change with each passing month!  It’s never the same!  Is this Yahweh’s way of keeping us “on our toes”? 

 

Can Yahweh Produce a 28-Day Month?

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ith all the constantly-changing dynamics affecting our ability to sight a new moon, is it possible that Yahweh could present us with a month that only contains 28 days?  We had never experienced such a phenomenon before, and even though we had often considered the possibility, at the same time we never really gave it much thought … until 2014!   Let’s take a look at a potential scenario that can occur, given the fact that the lunar cycle is 29.53 days long and generally-speaking, the new moon crescent really needs to be at least 17 hours old before it can be seen:

Potential Scenario That Can Occur

        The above calendar illustrates that by sunset on day #29, the new moon crescent is over 28 hours old.  We have already established that a crescent moon needs to be at least 17 hours old to be seen after sunset.  If the weather conditions are clear that evening, the new moon should be easily visible. But what if it’s cloudy on day #29?  The following calendar is identical to the one above, but it exhibits a different variable on day #29:

     Since we were obligated to add an additional day to the above month, how does that affect the following month?  Here is the potential calendar for the following month:

        Now that we’ve shown a potential scenario, let’s take a look at what actually occurred in 2014: 

 

What Happened in Adar 2014?

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e earlier established that normative Judaism teaches that a Scriptural month cannot be shorter than 29 days.  This teaching was brought to the forefront in April 2014 by a member of the Israeli New Moon Society. We will supply his explanation and defense of this teaching later.  For now, let’s examine how a 28-day month actually occurred in the year 2014. 

        Before we display the 28-day month scenario of 2014, let us first establish that if weather conditions were always clear on the 29th day of each lunar month, there would never be a 28-day month.  However, what happens if, at the end of day 29 – a day on which it is all but certain that the new moon will be visible after sunset – a thick blanket of clouds envelops the entire region instead?  If the new moon is not visible that evening, even though it was all but certain that it would have been, do you go ahead and declare the new month in spite of the fact that there were not two witnesses to confirm a sighting?  Or do you regard the blocked view as Yahweh’s way of telling you He isn’t yet ready for us to declare a new month? 

        As for June and me, we opt for the latter option.  Our aim is to allow Yahweh to guide every aspect of our lives and we choose to allow Him (not men) to guide us in the direction of determining when a new month begins.  If we recognize Yahweh as being in control, we know first-hand that He can part the clouds so as to allow the sighting of His new moon.  With as many sightings as we have seen over the years, June and I have witnessed more than a few unconventional sightings, including a teeny window in the clouds that offers just enough room for a new moon to fit.  We have even observed a new moon in the middle of a thunderstorm.  On still other occasions, even though we were confident there would be a sighting, we were nevertheless unable to spot the crescent moon under clear skies.  

        As we hope you understand, we are persuaded that Yahweh doesn’t want His children determining His months based on new moon crescents that “should have been seen.”  In fact, even Judaism recognizes that declaring a 29-day month can only be done with the testimony of two witnesses.  This understanding is based on the fact that in Exodus 12:1-2, Yahweh showed two witnesses (Moses and Aaron) what the first new moon of the year looked like: 

¹ And Yahweh spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

² This month (Hebrew chodesh, new moon) shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 

        It is ironic that Judaism recognizes from Exodus 12:1-2 that the Almighty set a precedent that a new month should not be declared without the testimony of at least two witnesses.  Given the fact that, by default a month cannot contain more than 30 days, if it is found to only have 29 days, that finding must be on the basis of at least two witnesses testifying to its having been sighted.  Shown below is an excerpt of the commentary on Exodus 12:1 from the Jewish commentary on the Torah known as The Chumash: 

The Torah provides that Rosh Chodesh can be proclaimed only by the rabbinic court, on the basis of two witnesses who testify that they observed the re-appearance of the moon.[5] 

        If the new moon (Rosh Chodesh) can only be proclaimed on the basis of two witnesses, and if there is no need for witnesses after a 30-day month, then on what basis does modern Judaism contradict the above teaching and declare that a certain month was a 29-day month, even though there were no witnesses who sighted the new moon crescent?  Nevertheless, as we will see later in our study, that is precisely what Judaism does and this is what they did to the Scriptural month of Shebat 2014.[6]  It is with this backdrop that we would like to present our view that the Scriptural 12th month of Adar 2014 (which encompassed March 2014) was a 28-day month. 

        Before the month of Adar had even arrived, we had already projected that the 11th month (Shebat) would be a 29-day month based on the fact that the new moon crescent’s altitude over Israel was expected to be at over 16 degrees above the horizon at sunset on that 29th day (March 2nd).  Generally, it is possible to see a new moon that is at an altitude of 7 degrees or higher above the horizon at sunset.  Of course, a new moon is not actually visible right at sunset, but if the new moon is at least 7 degrees above the horizon at sunset, you have a fairly good opportunity of seeing it within the next half hour or so.  We say this even though we cannot confirm having ever sighted a new moon crescent whose altitude was at the 7° range at sunset.  While various ones have claimed to have sighted the new moon crescent at 7°, the best we can boast is an 8° new moon crescent.  If there are clear viewing conditions and the New Moon crescent is at 10 degrees or higher, it’s usually a given, though not a certainty, that it will be seen.  A 16-degree new moon, then, is a near certainty – unless it’s cloudy.  With the understanding that a 16-degree New Moon would all but guarantee a sighting at the end of day #29, here is the potential calendar scenario that June and I put together for the 11th  month:

:

        When March 2nd (day #29) arrived, we fully expected to hear a report from Israel that the new moon had been sighted; however, here is the report that we received from the Israeli New Moon Society: 

It was impossible to see the new moon from Israel as the entire country suffers from dust and sand clouds.

       Even though the 16-degree New Moon was expected to be seen by man, the Almighty had other plans.  By default, the 11th month became a 30-day month and we had to update our calendar:

      When we made up the calendar scenario for the next month (the 12th month Adar), we knew things might get dicey at the end because we had already projected it as being a 29-day month while the 11th month was still in progress!  The calendar we had anticipated for Adar is displayed below.  As you can see, it was all set to begin on the 2nd day of the week, based on our guesstimated projection:

        As displayed above, our projected calendar for the Scriptural month Adar 2014 was expected to begin on the second day of the week and it was expected to have 29 days.  If the new moon of the previous month had been sighted on the evening of March 2nd, everything would have gone as planned.  However, it was not sighted that evening, automatically making the 11th month a 30-day month and we had to completely overhaul our anticipated calendar for Adar.  Instead of beginning on the second day of the week, Adar began on the third day of the week. This effectively messed up our projections for the month of Adar. What follows is an illustration of the messed-up calendar:

        Having Adar begin on the third day of the week (instead of the originally-projected second day) was the least of our calendar concerns.  You see, we still expected to see the next new moon on March 31st, and if such would be the case, Adar would be a 28-day month!  We had never heard of (or observed) such a thing!

        Of course, at the beginning of Adar, we had no idea what would happen at the end of the month.  Would it only have 28 days or were we missing something?  I decided to ask our contact person with the Israeli New Moon Society if he thought there might be a 28-day month.  Here is his reply: 

No, There can't be 28 days and after 30 days even if the moon is not seen, a new month begins.

        In view of the fact that Scripture does not come out and tell us there cannot be 28 days in a month, I felt that the above was a rather smug response, especially in view of the fact that the representative didn’t offer an explanation.  How could he be so sure that there cannot possibly be 28 days in a month?  Nevertheless, instead of challenging the representative, we decided to just wait and see what would happen at the end of the month.  We knew that if the new moon was sighted on March 31st Adar would have to be considered a 28-day month and with such a sighting, we would need a better explanation from our friend at the Israeli New Moon Society.  On the other hand, if it was sighted on April1st, Adar would be a 29-day month and I would have no further questions, nor would there be a need to compose this study!

       We eagerly awaited the big day of March 31st.  I had to work that day, but I was hopeful to have an opportunity to check my personal e-mail account over my lunch hour to see if there was any report from the Israeli New Moon society about a new moon sighting.  To my dismay, I kept so busy that it wasn’t until I left work that I was able to see confirmation that YES!  The new moon had been sighted over Israel by multiple witnesses!  Adar was over and it had been a very, very rare 28-day month!  Here’s the calendar I was now compelled to put together:

        We need to emphasize that in over 25 years of Torah observance, June and I had never experienced a 28-day month.  Nevertheless, in spite of how rare this situation may be, it’s a wonder it hasn’t occurred more often because it can certainly happen any time there are two consecutive (projected) 29-day months, but it is cloudy on the 29th day of the first of those two months. 

            It is not at all uncommon to have two consecutive Scriptural months of 29 days.  In fact, there were two consecutive 29-day months in November and December 2013, only three months prior to the situation that I have just described.  It is a given that if there is a 29-day month, the moon must have been sighted; otherwise the month automatically becomes a 30-day month.  However, let’s suppose for a moment that it had been cloudy on day #29 of the Scriptural month of Bul (in November 2013, displayed below). This would have required that the new month of Casleu (in December 2013) begin a day later and instead of having 29 days, that month would have had only 28 days:

        The above potential scenario became a reality with the dust and sand clouds that enveloped Israel on the evening of March 2, 2014 (the 29th day of the Scriptural month), which automatically made the 11th Scriptural month of Shebat a 30-day month and caused the 12th month of Adar to begin on March 4, 2014.  With the next new moon sighting coming 28 days later, I could only conclude that Adar was a 28-day month.  I decided that it was time to bring this matter to the attention of the Israeli New Moon Society.   Here’s an excerpt from the e-mail I sent the representative on April 5, 2014:

Fast forward to March 2, 2014, which was day #29 of the Scriptural month.  The new moon should have been sighted over Israel [that evening], but was not due to dust and sand clouds.  By default, it became a 30-day month [March 3rd being day #30] and March 4th was day #1 of the new month.

Twenty-eight days later, on March 31st, the new moon was sighted over Israel, making April 1 the first day of the new Scriptural month.  For those who strictly go by the Israel sightings, last month was a 28-day month.  I'm attaching a calendar that I hope sufficiently illustrates my understanding and the explanation that I have just given you. 

 

I understand that I saw the new moon back on March 2nd, but I try to think in terms of ancient ways and the old paths (Jer. 6:16) and I know that under these same circumstances in ancient times no one outside of Israel would have been able to report sighting the new moon in time for the proper reckoning to begin.  I also question whether such far-away testimony would have been accepted in the amount of time it would have taken to provide the report.

 

Since the ancient understanding was that the new month is reckoned based on visual sighting, combined with the fact that a new moon was sighted 28 days after a 30-day month, I am persuaded that last month was a 28-day month.  I might add that nowhere in Scripture does it ever state that a month may only consist of 29 or 30 days.

 

If you can supply evidence disproving my reasoning above, I would like to read it. 

       Clearly, based on the fact that, by default, the 11th month of Shebat was a 30-day month due to non-sighting of the new moon at the end of day #29, the following month of Adar was denied its projected 29-day billing and only lasted 28 days before the next new moon sighting.  Nevertheless, Jewish tradition keeps the Israeli New Moon Society from recognizing the possibility of a 28-day month.  Here is the representative’s response to my e-mail: 

Hi Larry. There are special laws in the Jewish calendar to make sure that such scenarios will not happen. The basic idea is that if it will be possible to see the moon in the next month after 29 days, the Bet-Din will decide the 30th day as the first day of a new month even if there were not any witnesses. Otherwise there might be a sequence of months that due to clouds/haze or just bad luck the moon will not be seen and suddenly it will appear in the 27 day or so.... It is detailed in the Rambam laws chapter 18-19.

       When we read the above response, we knew the discussion was over because we have long understood that Jewish reverence for Rambam (a.k.a., Maimonides) will trump any reasoning that we might present to the contrary.  Did Maimonides write that a month may not consist of fewer than 29 days in his work “The Sanctification of the New Moon”?  Yes, he did (in so many words).  Here is the pertinent portion of his commentary: 

For 29 complete days must always elapse from the night of visibility of one new moon until the night of visibility of the next new moon.  The same is true of all months:  each has neither less nor more than 29 days.[7] 

      There is an immediate problem with the above commentary:  Contrary to what Maimonides wrote above, some months do indeed have more than 29 days, i.e., they can have 30.  In fact, he contradicts this testimony elsewhere in his writings, as we read early in our study.  Nevertheless, the fact remains that Maimonides wrote that a month cannot contain fewer than 29 days, which in turn means that he would not have recognized the month we regard as having had 28 days.  Maimonides elaborates on his reasoning in chapter 18 of his work: 

5. (Consider now the following case:)

(i) Witnesses who had observed the new crescent in its "proper time" came and testified, and the court accepted their testimony and sanctified the new moon, this being the first New Moon Day (in the case before us).

(ii) Then, starting with the thus sanctified New Moon Day, 29 days were counted, but on the night of the 30th day the new crescent was not visible, either because it could not possibly have been visible or because it was hidden behind clouds.  As a result, the court remained in session all of the 30th day, as explained above (1, 6), waiting for witnesses to arrive; but since no witnesses did arrive, the month was declared to be full, and accordingly, New Moon Day—the second (in the present example)—was set on the 31st day, as we have explained (1, 3).

(iii) Now the court began again to count 29 days, starting from the second New Moon Day, and again the new crescent was not visible on the night of the 30th day.  Should we therefore contend that the month is once more to be declared full, that is, made to consist of 30 days, and that this, the third, New Moon Day also is to fall on the 31st day?  If so, it may well happen that, even in this month, the new crescent will remain invisible on the night of the 30th day, and the court might thus find itself compelled to continue declaring full months of 30 days throughout the year and, consequently, the new crescent might in a subsequent month become visible on the night of the 25th or the 26th day—than which nothing could be more ludicrous and confusing.[8] 

        Maimonides goes on to write that it is not at all improbable that cloudy weather conditions would continually prohibit sighting the new moon on the night of the 30th day (as the 29th has ended), and that these same conditions could prevail for several consecutive months, including a full year's worth of months. Theoretically-speaking, we cannot argue against such a potential scenario, even though we have yet to experience anything remotely similar to what occurred this year in over 25 years of watching for the new moon crescent.   

A Year of Clouds? 

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aimonides’ potential scenario presents an intriguing dilemma.  How would a year of clouds on the 29^th day of each Scriptural month affect the following month’s new moon sighting?  I checked the calendar we maintained for a 12-month period beginning with the New Moon Day of January 14, 2013 to see what a year’s worth of cloudy conditions would have done.  Actually, we had anticipated New Moon Day falling on January 13, 2013, but the new moon was not sighted at the conclusion of the previous month's 29th day, making it by default a 30-day month. The Biblical 11th month of Shebat thus began on January 14th of the Gregorian calendar.  Presuming that it also would have been cloudy at the conclusion of day #29 of the next 12 months, we determined that the month of Shebat in 2014 would have been a 24-day month. Actually, it would have been a 23-day month, but that evening (March 2, 2014) was the infamous night of the dust and sand clouds enveloping Israel, which we referenced earlier. To add even more intrigue to this scenario, if we take this year’s dust and sand clouds phenomenon into consideration with the following month, including the new moon sighting of March 31, 2014, the month of Adar would have only consisted of 22 days! 

        Given the fact that Scripture never specifies whether or not a month can consist of fewer than 29 days, I think the big question that each of us must answer is, “How shocking would it be to you if a certain month only consisted of 22 days?”  From our perspective, it would be little more than a novelty. For others, it is apparently the “unthinkable.”  Either way, once the unusual scenario is behind us, we move on and the next month will either contain 29 or 30 days as usual.  In 2014, the month following the unusual 28-day month contained 30 days, not because it was cloudy at the close of day #29, but the new moon crescent was far too low above the horizon at sunset (3.25°) for anyone to have possibly been able to see it.  We can now look back at the 28-day month of Adar and either chuckle or scratch our heads in disbelief, but the fact of the matter is, a new moon was sighted over Israel 28 days after a full 30-day month had previously been declared. From Maimonides' perspective, the mere thought of such a short month is “ludicrous and confusing,” and since he is such a revered sage within normative Judaism, modern Judaism will accept his testimony regardless of the fact that Scripture never draws such a boundary regarding the length of a month. 

        When it comes to the writings and commentary of any man, including yours truly, we really need to ask, “By whose authority did he write it?  Man’s or Yahweh’s?  Does what he wrote agree with Scripture?”  Does Maimonides’ rejection of a 28-day month have Scriptural support?  As we evaluate the answer to that question, we are compelled to state unequivocally that Maimonides took some liberties with new moon sanctification that we cannot believe had Yahweh’s blessing.  For example, here is what he wrote in chapter two of his treatise “Sanctification of the New Moon”: 

Even if the court itself and the whole community of Israel had observed the new moon, as long as the court [of the Sanhedrin] had not pronounced the Mĕkuddaš formula (Mĕkuddaš means “the new moon has been sanctified”) before the arrival of darkness on the night of the 31st day—if only because the examination of the witnesses had dragged on for so long that the court had no occasion to pronounce Mĕkuddaš before the arrival of darkness on the night of the 31st—this new moon could no longer be sanctified and the old month was declared embolismic [i.e., “full,” having 30 days].  In that case, New Moon Day was declared to fall on the 31st day, notwithstanding the fact that the new crescent had been observed on the night of the 30th day.  For it was not the observation of the new moon, but the official pronouncement of the Mĕkuddaš formula by the court which legally initiated the new month.[9] 

        Having read the above commentary, please understand what Maimonides expected his readers to believe:  A throng of witnesses comes forward to report having sighted the new moon after the 29th day of the month has ended.  If, in the court’s efforts to accommodate all the witnesses, the standard interrogation/examination time period drags on till after sunset ends the 30th day, then the entire day’s testimony is declared “null and void” because they hadn’t declared the “Mĕkuddaš formula” before sunset!  So even though the new moon was clearly sighted the night before by several witnesses, their testimony is ignored—all because the correct “formula” wasn’t recited within the proper time frame.  As a result, instead of the previous month being counted as a 29-day month, it is regarded as a 30-day month due to this "technicality."

       What makes Maimonides’ above explanation of a potential scenario all the more bizarre is the fact that he does not take into consideration the fact that the “dragging-on examination session” resulting in the declaration of a full 30-day month could very well result in a new moon sighting at the end of day #28 of the following month!  Thus, after all the “hem-hawing” around that caused the month to be a 30-day month instead of the 29-day month that it should have been, when the subsequent new moon is sighted on day #28 of the following month, they would go back and say the previous month was a 29-day month after all!  To borrow Maimonides’ own words, “Nothing could be more ludicrous and confusing.”

        Ancient Jewish writers such as Philo and the author of the Book of Enoch offer no hints that a Scriptural month may not consist of 28 days.  Philo plainly established that a new month begins with the sighting of a new moon crescent: 

XXVI (140)  Following the order stated above, we record the third type of feast which we will proceed to explain.  This is the New Moon, or beginning of the lunar month, namely the period between one conjunction and the next, the length of which has been accurately calculated in the astronomical schools.  The new moon holds its place among the feasts for many reasons.  First, because it is the beginning of the month, and the beginning, both in number and in time, deserves honour.  Secondly, because when it [i.e., the new moon] arrives, nothing in heaven is left without light, for while at the conjunction, when the moon is lost to sight under the sun, the side which faces earth is darkened, when the new month begins it resumes its natural brightness.

(141)  The third reason is, that the stronger or more powerful element at that time supplies the help which is needed to the smaller and weaker.  For it is just then that the sun begins to illumine the moon with the light which we perceive and the moon reveals its own beauty to the eye.[10]

        Again, Philo understood that a new month begins with the crescent new moon sighting.  Although he does not directly state that a month may contain 28 days, in his treatise “On the Creation,” he certainly hints at such a possibility.  Here is what he wrote: 

The number seven when compounded of numbers beginning with the unit, makes eight-and-twenty, a perfect number, and one equalised in its parts. And the number so produced, is calculated to reproduce the revolutions of the moon, bringing her back to the point from which she first began to increase in a manner perceptible by the external senses, and to which she returns by waning. For she increases from her first crescent-shaped figure, to that of a half circle in seven days; and in seven more, she becomes a full orb; and then again she turns back, retracing the same path, like a runner of the diaulos, receding from an orb full of light, to a half circle again in seven days, and lastly, in an equal number she diminishes from a half circle to the form of a crescent; and thus the number before mentioned is completed.[11]

        Since we have established that Philo understood the sighting of a new crescent moon to designate the beginning of a month, we know he would agree that a new month began with the report of a sighting over Israel on March 31, 2014.  The question is, does that mean we should go backwards and cross out “day 30” of the previous month and declare it as having actually been a 29-day month, even though no one in Israel saw the new moon that evening?  

        Let me put this another way:  If I wrote a check and dated it “Adar 14,” should I later contact the recipient of that check and tell him, “Please cross out that ‘14’ and make it a ‘13’ instead because we just found out that ‘day 1’ of last month should have been ‘day 2’, etc.”?   Also, if a marriage took place on what we originally regarded as being Adar 7, do we “retro-date” the wedding date as Adar 6?   That is precisely what the Israeli New Moon Society would propose be done to avoid having a 28-day month.

        The Israeli New Moon Society says, “Yes, you need to retro-date the check because otherwise the twelfth month (Adar) would only have 28 days, and a 28-day month is not possible.”

       On the other hand, ancient Judaism says, “No, since there were no witnesses to a new moon sighting on Shebat 29, that month was a 30-day month whether we like it or not, and since a new moon was sighted 28 days after Adar began, Adar was a 28-day month.”  The author of The Book of Enoch, a writing ancient enough to have fragments found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, understood that one month within the Scriptural year may contain only 28 days: 

9. And in certain months the month has twenty-nine days and once twenty-eight. 10. And Uriel showed me another law: when light is transferred to the moon, and on which side it is transferred to her by the sun. 11. During all the period during which the moon is growing in her light, she is transferring it to herself when opposite to the sun during fourteen days [her light is accomplished in the heaven], and when she is illumined throughout, her light is accomplished full in the heaven. 12. And on the first day she is called the new moon, for on that day the light rises upon her.[12]

        Did the author if The Book of Enoch know something about the Creator’s calendar that escaped the likes of Maimonides and the rest of what is considered normative Judaism?  It is interesting that the representative from the Israeli New Moon society, in virtually every facet of the calendar discussion, misrepresents Scripture and reaches an unreasonable conclusion, all based on an apparent desire to not stray from the teachings of modern Judaism.  Why put the teachings of man on a higher pedestal than the Almighty? 

        Since Yahweh doesn’t specify that there cannot be a 28-day month, far be it from us to determine that it can’t happen because, as we experienced in 2014, it did!