Rosh Chodesh Nisan and the Spring Festivals

Here is the email received from from Nehemia in Jerusalem:

Karaite Korner Newsletter #375

New Moon Report – March 2009 – First Biblical Month

On Friday March 27, 2009 we did not sight the moon from Jerusalem. The horizon was covered with clouds. The moon would have been visible if there had not been clouds and therefore based on the principle of potential visibility tonight begins the new biblical month.

There may have been observers who sighted the moon from other locations around Israel but we do not expect to receive these reports until after Shabbat.

Shanah Tovah!
Happy New Year!

Nehemia Gordon
Jerusalem, Israel

The problem with this is that in ancient times, if they did not see the moon due to clouds, they would NOT have sanctified the new month.  Saying they “should” have seen it is irrelevant, because they DIDN’T see it.  If they didn’t actually see it, it cannot be sanctified.

The question then becomes, if a report of seeing the new moon comes in from some other part of the country, is it valid?  By Karaite reckoning, it cannot be, because there is nothing in the Written Torah saying so.  Rabbinic tradition allows reports to arrive up to midday of the supposed date of Rosh Chodesh, if I recall rightly.  But Nehemia and his Karaites are not Rabbinic.  And relying on astronomical charts is simply not in Torah at all.  It boils down to this – IF Elohim had WANTED them to see the New Moon, they would have.  Since they didn’t see it, we must presume Elohim DID NOT want them to see it.  Certainly hasatan has no power to interfere with Elohim’s appointed times – he cannot control the sun, moon, or clouds.

Therefore, the date of Rosh Chodesh should not be tomorrow, Saturday, March 28th.  Tomorrow should be Adar 30th, and Rosh Chodesh should begin Saturday night, and go through the day on Sunday, March 29th.

Now, since Nisan 1st is Sunday, then Nisan 10th, the day the lamb is chosen, falls on Tuesday, April 7th this year.  Erev Pesach, Nisan 13th, then would be Friday, April 10th.

The proper time for a Pesach seder is, as we see clearly from Yeshua and his talmidim, at the sundown beginning Nisan 14th – Wednesday night the year he was impaled.  He had his Passover seder with his followers and then was impaled Thursday, the next morning – all on Nisan 14th.  He was wrapped in his burial clothes as sundown was approaching and was put in his grave shortly before the onset of Nisan 15th, the First Convocation of Unleavened Bread, which is a Sabbath and began Thursday night that year.  Since Friday during daylight was the 1st day of Unleavened Bread, and Saturday was the regular weekly sabbath, the next opportunity for the women to go to the grave and attend to Yeshua was, of course, on the Feast of Firstfruits (which is not a sabbath) which is always on Sunday.    That is, needless to say, the day of the Resurrection and not “easter,” which is the feast of Ishtar and has NOTHING to do with Yeshua or Elohim’s appointed times.

For us, this year, this means Obedient Believers should have their Passover Seder on Friday evening, after dark on April 10th.  So this year, Passover falls on the regular weekly sabbath.  Then Saturday evening, at sundown, begins the First convocation of Unleavened Bread, also a Sabbath.  In other words, there will be two sabbaths back to back this year, also, this time on Saturday and Sunday – instead of Friday and Saturday as it was the year Yeshua was impaled.

We know from Joshua that if Passover itself falls on a Shabbat, then the day following is both the 1st Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and also at the same time the Feast of Firstfruits. (Many of us used to think you had to wait a week for Firstfruits, but that only occurs if Passover itself falls on Sunday.)  Firstfruits is the first day of the week (Sunday) following Passover, even if the same day is the First Day of Unleavened Bread:

Jos 5:10  The children of Yisra’el encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the Pesach on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Yericho.
Jos 5:11  They ate of the produce of the land on the next day after the Pesach, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the same day.
Jos 5:12  The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land; neither had the children of Yisra’el manna any more; but they ate of the fruit of the land of Kena`an that year.

They could not have eaten the grain unless the proper Firstfruits offering had been made for it, so we know from this that if Passover falls on Shabbat, the proper procedure is to offer the Firstfruits on the First Day of Unleavened Bread.  The text emphasized “unleavened cakes and parched grain ON THE SAME DAY” to make this clear to us – it was both Firstfruits and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that year – both were Nisan 15th that year.  We are now having the same situation ourselvesm, this year.

For us, this means the date of the Feast of Firstfruits is Sunday, April 12th, which is Nisan 15th on the Biblical Calendar this year.  That is the day we will begin counting the Omer – that is, counting the 50 days from Firstfruits to Shavu’ot.

Shavu’ot, therefore, falls on May the 31st.

Though both the Karaites and the Rabbinate have their own interpretations, we must follow Yeshua’s example.  From Yeshua we know the proper time to have a Passover Seder is at the sundown beginning Nisan 14th. Passover itself, Nisan 14th,  is not a sabbath, but Nisan 15th is, and we also know directly from scripture that Firstfruits is not “always Nisan 16th” (as the Rabbinate teaches) but is the Sunday following Nisan 14th, regardless of the date.   These are the appointed times we must observe, according to Elohim’s instructions.

I hope this has been helpful.  In years like this one, everyone will be observing the spring festivals on different days, according to the teachings of the sect they are following.  In my humble opinion, the information above is the most Biblically accurate – but if your community is observing things on different days, it is not wrong to both participate with your community and have a private observance at home using the Biblically accurate timing.  There’s no “law” against observing a festival on the wrong day as long as you are ALSO observing it on the RIGHT day.   We are commanded to observe the correct days, but we are not prohibited from joining with our community on other days.    Let this be your guiding principle this year and every year.

Shalom!