Purim (The Feast of Ester)

PURIM PLAY Sunday February 24, 2013 11AM

Est 9:19 This is why the Jews of the villages, those who live in unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day for celebrating and rejoicing, a holiday and a time for sending each other portions [of food].

Look for the moon on after 7PM, March 12, 2013

Exo 12:3 Speak to all the assembly of Isra'el and say, 'On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household —

Lev 23:5 " 'In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, between sundown and complete darkness, comes Pesach for Adonai.

Lev 23:6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of matzah; for seven days you are to eat matzah.

Lev 23:10 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'After you enter the land I am giving you and harvest its ripe crops, you are to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the cohen. Lev 23:11 He is to wave the sheaf before Adonai, so that you will be accepted; the cohen is to wave it on the day after the Shabbat.

Deu 16:8 For six days you are to eat matzah; on the seventh day there is to be a festive assembly for Adonai your God; do not do any kind of work.

Days of Awe Sounding of the Shofar (Beginning of the Month of Elul)

About the Rosh Chodesh

Shalom.

I pondered something over the last 48 hours (9/18/12). It was bugging me why there was such division about the Rosh Chodesh.

I was wondering why my son Connor had 2 days off from tech. school for Rosh Hashanah? The school that is run by Orthodox Jews.

I was wondering why William in NC (on with us via skype each week) saw the new moon at 2:39 AM (Sunday) and the people in Israel for sighted moon did not on see the moon on a clear night in Jerusalem.

I was wondering why the Jews around the globe were celebrating Rosh Hashanah on Sunday night? Even Benjamin Netanyahu sent out a “news year’s greeting” on Sunday.

I was wondering why science said it was the new moon on Sunday evening but the sighted moon people said no it is not.

I said, I watched the moon myself all week.  I know the cycle and the new moon should be Sunday evening as long as it is clear in Jerusalem. ( I looked at numerous satellite imagery all day on Sunday up until 2055 hours Israel time)

I got a message from a very good torah Observant Messianic Jewish Sabra friend in Israel. Most of the time she is in southern Israel but this year she tells me yes we are celebrating tonight (Sunday) and we are with the family in Jerusalem. I did not ask to be told where she was.

 I remembered something deep in my mind about a rabbinic teaching, now I have my answer.

Two Days Rosh Hashanah, Eruvin And Eggs

http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/halacha-hashkafa/two-days-rosh-hashanah-eruvin-and-eggs/2012/09/13/

 By: Raphael Grunfeld

Published: September 13th, 2012

Why is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, so different from other Jewish holidays? On the face of it, it does not seem to follow any pattern. It is celebrated for two days, not only in the Diaspora but also in Israel. Yet the Sages refer to the two days of Rosh Hashanah as one long day – yoma arichta.

On Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot we keep Yom Tov for two days because during the time of the Second Temple there was doubt whether the month preceding Yom Tov was a chodesh chaser of 29 days or a chodesh maleh of 30 days. But on Rosh Hashanah the doubt was exacerbated for the following reason: In the case of other festivals, such as Pesach, the emissaries the bet din dispatched to advise outlying districts of a chodesh chaser had 14 days to reach their destination. In the case of Rosh Hashanah, however, the emissaries had no time at all. In fact, as soon as the witnesses had testified on the 30th day of Elul that they had sighted the new moon, that very day was declared Rosh Hashanah. And on Rosh Hashanah the emissaries could not travel more than the techum Shabbat distance of two-thirds of a mile beyond Jerusalem. As a result, even people living inside Israel but outside of Jerusalem remained in doubt.

Even inside Jerusalem, confusion reigned. Nobody knew whether the witnesses who would testify to the sighting of the new moon would arrive on the day of the 30th, in which case Rosh Hashanah would be on the 30th day, or whether they would not arrive, in which case Rosh Hashanah would be on the 31st day. On the night immediately following the 29th day of Elul and on 30th day of Elul itself, people hedged their bets. They ceased work, went to the synagogue, recited the Rosh Hashanah prayers and blew the shofar, all in a tentative state of mind. Perhaps, they fretted, the witnesses will not come today, the 30th, and tomorrow, the 31st, will be Rosh Hashanah by default and a day’s work would have been wasted. But then again, perhaps the witnesses would come. So how could they risk working?

The Levites in the Temple fretted, too. If the witnesses would not arrive by Minchah time on the afternoon of the 30th, the Levites had to proceed to offer up the tamid, the afternoon sacrifice. But they did not know which Psalm to sing when doing so. Should they sing the special Rosh Hashanah Psalm, or the weekday Psalm? One year they chose the weekday Psalm only to see the witnesses arrive after Minchah and prove them wrong.

In this situation, the rabbis decided to dispel the doubt. They decreed that if witnesses would arrive after the afternoon sacrifice on the 30th day of Elul, their testimony would be ignored and the 31st day of Elul would be declared Rosh Hashanah. Furthermore, in order to provide certainty for the Levites and in order to prevent people from working on the 30th of Elul afterMinchah time, the rabbis merged the 30th day of Elul with the 31st day, declaring them both one long day.

From this decree on, the two days of Rosh Hashanah, unlike the two days of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, were no longer celebrated out of doubt, but out of certainty. This distinction between the status of the two days of Rosh Hashanah and the two days of other festivals has practical ramifications. For example, on Rosh Hashanah, one may not extend the techum Shabbat 4,000 amot in two directions, as one may on the two days of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. Because the two days of Rosh Hashanah are merged into one yoma arichta, only one eruv techumim could be placed for both days to walk 4,000 amot in only one chosen direction. Similarly, the argument that an egg laid on the first day of Pesach, Shavuot or Sukkot could be eaten on the second day of these festivals, would not apply. An egg laid on the first day of Rosh Hashanah could not be eaten on the second.

Following the destruction of the Second Temple, the dilemma of the Levites was no longer a concern. Accordingly, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai decreed that the testimony of witnesses arriving after Minchah on the 30th of Elul would once again be accepted, thereby rendering Rosh Hashanah one day. If witnesses did not arrive by nightfall of the 30th, Rosh Hashanah would be two days. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai’s decree did not, however, apply to the Diaspora, where it could not be known on the 30th day, whether the witnesses had arrived or not. Accordingly, in the Diaspora Rosh Hashanah remained two days, by decree. The Babylonian rabbis who came to Israel applied the same decree to the land of Israel, even after the time of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai.

Why are there two days of Rosh Hashanah even in Israel?

by Rabbi Naftali Silberberg

Where in the written Torah text does it tell us explicitly that the first day of Tisrei is Rosh Hashanah? 
Nowhere. The Torah calls it "a day of shofar blowing." (This is one of many examples showing how our observance depends on the continuous oral tradition dating back to Mount Sinai). (Bamidbar 29:1)

Why, even in Israel, are there two days of Rosh Hashanah, whereas other festivals in Israel are celebrated for only one day? 
Before our current exile, we did not have a fixed calendar as we do today. Rather, the Supreme Torah court in Jerusalem determined our calendar on a month to month basis. They did this on the first day of every month, based on witnesses testifying that they had seen the new moon. Therefore, the people outside Israel had insufficient time to find out the exact date in time for the festivals. The "two-day festival" arose to correct this situation. In Israel, however, the people lived close enough to Jerusalem to find out the exact date of all the festivals except Rosh Hashanah. Since Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first day of the month, even those living in Jerusalem sometimes needed to observe it for two days, if the witnesses failed to arrive.  http://ohr.edu/1229

At BGMC we try our best to stay as close to scripture as possible. We do our best to not follow rabbinic or manmade teachings. At BGMC we feel the people who say the moon was not sighted till Monday evening are following the above rabbinic traditions.

some questions to ask to those people who are the watchmen who are sighting the moon:

do you just sight the moon a dusk?

do you try to see the moon all night until sighted?

what if it is cloudy at dusk do you stay out all night till dawn looking?

if you sight the moon does it have to be longer than 5 seconds by the two witnesses?

is there a percentage you look for in the new moon or do you sight the black moon?

and finally ask them what are you scriptures to reference your answers.

In the service of Messiah,

Hanun ben Moshe

Messianic rabbi Andrew Dinnerman

Yom Teruah “Feast of Trumpets” (Yom Teruah)

NO WORK Lev 23:25

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) Break Fast

Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles)

NO WORK Lev 23:35

 NO WORK Lev 23:36

Chanukah (Feast of Dedication) Saturday December 8, 2012