[Avodah] The Molad of Tamuz

Zev Sero zev at sero.name
Sun Jul 1 13:59:14 PDT 2018


On 01/07/18 13:39, Richard Fiedler via Avodah wrote:
> 
> In other shuls the Molad was announced as _*Thursday*_, 0 hours and 97 
> chalakim. Such is the traditional way the Molad was announced. Minutes 
> are not used. >
> Now I doubt that many would say  Elu v’Elu here. One of these 
> announcements was wrong.

If they said "Thursday" they were wrong.  If they said "Leil Chamishi" 
they were not wrong, and they were saying exactly the same thing as the 
first ones, but needlessly confusingly.  0 hours and 97 parts is 6:05:7 
PM, (or 6:05:23 PM if one wishes to use seconds).

Your entire discourse about sunset is irrelevant.  Sunset has absolutely 
nothing to do with *any* calculation of the molad.   The period between 
one molad and the next is always the same, therefore it should be 
obvious that there are no variable factors in its calculation, such as 
sunset.  The "day" for the calculation as the sources give it  (starting 
with Molad BaHaRaD) begins *not* at sunset but at precisely 6:00 PM. 
But 6:00 PM real time, not Standard Time, which is an invention of the 
US railroads.


> From the Rambam the Molad of Tamuz was 0 hours and 97 chalakim which
> means 97 chalakim after sunset which clearly is Thursday. If I would
> want to say this as a real time that people could relate to I would
> state this in Israel Summer time of 7:50 PM and 7 chalakim.

This is incorrect.  In Israeli Standard Time it would be 5:44:27, and in 
Summer Time 6:44:27.   You have not only added a spurious adjustment for 
the actual time of sunset, but have forgotten the 00:20:57 adjustment 
for Standard Time, which is every bit as artificial as the one-hour 
adjustment for Summer Time.



-- 
Zev Sero            A prosperous and healthy 2018 to all
zev at sero.name       Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper


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