[Avodah] Even More on the Molad

Prof. L. Levine llevine at stevens.edu
Mon Dec 21 16:04:26 PST 2020


I have received two emails dealing with this topic.

IIANM, the announced molad time is not JST; it is Jerusalem local time, which I believe is 21 minutes later than standard time.

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Solar time means calculating the time based on high noon. So midnight would be 12 hours after high noon. Solar time is a system of counting time it has nothing to do with whether the molad falls at night or during the day. See below from OU.org

https://oukosher.org/halacha-yomis/how-is-the-molad-calculated/

In addition, it is worth noting that the molad is announced in accordance with Jerusalem time.

To explain what Jerusalem time means, we must first understand the difference between civil time and solar time. In civil time, noon is 12:00 p.m. In solar time, noon is the time when the sun reaches its highest position in the sky. This is called high noon (or Chatzos in halachic terms). There can be a significant disparity between the civil noon and solar noon. For example, in the summer, the two times may be an hour apart.

Jerusalem time is based on solar time. 1:00 p.m. in Jerusalem time is one hour after high noon, which may be 1:30 p.m or 1:45 p.m in civil time.

When the molad is announced, it is the time of the molad in Jerusalem based on solar time.

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So according to the second email, my original statement that the Molad is announced in Jerusalem solar time was correct!!!

YL

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