Abstract
Molad is simply an interval between two successive new moon timelines with respect to the line joining the Sun and the Earth i.e., with respect to the Sun as seen from the Earth, which in scientific terms is referred as lunation or “synodic lunar month”. Though synodic lunar month may vary by up to ±0.7 days locally, the length of mean synodic lunar month is constant over a long period of time and is a crucial value in determining the luni-solar calendar’s new months similar to Hebrew calendar’s “Rashei Hodesh”. Based on the Metonic cycle the luni-solar Hebrew calendar adds 07 intercalary months in 19 solar years. This hypothesis proposes a new cycle instead of the Metonic cycle towards eliminating the deviation of the calendar incurred in the long course of time. The research analyzed that application of the conventional Metonic cycle to luni-solar calendar is erroneous, which theoretically leads Hebrew calendar to absorb extra 11 days (approx.) by 2053 years after inception. The study pointed out that through the application of 2116 - 2053 lunar-solar years cycle instead of 235 - 228 lunar-solar months based Metonic cycle, formulation of a far better high precession luni-solar calendar is possible and also both lunar and solar sides of the luni-solar calendar became fully balanced and harmonized.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Jewish calendar was laid out by Rabbi Hillel II in the year 4119 (358 - 359 C.E.), which was consolidated and fully described by Rabbi Maimonides around the year 1178 CE
Introduction of a New Cycle inReplacement of Metonic: An Ideal Solution towards a Deviation Free Luni-Solar CalendarA
Molad is an interval between two successive new moon timelines with respect to the line joining the Sun and the Earth i.e., with respect to the Sun as seen from the Earth, which in scientific terms is referred as lunation or “synodic lunar month”
Summary
The Jewish calendar was laid out by Rabbi Hillel II in the year 4119 (358 - 359 C.E.), which was consolidated and fully described by Rabbi Maimonides around the year 1178 CE. For the year 2000, the length of the mean synodic lunar month (Molad) is expressed as 29.530588 days in Astropixel’s Six Millennium Catalog of Phases of the Moon [2]. It is stated that the Hebrew calendar’s mean lunar month duration discrepancy from current astronomical value amounts to only one day in 14,000 years [4]. That is why a luni-solar calendar like Hebrew calendar is more or less complex in nature, synchronization with both lunar and solar cycles with a high degree of perfection is required here. Hebrew calendar was devised according to Metonic cycle, 19 solar years = 235 lunar months and it is thought that the Babylonians first applied the 19-year cycle in their calendar in the late sixth century BCE.
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