Dehioth: The Rules of Postponement

Let us begin with some background on the Postponements and why some of the Jewish leaders felt it was necessary to postpone God’s Holy Days. The Holy Day arrangement for the year is determined by rules that are designed to prevent Yom Kippur (Atonement) from occurring either before or after the Sabbath. They changed God’s Holy Days to suit their own needs, in the society existent in that time in history.

There are seven rules to the Postponements but we are only going to explain the first four. The other three have to do with the benedictions. If you would like further information on the benedictions, you can find it in your local library.

This rule explains that Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the first day of the (Jewish) New Year, may not occur on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday. If Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) were on Sunday, Hosha’na Rabbah (the 7th Day of the Feast of Tabernacles) would be on Saturday, and this must be avoided because it would prevent the proper celebration of the Festival of Willows . If Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) were on Wednesday, Atonement (Yom Kippur) would be on a Friday and this would cause undue hardship because, there would be two days in a row with severe restrictions. If Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) were on a Friday, Atonement (Yom Kippur) would be on a Sunday and, again, we would have two days in a row with severe restrictions. Therefore, if the new moon (molad) is on either Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, the first day of Tishri (7th month) is postponed to the following day.

THE SECOND RULE:

If the New Moon (molad) of Tishri (the 7th month) occurs at noon or later, New Moon (Rosh Hodesh) is declared to be the following day. Thus, if the molad (new moon) is Monday at noon or later, Tuesday is declared to be Rosh Hodesh (New Moon). The reason is that if the molad (new moon) is before noon, it is certain that the new crescent will be visible in some part of the world before sunset of the same day. If however, the new moon (molad) occurs after midday, the new crescent will not be visible before sunset of the same day. If the following day is Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday on which the first day of Tishri may not occur, it is further postponed to the next following day, so that the first of Tishri is the third day counting from, and including, the day of the molad (new moon).

THE THIRD RULE:

If the molad of Tishri in an ordinary year is on Tuesday at 3:204/1080 A.M. or later, the first of Tishri is postponed to Thursday. It cannot be on Tuesday because then the next year’s New Moon (molad) of Tishri would be on Saturday afternoon and new moon (Rosh Hodesh) would have to be postponed to Sunday. This would make the year in question 356 days long, which is more than the statutory limit of 355 days.

THE FOURTH RULE:

This occurs if the New Moon (molad) of Tishri, in a year succeeding a leap year, is on a Monday after 9:00 A.M. (ie. the fifteenth hour from the beginning of the night before) and 589/1080 parts. If this year were to begin on Monday, Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) of the preceding year would have fallen on Tuesday noon, and would have been postponed to Wednesday. This would make the current year 382 days in length, which is lower than the statutory limit of 383 days.

DAYS OF THE WEEK ON WHICH HOLY DAYS CANNOT OCCUR.

or "Forbidden Days"

The Holy Day arrangement for the year is determined by rules that aim to prevent Yom Kippur (Atonement) from occurring either before or after the Sabbath.

(From Comprehensive Hebrew Calendar by Arthur Spier, page 10 & 15, 1986 edition).

Not any of the above rules can be found in Scripture; either in word or principle!