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הדף בעברית

Looking for the Moon on Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah*

by Roy Hoffman and Tuvia Kaatz

When the Sanhedrin is operating and the Temple is built, the witnesses that saw the new Moon on the 30^th night leave the Sabbath boundary and are permitted to take whatever actions necessary that are against Shabbat such as carrying and using transportation, in order to give evidence before the religious court – because of the need to sacrifice the additional offering on the New Moon at its correct time. When there is no Temple, the witnesses go to give testimony to the Sanhedrin on Shabbat only in the Months of Nisan and Tishri because of the need to fix the festivals (Hilchot Kiddush Hachodesh 3:2). Nevertheless, it is forbidden to put Shabbat aside in order to see the Moon or to write down the details of the sighting even when there is a Sanhedrin. Witnesses that saw the Moon before the end of Shabbat do not have to wait till the end of Shabbat even if they can get to the religious court on time. A single witness or witnesses that are related to each other travel to the religious court on Shabbat because one of the witnesses, or the lone witness, can join another witness that may arrive at the religious court.

In our time when there is no Sanhedrin, when searching for the Moon on Friday or Saturday evening or on Rosh Hashanah one must be careful not to desecrate Shabbat and/or Rosh Hashanah. Most of the prohibitions are known to all but we will go over the prohibitions connected with observing the Moon on Shabbat in order to prevent desecration of Shabbat. Do not write down or photograph what you have seen. Do not leave the Shabbat boundary. Do not carry an object such as binoculars in a public domain or from domain to domain (except on Rosh Hashanah that falls on a weekday). Use of binoculars (Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchatah 16:45), a telescope, a tripod and glasses is permitted provided that there is no other prohibition involved such as carrying in a public domain an use of electricity and on the condition that special skills are not required to assemble the equipment. It is permitted to adjust binoculars and a telescope in the normal manner. As searching for the Moon is considered Torah study (at present, when there is a Sanhedrin it is a practical commandment) it is permitted to measure the direction using altitude and azimuth scales (Orech Chaim 306, 7; Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchatah 29, 38; Talmud tractate Shabbat 157a). It is permitted to enter a public domain wearing normal distance glasses (Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchatah 18, 16). Many authorities forbid entering a public domain wearing a watch but there are those who are lenient about it. In many places it is the custom to be lenient (Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchatah 18, 27). Lenses may be cleaned with a dry cloth (Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchatah 15, 31). It is forbidden to repair any equipment on Shabbat (Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchatah 16, 77).

Today when there is no Sanhedrin, observing the Moon does not take precedence over other commandments.

*The laws of Shabbat (according to Orthodox Rabbinic Judaism) only apply to Jews. These laws do not apply to non-Jews. The laws (with the approval of Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch) are published in a paper: R. E. Hoffman and T. Kaatz, BDD, 11, 23 (2000).