New moon (Hastings' Dictionary)

The celebration of the New Moon belongs to the most ancient of Hebrew rites. It perhaps goes back to the time when the moon was still an object of worship (Smith, Internat. Crit. Comm. on Samuel, p. 185). Lagarde held that the generic Heb. term for ‘joyous praise’ (9s) was derived from an old name of the New Moon (see Gesenius- Buhl, s.v. ὅπ, II.)

The New Moon was a feast of nomads, but it was carried over to their new agricultural conditions by the Israelite settlers in Canaan (Cobb, Origines Judaica, p. 138). In the time of the earlier prophets, the New Moon stood in the same line with another lunar observ- ance, the Sabbath (see FEAsTs). No work or business was attended to on either day (Am 85).

Hosea (2") speaks of the feasts, the New Moons, the Sabbaths, and festal assemblies as passing away with the national independence ; and a similar con- nexion between the New Moon and the other solemn days is found in Is 1°, ust as the New Moon occupies a prominent place with the prophets, so does it with Ezekiel and in the Leviti legislation (P). Ezekiel, who curi- ously enough frequent! dates his prophecies on the New Moon (26! 297 32 321, ef.

Hag 1"), describes the gate of the inner court of the temple looking eastwards as kept shut for the six working days, but opened on the Sabbath and New Moon (Ἐκ 46'). The prince, besides making special arrange- ments for the great New Moons of the first and seventh months (this is the probable meaning of Ezk 458), was also to provide offerings for ordinary New Moons (Ezk 46'7).

The gate was open till the evening, and while the people stood without the prince was allowed to stand by the threshold. According to Ezekiel (46°), the New Moon offerings consisted of a young bullock, six lambs, and a ram without blemish (the Sabbath burnt-otlering was less, y.), as burnt-otferings ; an ephah for the bullock and for each ram, a handful of flour for each lamb, and a hin of oil to an ephah as a meal- offering (vv.7").

In Nu 28" the burnt-offering con- sisted of two young bullocks, one ram, and seven he- | lambs of the first year without blemish; fine flour, 622 oil ard wine carefully proportioned (vv."), and a he-goat as a sin-offering (v.¥).

The offerings here, NEW MOON as in Ezekiel, are more important than for the Sabbath (Nu 28* ), An additional detail is added in Nu 10", where the law ordains that ‘in the days of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months’ the two silver trumpets were to be sounded during the sacrificial rites as a ‘memorial before your God.’ Some authorities have held that Ps 81° [Heb.

*] ‘ Blow up the trumpet in the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day,’ refers to the ordinary New Moon. Thus Aquila and Symm. render ἐν πάσῃ veounvla ; but the , like the EV, omits ‘every.’ The Targum refers the passage solely to the New Moon of the seventh month (Ly 23™) ; and this, the traditional Jewish view, has been adopted by modern commentators (see Baethgen and Duhm, ad loc.) The subject is further treated in the article TRUMPET.

Some difficulty has been found in explaining the omission of the New Moon in Deuteronomy and in the documents named JE. It has been seen that the New Moon was very ancienc, and that it was of preat importance after the Exile (see, ¢.g., Is 667 and other references cited above and below. In Chronicles the New Moon is assumed as an established institution).

Dillmann suggests that the omission in the intermediate period is due simply to the fact that the observance was a popular feast that needed no specific legal sanc- tion. It may, however, be (as Wellhausen, Prolego- mena, p.

118, holds) that there was a temporar cessation of the observance of the New Moon, both because heathen elements intruded into the fes- tivities (Isaiah speaks of the ‘monthly prognosti- eators,’ 47"), and also because the greater import- ance attached to the Sabbath must have made the observance of the New Moon (which came, unlike the Sabbath, on irregular days) irksome. After the Exile the New Moon recovered its importance because the great feasts were fixed in accordance with it.

(This view is adopted by Benzinger, Heb. Arch. p. 465, and Nowack, Lehrbuch der Heb. Arch. ii. 140). See Time. As to the manner in which the New Moon was observed, there were other features besides the sacrifices. There was no ‘solemn convocation’ on the New Moon, but it is usually inferred from 2 Καὶ 4° that visits were paid to the prophets on that day. The servants and asses were available for longer journeys than on the days of labour. Some (e.g.

Duhm) explain Is 66% as referring to general assemblages in Jerusalem for worship on the New Moon (‘jeden Monat am Neumond’), and this er Ὡς of Isaiah was the text for a fine Rabbinical 1omily in the Pesikta Rabbathi for the New Moon. Ezra publicly read the law on the New Moon of the seventh month (Neh 8%). The New Moon was apparently the time for changing David’s officials, according to 1 Ch 271, It is not easy to gather the full significance of the incident related in 1S 20°".

David evidently refers to a family feast on the New Moon, but it is not clear that the king had a special feast on that day. It is very probable that this was so, but Wellhausen’s remark as cited by Driver (Notes on the Hebrew Text of Samuel, p. 127) is evidently weighty. ‘David, as appears rom v.

™™, was, together with Abner and Jona- than, Saul’s daily and regular companion at table : thus the sentence ‘x 32° +22") cannot be so related to the preceding one, as though the new moon were the occasion of his being a guest at the king’s table; on the contrary, the new moon is rather alleged as the excuse for his absence.

Con- sequently, the rendering, “To-morrow is new moon, and I must sit with the king at meat,” is excluded ; and the only course remaining open is NEW MOON to read with LXX τὰκ xb ae “To-morrow is new moon, and I will not sit with the king at meat; but thou shalt let me go,”’ ete.

No time of day is specified for the king’s meal from which David absented himself; but, as Smith points out, from the fact that Jonathan waited till next morning after the second aay to carry his news to David, the meal was probably late in the day. Fasting was avoided on the New Moon (Jth 85), The observance of the New Moon fell into disuse in the Christian communities (Col 216), In the medieval Jewish circles the New Moon, however, retained its importance.

Women did not work, fasting was prohibited, and in the synagogue liturgy many special features were introduced. On the Sabbath before the New Moon the event was publicly announced, on the day itself a read- ing from the law (Nu 28%) was introduced, special Psalms (forming part of the Hallel, Pss 113-118) were chanted, and other liturgical pas- ages were added. These are retained in the modern synagogue, and are fully described in the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, par. 417ff.

See also Maimonides, Hilchoth Kiddush Ha-Chodesh (of which there are several Latin translations). The Blessing of the Moon is also retained. This is a collection of passages of varying antiquity, and is recited at night while the moon is visible, a Saturday night in the first week of new month being preferred for the celebration. (The best commentary on these rites is to be found in Landshut’s edition of the Hebrew Prayer-Book, Hegyon Leb, p. 390f.)

Some of the ceremonies are clearly yery ancient, especially the dances, which until quite recently were performed in Jewish communities in the public streets. Others of the rites are at least as old as the Talmud. The modern Arabs of the desert still ‘greet the New Moon with devout ejaculations, and the women chant their perpetual refrain of a single verse, and dance for an hour or two’ (Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, i. pp. 366, 455, cited in Smith’s Samuel, p. 185).

We are without information as to the method by which the New Moon was fixed and announced in biblical times. But the Mishna (Rosh Hashana) describes the method then prevalent. There was no fixed calendar till the 4th cent. (see TIME), and the New Moon was declared from actual observation.

The eye-witnesses were carefully examined on the 30th day of each month (espe- cially of the months Nisan, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Chislev, and Adar), and, if the testimony of the witnesses was accepted, that day was declared ‘sanctified’ by fiat of the Sanhedrin. If no witnesses were available, then the following day was New Moon, as the Jewish month never con- tained more than 30 days. The New Moon was announced in Judea till the year 225, when the declaration was made in Tiberias.

The news was conveyed by means of signals, torches being lit on the hills. The Samaritans rendered a change necessary, as they ignited similar bonfires at wrong eriods. Messengers were despatched to mvie istant parte, where it was not unusual for two days to be observed as New Moon, a custom which still prevails at certain months of the Jewish year. After the 4th cent. the New Moon was no longer fixed by observation, but the Karaites restored the older custom.

Schwartz (Der jiidische Kalender) holds that the New Moons of the first and seventh months (Nisan and Tishri) were fixed by astro- nomical calculation and not empirically, as early as the time of Ezra. Certainly, the Jews must have had sufficient knowledge of astronomy to make such a calculation possible (but see TIME). Liverature.—Besides the works cited in the course of this article, see Schirer, HJP 1. ii. Appendix ifi.; Dillmann, NEW TESTAMENT Exodus and Leviticus, p. 577t.

; Pineles, Darcha shel Torah, p. 251ff.; Epstein, Alterthuemer; Poznanski, JQR x. p. 152ff. ae writer holds that the New Moon was also fixed empirically yy some Rabbanites as late as the 10th cent.) A A gpa account of the Jewish Calendar and the details as to the New Moons will be found in J. Jacobs’ (annual) Jewish Year Book. 1. ABRAHAMS.