NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the
following New Moon Report for the month of September 2005 and the beginning of
the Seventh Month on the Biblical calendar, the month of Ethanim.
“On Monday September 5, 2005 the New Moon of the
Seventh Biblical Month was sighted from Israel marking Yom Teruah, the Day of
Shouting (Trumpets). The moon was seen
from Jerusalem by Terry Fehr at 19:05 followed by Ray Dow, Carmen Fehr, Dina
Marcus, Ayi Marcus, Nehemia Gordon, Ferenc Illesy, Pam Dow, Neria Haroeh, and
Rond Aboodi. The moon was also seen from
another part of Jerusalem by Devorah Gordon at 19:15. The moon was seen from Tzur Hadasa by Lee
Ware at 19:05 followed by Roberto Umana and 7 other People.
Yom Teruah Sameach!
Happy Day of Shouting (Trumpets)!”
The following are dates for the Fall Feasts
according to the sighting of the New Moon.
The dates are from sunset to sunset.
Day of Trumpets Sept. 5/6
Day of Atonement Sept.14/15
First Day of Tabernacles Sept. 19/20
Shemini Atzeret (Ethanim 22) Sept.
26/27
At times for various reasons I am late in getting
these dates to you. If you have Internet
access you can get the new moon sightings sent to you via e-mail when they
happen. It is available for you to sign
up for these and Aviv Barely reports at www.karaite-korner.org
It is expected that the next new moon will be
sighted from Jerusalem near sunset on October 5, 2005 at which time Bethulah
will be clothed with the sun and the moon will be beneath her feet. This event occurs about every two to three
years as seen from Jerusalem, but every year as seen from some point on Earth.
There is a very slight (but not likely) possibility that the new moon will be
visible near sunset on October 4.
There will be a somewhat notable conjunction of
Jupiter, Mercury and Tsemech (Spica) in Bethulah very near sunset
on October 5, but it will not be visible to the naked eye (perhaps Jupiter will
be visible) for they are too close to the sun and the sun’s glare will block
them out. I will cover this more
thoroughly as well as other celestial events for October in the October issue
of Biblical Astronomy, which I plan to have written and mailed by
September 30.
I will be leaving for New York on October 5th
and will be returning to Oregon on October 22.
As a result, I will not be processing orders between October 5 and
22. Then I am off to Florida on October
27, where I will be doing a Biblical Astronomy seminar near the Fort Myers/Punta
Gorda area on Friday evening October 28 and all day Saturday and into the
evening on October 29. There will be
more information on this Seminar in the October issue of Biblical
Astronomy. I usually do a double
issue of Biblical Astronomy for September/October. I am doing a single issue of each this
year in order to give more info on the location of the upcoming seminar. I should have that info by September 28. This issue is a bit shorter than normal, but
there will be more to follow in a few weeks.
There are no notable signs in the heavens in
September except for events that occurred in the first week of the month. I covered most of these events in the August
2005 issue of Biblical Astronomy.
The September events that were covered in last
months issue was the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus in Bethulah on
September 2, and the conjunction of Venus and Tsemech in Bethulah
along with the first crescent of the new moon on September 5. These events were very unique and shone
brightly. They put on a great display
for the observer. One event that I did
not put in the August issue was a very unique grouping of Nogah (Venus),
Tsemech (Spica), Zedek (Jupiter) and the bright crescent moon on
September 6, which was the second day of the Seventh Month, Ethanim. Below is a simulation of this grouping from
Astronomy Magazine. This is how it would
have appeared from the eastern United States.
PLEASE PRAY FOR KATRINA VICTIMS
I know that I do not need to ask you to pray for the
victims of hurricane Katrina, you most likely already have and are praying for
them or loved ones that you know in the area.
There is one person who I am particularly concerned about at this
time. Her name is Linda La Hood.
Linda has been a subscriber to the Biblical Astronomy
newsletter for many years now. I
received an order from Linda for Biblical Astronomy materials on August
30. The envelope was postmarked on
August 26. I talked with her on the
phone about a week earlier. As I was
preparing to send her the materials I noticed that her address was in Ocean
Springs, Mississippi. I put her address
in a map search on the Internet to find the location of her home. When I saw the location of her home, my heart
sank. Her home is about 7 miles to the
east of Biloxi, MS and about 1.5 to 2 miles from the coastline of the Gulf of
Mexico.
I had her telephone number and I tried calling her,
even though I felt certain that I would not get through. The line was busy for several days as
expected. I believe it was on the 12th
of September that I called and reached her answering service. The phone lines are up and running for parts
of the state, but the connection to her answering service does not necessarily
mean that her home is still in tact, or that her phone is working. I tried a number of times to call to see if
she would answer. I left a message on
her answering machine but have not heard anything yet from her. I am concerned for Linda to say the least.
If any of the readers of this newsletter know Linda
and know if she is ok, or if Linda somehow sees this article on the Internet,
please get in touch with me to let me know how you are (by phone or postcard or
e-mail). I did not process the order
or deposit the check, so the money is still in your account.
I ask fellow subscribers and readers to pray for their sister in Messiah and her family.
RESTORATION OF COMAH
The constellation of the month for the September
newsletter is Comah. Again
Michele Abraham did a wonderful job in bringing this constellation to life by
giving it a unique Hebrew flavor and natural look.
This constellation was perverted by the ancient
Greeks and has since come down to us as Coma Berenice (The hair of
Berenice).
E.W Bullinger writes in The Witness of the Stars,
p.35 – “This is a good example of how the meaning of other constellations
have been perverted (ignorantly or intentionally). In this case, as in others, the transition
from ancient to more modern languages helped to hide the meaning. The Hebrew name was Coma (desired). But the Greeks had a word for hair,
Co-me. This again is transferred to the
Latin coma, and thus “Coma Berenice” (the hair of Berenice) comes
down to us to-day as the name of this constellation, and gives us a woman’s wig
instead of that Blessed One, “the Desire of all Nations.”
In this case, however, we are able to give absolute
proof that this is a perversion. The
ancient Egyptian name for this constellation was Shes-nu, the desired son!
The Zodiac of the Temple of Denderah, in Egypt,
going back at least 2,000 years B.C., has no trace of any hair, but it has the
figure of a woman and child.”
Comah
