New Moon Feast

Join us in ushering in Rosh Chodesh with a new Moon feast and a blowing of the shofar!

The Torah tells us in Bamidbar (Numbers) 10:10,

In the day of your gladness and in your appointed feasts, and on the first days of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be as a reminder of you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

David also tells us in Psalm 81:3,

Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
and at the full moon, on our feast day.

Speaking of the Messianic age Isaiah 66:23 prophecies,

“From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before Me,” says YHVH.

A blessing praising God for the new moon, recited outdoors while gazing at the waxing moon at the beginning of the month is as follows,

“Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who created (bara’) the skies with his word, and all heaven’s host with the breath of His mouth. He gave them appointed times and roles, and they never miss their cues, doing their Creator’s (konam) bidding with gladness and joy. He is the true Creator (po’el) who acts faithfully, and He has told the moon to renew itself. It is a beautiful crown for the people carried by God from birth (Israel), who will likewise be renewed in the future in order to proclaim the beauty of their Creator (yotsram) for His glorious majesty. Praised are You, O Lord, who renews new moons.”

Just remember, it is not the moon that is blessed or sanctified in birkat hachodesh or birkat halevanah, but God who is praised for renewing the moon!

To learn more about how to calculate the new moon read our study here.

They are to stand every morning to thank and to praise the Lord, and likewise at evening, and to offer all burnt offerings to the Lord, on the sabbaths, the new moons and the fixed festivals in the number set by the ordinance concerning them, continually before the Lord.”

1 Chronicles 23:30-31

Understanding the Conjunction New Moon and Rosh Chodesh…

The moon begins to illuminate immediately after conjunction (the alignment of the moon and sun from our perspective here on Earth—also known as the “new moon”—at its darkest point). We cannot see it, though, until the sun sets because the moon is obscured in the sky by the greater light of the sun. The fact that we cannot see the moon immediately after conjunction, however, does not negate the fact that it has already began a new revolution with new illumination. Often, the first visible crescent can only be seen a day or two later, either on the following evening of New Moon Day which then call day 1, or even seen a day later, and this is why we don’t wait to see the crescent moon to call day 1, but simply use the crescent as a confirmation of the new month.

How to Count the Months / When to Celebrate

With modern advances in astronomical instruments and calculations, we know ahead of time when precisely the new moon will occur, and therefore when the new month will begin. Below are some key points to remember in determining when the Hebrew month begins:

  • The 1st day of the Hebrew month begins at sunset following the new moon conjunction.
    • Therefore, if the conjunction occurs before sunset, the new month will begin at sunset on that same calendar day. If the conjunction occurs after sunset, the new month will begin at sunset on the next calendar day.
  • Sighting the first crescent of the moon is only a second confirmation that we have begun the new month, not the sign to start the new month. It often does not appear until the evening of the second day of the new Hebrew month.
  • At our assembly we celebrate Rosh Chodesh (“Head of the Month”) for two days, one on the first night of the new month, and one on the next day to sight the crescent moon in remembrance of the ancient Sanhedrinic practice.
  • Important: occasionally the new moon and sunset occur very close together, meaning that the day on which the new Hebrew month begins may differ based on the latitude of your location (see note below for example). It is best practice to determine for yourself when the new month will be based on whether the new moon will occur before or after sunset at your location.

It should be noted that work is permitted on Rosh Chodesh unless it coincides with the weekly Shabbat or a Holy Day (such as the Rosh Chodesh of Tishrei, which is always Yom Teruah/Rosh Hashanah).

The table below shows the Hebrew months and their Rosh Chodeshim as they correspond to the Gregorian calendar we use in our daily lives. Times and dates for astronomical events (new moons, sunsets) are based on Wenatchee, WA and have been obtained from timeanddate.com.

A practical example: According to astronomers (timeanddate.com), the new moon occurs at 4:35 AM on January 29th, 2025 (in Wenatchee, WA, USA). The next sunset will be in the evening of the same day, January 29th, which will occur at 4:58 PM. Thus, as of about 4:58 PM on January 29th, it is the first day of the Hebrew month of Shevat (Hebrew days begin at sunset). We celebrate for two days, sighting the crescent moon the following evening (January 30th, the start of Shevat 2nd) and ending the celebration in the evening of January 31st (the end of Shevat 2nd).

IMPORTANT NOTE: This year of 2025, the new moon and sunset for the beginning of the month of Sivan occur close together, meaning that the 1st of Sivan (and the rest of Sivan) may differ by one day depending on the latitude of your location.

  • For example, here in Wenatchee, WA, USA, the new moon beginning Sivan occurs on May 26 at 8:02 PM, and sunset is at 8:44 PM, so we observe the beginning of Sivan at sunset on May 26. By contrast, in San Diego, CA, USA, the new moon still occurs at 8:02 PM, but sunset occurs at 7:48 PM. Therefore, observers in San Diego (and further south) should not begin Sivan in the evening of May 26 since the new moon has not yet occurred, but rather at sunset on May 27, the first sunset to follow the new moon conjunction.
  • It all balances out in the end: San Diego and further south will have 30 days of Iyar rather than 29, and 29 days of Sivan rather than 30, but everyone will begin Tammuz on the same calendar day because the new moon and sunset do not occur close together on June 25.
  • This year it does not affect the observance of any Moedim (Holy Days), but as it is a possibility in future years that people living at different latitudes would observe Holy Days on different calendar days due to starting the Hebrew months on different calendar days, we encourage everyone to maintain the habit of counting Hebrew months for themselves based on their own locations rather than depending on the table we provide.
Month:
# of Days
New moon date @ timeSunset time that day1st of Hebrew month (at sunset)Rosh Chodesh festival
Shevat: 29Jan 29 @ 04:3516:58Jan 29Jan 29-31
Adar: 31Feb 27 @ 04:4417:43Feb 27Feb 27-Mar 1
Nissan: 29Mar 29 @ 03:5719:27Mar 29Mar 29-31
Iyar: 29Apr 27 @ 12:3120:07Apr 27Apr 27-29
Sivan: 30May 26 @ 20:0220:44May 26May 26-28
Tammuz: 29Jun 25 @ 03:3121:02Jun 25Jun 25-27
Av: 30Jul 24 @ 12:1120:44Jul 24Jul 24-26
Elul: 29Aug 22 @ 23:0619:59Aug 23Aug 23-25
Tishrei: 30Sep 21 @ 12:5419:00Sep 21Sep 21-23
Cheshvan: 30Oct 21 @ 05:2518:01Oct 21Oct 21-23
Kislev: 30Nov 19 @ 22:4716:20Nov 20Nov 20-22
Tevet: 29Dec 19 @ 17:4316:12Dec 20Dec 20-22
Shevat (2026): 30Jan 18 (2026) @ 11:5216:42Jan 18Jan 18-20
Note: All Conjunction New Moon times above are Pacific Time for Washington State, USA. Sunset times are for Wenatchee, WA, USA.

We hope this listing of the New Moons and additional information helps you return to Yah’s Moedim!
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8 Comments

    • Work is permissible on a New Moon Feast as long as it does not fall on a weekly Sabbath or Holy Day. We observe the new moon with the blowing of the shofar, a feast and a blessing praising God for the new moon, recited outdoors while gazing at the waxing moon at the beginning of the month…

      “Praised are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who created (bara’) the skies with his word, and all heaven’s host with the breath of his mouth. He gave them appointed times and roles, and they never miss their cues, doing their Creator’s (konam) bidding with gladness and joy. He is the true creator (po’el) who acts faithfully, and he has told the moon to renew itself. It is a beautiful crown for the people carried by God from birth (Israel), who will likewise be renewed in the future in order to proclaim the beauty of their creator (yotsram) for his glorious majesty. Praised are you, O Lord, who renews new moons.”

      Hope this helps!

      • Thank you my beloved brother for this very insightful information I was not aware of, I am more encouraged because of your teachings and am renewed in spirit. You are truly a blessing from HaShem. Amin. 🙂 I listen to your teachings almost every day at work. Praise the Lord.!

  1. Thank you! You have motivated us and taught us out here in Utah. We learn so much every time we listen. My wife and I were brought up as Catholics. When we started studying the true word we were just tickled in the ear our whole lives. We are so glad to have found God’s word and Festivals. I never new how pagan this world has become until this pandemic, a major eye opener. We started having a non-denominational bible study, and that opened my eyes to God’s word and then we dove deeper and realized that we were not following Gods appointed times, and immediately started with Passover and every appointed time after (missing some New Moons.) We bought shofars’ and much else from Yisrael, and follow the feasts as best as we can including weekly shabbat. We look forward to it every week. We tried to bring our Family on board and even the Christian Pastures we were studying with, but they don’t want to change (still want to do Sunday and pagan holidays.) We pray for them a lot. It doesn’t make sense when you read the Holy Word it instructs us clearly what God wants us to do and simple Laws to follow. Not changing to his instructed days doesn’t make sense to us as most people don’t work during that time anyways. It should be an easy shift. It has been so easy for us as now we clearly know. Thank you for all your help in understanding the word much better. If you know of anyone else in Utah that would like to celebrate the Feast Days, my wife and I would love to hear from them. Please share my email to them if you can.

  2. I am so thankful that our God brought you with His Torah to me! I am so excited to learn all that He has for me. Only would that I could find an Assembly to gather with. Thank you for your faithfulness.

  3. My sister and I are so blessed to have found your teachings on YouTube and here on your website. We truly wish we were closer to be able to partake of your weekly Shabbat. we thank God for your soft-spoken teachings and knowledge you so graciously share with us as we watch each episode. Blessings
    Shalom

  4. Shalom dear brother!
    Wonderful article! Your timetable is showing March 10th to be Rosh Chodesh for the first month–isn’t that Adar II and not the first month? Much love to ACOB!

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