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Hope of Israel Mail Bag 47

sonal letter as soon as possible (or) contact me at e-mail at ings and they specifically said they could not see the
your leisure. crescent on Monday evening a few weeks ago, from
several locations. They definitely reported it the next
Your brother in God’s Kingdom, evening, however. But as far as Pentecost is con-
J.K. (India) cerned, it resolves, and it still comes out to June 20 as
you have said.
COMMENT: Thank you for your wonderful letter.
You have our permission to translate our literature into the I think this is solider than the Karaite approach involv-
languages of India. Articles and past issues of The Berean ing “abib.” I might mention that they have a means of
Voice are on their way to you. Let us know if you receive testing the barley in which they heat (parch) it. If it is
them O.K. not mature enough, the material in the ear dissipates
away into nothing. As the ear matures, the material in
*** the ear changes from liquid to solid material and when
the parching process yields a usable grain it can be of-
Dear John: fered as the Omer. I believe this is described on their
website. At this point I am not entirely sure how to har-
I owe you an apology for abruptly canceling The Berean monize their approach with yours, but I think that the
Voice over certain issues of disagreement. I think such is- solid and specific statement of Ex. 34:22 prevails here.
sues are probably inevitable and shouldn’t lead to a sharp It is consistent with the foundational Torah statement
break unless something is really terribly wrong. in Genesis that the sun and moon are the signals or
signs for the moedim. The Karaites said the barley was
What prompts me to write is reviewing from your website mature enough this year for it to be offered at the ear-
the sacred calendar article in which you show that the lier time, but there are others who say that there are dif-
Feast of Tabernacles is at the time of “ha-aseef (ingather- ferent species of barley ripening at different times.
ing) t’kufas ha-shanah.” (Ex. 34:22) and the various dis- And the matter of the volunteer barley, as you men-
cussions of how the t’kufas equate to the equinoxes and tioned, should be considered.
solstices and their respective subsequent seasons. When
you are right you can really hit the nail on the head and I I stay in touch with A.F. Who has mentioned your
think this information is pretty solid. I think you are saying work and how this year the entire Passover/Pentecost
that 15 Tishri must fall on or after September 23, not so? season was observed a month earlier by most. I didn’t
Your work on showing the connection between t’kufas believe it at first and belatedly began to review your ar-
and the seasons/solstices/equinoxes clarifies a lot. So Ex. ticle. Again, Ex. 34:22 seems rock solid. I don’t know
34:22 becomes a specific statement that Tishri 15 must oc- how anyone can get around it.
cur on?? (Please clarify) or after September 23. (I agree
that the term “Feast of Tabernacles” or “chag ha-sukkos” I do appreciate your work, and always have, even
refers to the Feast Day itself. The subsequent days are though there are points of difference. Again, please ac-
called “Chol Ha-moed” or intermediate days, probably lit- cept my apology.
erally “all the appointments” and the 22nd is another Festi-
val with a different name, “Shemini Atzeres” or the All the best, John.
“eighth stop,” aka “The Last Great Day.”) I wish I had
started looking at this earlier. We are now all the way to Sincerely,
what would be called “day 41 of the Omer” in the count to- R.H.S. (California)
wards Pentecost or Shavuos. Perhaps for you it would be
day 42 since your calendar indicates that Shabbat is on COMMENT: Apology not needed! I will answer
Monday right now. I do rely on the Karaites for their sight- these questions in other articles, etc.

The Berean Voice November-December 2002