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Malter clearly shows that the observation of the new moons continued way past the time
that Hillel II introduced the written calendar --

In Babylonia also, the practice of observation was continued until the time of the last
Amoraim, although a practical system of reckoning had been known to scholars for more
than a century. It was only after the close of the Babylonian Talmud, in the sixth or per-
haps later, in the seventh century, that the observation of the moon was entirely given up,
and a complete and final system of calendation introduced. This was adopted by all the
Jews of the Diaspora, and has been accepted as binding down to the present day.

With the obvious polluting of God's sacred calendar by Hillel II and the rabbis of his sect,
the present Jewish calendar cannot be trusted in the determination of God's Holy Days and Sab-
baths. So where does this leave us? Back to the Bible! Even though the Bible doesn't go into great
detail about the calendar, it does give us valuable information we can use to correctly determine
the new moons.

If you study the gospel accounts of Jesus' life one thing stands out above all others -- He
never once upbraided or corrected the Jews of His day regarding the observance of the Feast Days
or the Sabbaths. He kept the Passover and Feast of Tabernacles at the same time as everyone else
-- "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts,
let him come to Me and drink'" (John 7:37).

Notes Ronald L. Dart --

We don't know what they [the Seventy Elders] did about the calendar, but we do know
that the rules and observations of the calendar were, in the days of Jesus' ministry, in the
hands of the Sanhedrin. We also know that in spite of all the issues where Jesus opposed
the Jewish leadership, He never argued with them about the calendar.

The Biblical New Moon is the "First Crescent"

If the Jews were keeping the Feast Days at the correct time, then they were also keeping the
new moons at the right time! And how were they determining the new moons in Christ's day?
Notice!

During the period of the Sanhedrin, a committee of the Sanhedrin met to evaluate reports
of sightings of the LUNAR CRESCENT...(Calendars, by L.E. Doggett).

Each lunar month began with the New Moon Sanctification by recognition of the Sanhed-
rin. Policy dictated that two witnesses in two different locations, IN OR NEAR JERUSA-
LEM, must testify to sighting the NEW MOON CRESCENT. A vote by the Sanhedrin
was then required to officially reckon a new month beginning (Christian Era Calendars,
by Clark K. Nelson).

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