This is a page of technical notes. Please visit Dayenu Judaica's home page for information about our store and its merchandise.

The molad is the theoretical time when the new moon is first visible each month from Jerusalem. It is always stated in Jerusalem time (not local time); it uses mean solar time (i.e. not using the standard time zone for Jerusalem, and not adjusted for daylight savings); and it assumes sunset at 6:00 p.m. and sunrise at 6:00 a.m. The date and time of the molad are announced in many synagogues on the Shabbat before each new month, except for Tishri which starts a new year. Ironically, the only molad which is relevant is that of Tishri; depending on various factors, the first day of Rosh Hashanah will be observed on that day, or may be deferred by one or two days. That deferral means that all moladot will occur on the 28th, 29th, 30th, or 1st of a month. Actually, there are 44 times over the next 5000 years that it will happen on the 27th after 6 p.m., which, using the assumed sunset time above, is adjusted to the 28th; this will happen next for Shevat and Nisan 5788 – the first time in 237 years – then not till Nisan 5866; all such days happen on Wednesday for Shevat or Saturday for Nisan. If the molad happens on Friday the 28th, it means that it is announced the next day rather than in advance – this happens on average once every 7 years, most recently for Kislev 5765 and next for Sivan 5780 (it can also happen for Adar or Adar-II).

The Jewish day is divided into 24 hours, each of which is divided into 1080 chelakim; a chelek therefore represents 3⅓ seconds. The number of chelakim increases by 1 each month; after it reaches 17, it starts anew at 0. The table below converts chelakim to minutes, and then lists the remaining number of chelakim as, e.g., +2ch. The same convention is used on our zmanim page, which shows the molad for all days of Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hodesh, and the Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh. The day of week and civil date treat midnight as the start of day; an asterisk beside the Hebrew date indicates it has been adjusted to the next day because the molad falls after 6 p.m.