First of all I want to state that this is MY OPINION.
Then I want to clarify that there is more than one Jewish calendar. We need to be careful when referring to the "Jewish calendar" generically.
I will be referring to the calendar, stated by WCG and others as being the "sacred calendar", and referred to as the "Jewish calendar".
1. The first step that is wrong, is the calculating of the molad of Tishri, which can be up to 15 hours off. Which means that to begin calculating the calendar they can be wrong.
2. Then the postponements.
To postpone one or two days out of convenience so as not to have a double Sabbath is not legitimate. This postponement is ridiculous reasoning considering the Jews have double and triple days already. And we keep the day of Pentecost on a Sunday every year which creates a double Sabbath.
Secondly, the postponement of 6 hours does not give enough time for the crescent to be seen. And it is the sign they are going by.
Third, if the "sacred calendar" was sacred, why did it have to be changed at least twice?3. Once they have determined the first day of the seventh month, they subtract 177 days to find the first day of the first month. This can be 176, 177 or 178 days. So part of the time they would be wrong. As a matter of fact, the difference in the number of days between new moons, according to the "Karaite Korner", differed in one day from 1998 to 1999.
4. One of the most important items to me is the fact, they do not consider the spring equinox or the maturity of the barley crop at all in their calculations. This has to be done so that at the first of the harvest they would have barley for the wave sheaf.
As a matter of fact, because of the so called "sacred calendar", many people have started the biblical year in the winter in past years instead of the spring when it should have started. It is my opinion the biblical year should not start until on or after the spring equinox. There is another paper (append9.txt) on this web site with further information on this subject.Quote from the Karaite Korner
"Most Karaites today have adopted the Rabbanite "19-year cycle". Instead of fixing the First Month according to the barley crops (Abib), the 19-year cycle arbitrarily sets every 2nd or 3rd year as a leap year. Those Karaites who adopted the Rabbanite 19-year cycle did so with the belief that it accurately approximates the Abib in the land of Israel. Indeed the "19-year cycle" was invented to approximate the state of the barley crops at a time when the Rabbanites had difficulty getting reliable reports from the Land of Israel. After all, the Rabbanites do not deny that it is the state of the barley crops which determines the date of Passover (see Sanhedrin 11a). Yet actual observation of the barley crops has proven that the "19-year cycle" is often in error and does not always give the Month of Abib as the month for Passover. This year several of us in Israel investigated the state of the barley crops and discovered that the Rabbanites and most of those who call themselves "Karaites" were celebrating the Biblical Holidays one month too early!"
It is important to keep all of the Biblical Feasts and Holidays in their proper time as it is written "These are the Holidays (Mo'edim) of YHWH, holy convocations which you will call in their appointed times" (Lev 23,4). Keeping the upcoming Hag Ha-Sukkot (Feast of Booths) is especially important as we are warned explicitly of the consequences of not observing this Holiday:
"And it will be that whoever will not go up of all the families of the earth to Jerusalem to prostrate to the King, YHWH Tzevaot, there shall be no rain upon them... there will be the plague with which YHWH smites the nations that will not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Hag Ha-Sukkot)." (Zechariah 14,18-19)Conclusion:
Then there is the scriptures mentioned above pertaining to God's appointed times. Can anyone out there still state that it does not matter when you keep these appointed times. I believe I may have kept the wrong times for 1999. And if I did many of you did also. I do not think that God is going to burn us all for keeping the wrong days when we kept them in the faith we had at the time. But I do not think that He will look favorably upon us for not checking these things out, now that we have been given this information.
Information given in this article came mostly from Frank Nelte's papers and the "Karaite Korner". I thank Frank very much and those who have made information available on the "Karaite Korner" web site.
Before a person can see what is right, he or she must first be able to admit they may be wrong.