New Moon Sighted on Feb 20, 2015 from Jerusalem

New moon sighted from Jerusalem on Feb 20, 2015 by Gil Ashendorf at 5:54pm and Devorah Levine at 5:57pm. The photo at the top of this message was taken by Devorah Levine from Jerusalem.

We will be carrying out this year’s Aviv Search on March 19-20, at the end of the 12th Hebrew month. The new moon should be visible (barring clouds) on Shabbat March 21, 2015. If the barley is Aviv, then Chag HaMatzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread) will begin on Saturday night, April 4 and Shavuot will fall out 50 days later on Sunday May 24, 2015. This will result in a rare convergence in which the Biblical Shavuot will coincide with the Rabbinical Shavuot and the Christian Pentecost. Of course, if we don’t find the Aviv by March 21, the Biblical dates will all be a month later.
This is done by my friends at Makor Hebrew Foundation founder, Nehemia Gordon