"Why do the Rabbanites differ from us (Karaites) in regard to the dates of their holy days? In ancient times, all Israel sanctified the new moon according to actual observance, by eye-witnesses. (Genesis 1:14; Psalm 104:19). However in the year 801 C.E., the Rabbanites abandoned this scriptural custom and introduced a calendar reform, which included the following innovations:
| a) | PASSOVER (Pessah) can never fall on Monday, Wednesday
or Friday: and it must coincide with the day of the 9th of Av of that
year. |
| b) | SHAVUOTH can never fall on a Tuesday, Thursday, or
Friday and it must coincide with the second day of Passover... |
| c) | ROSH HASHANAH (Feast of Trumpets) can never fall
on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, and must coincide with
the third day of Passover... |
| d) | KIPPUR can never fall on Sunday, Tuesday or Friday,
and must coincide with the fifth day of Passover. |
| e) | PURIM can never fall on the Sabbath (Saturday), Monday,
or Wednesday and must coincide with the sixth day of Passover. |
The reader will see from the above quotation that the Karaite Jews have also rejected
the human traditions found in the popular Jewish calendar and have returned
to the ancient method of selecting the 1st day of each
month on the evidence of a first sighting of the new moon. The
Karaite calendar, though printed in advance, also makes an allowance
for a first sighting of the new moon before starting each month.
To determine the 1st day of each month the Karaite
calendar makers, I understand, base their calculations on sophisticated
mathematical tables which even their rabbis find difficult to
explain. If the reader wishes to contact them for more details
on how their calendar is set up, their address is: The Karaite
Jews in Israel, P.O.B. 101 Ramlah, 72100. ISRAEL.
