On Monday January 14, 2002 the New Moon was not seen from Israel. Observers across the country reported that they were unable to see the New Moon. Cloud coverage was visible on the horizon all over the country.

The astronomical conditions on Jan 14 were "borderline" meaning that modern astronomy can not tell us with certainty whether the moon would have been visible or not given good weather conditions. In light of this we are observing this month based on raw 30th-day-observation. Raw 30th-day-observation means that if the moon is seen on the 30th day, the month begins that evening; if not, the month begins the following evening by default. A second report will be sent out with tomorrow night's observations as soon as they are available.

Borderline moons are a rare occurence that happen about once a year. Notable cases were Oct 2001 and Sep 2000. To read more about the latter see: http://www.geocities.com/magdi_shamuel/09_2000.html

Nehemia Gordon