Last night, 2021-09-07 (USA Date 9/7/2021) we searched for the New Moon and tried to get a valid sighting before we called it a night, but we were unsuccessful. At one point, I got a call from a brother who said, such and such reported a sighting from a person. I then contacted the person and they said they used binoculars to find it, and that they always use binoculars. I relayed that information to others.
The reality is that not all those who collect new moon sightings are questioning witnesses sufficiently to ensure that we’re all on the same page. It’s OK if others have a different view and if they want to use binoculars for theirself, but the problem is that when they report a naked-eye sighting it’s not always being told that they use binoculars to find it because in their perspective it’s still a naked-eye sighting as long as they also see it with the naked eye after finding it with binoculars. I understand the perspective, but I just don’t view those sightings as valid because they relied on above normal human vision to find the new moon to start with. So to me, they are invalid.
So this is the problem we face: Which sightings can we take on the Internet? I would say that I can’t take any of them except the ones I post, until or unless we have real voice phone conversations with each other to know we’re really of the same conviction and on the same page. It’s OK if others have different views, but if I can’t tell for sure how much scrutiny is placed on others’ reports, I will just continue collecting my own and going on what I collect myself. Then I have some assurance that a naked eye sighting has zero use of binoculars to find it, and no cameras looked into until 2 people see it first.
One possible valid sighting was reported – but it came in so late that I was already asleep and my cut-off time rule is I have to get the sighting before I go to sleep. I make my best effort to find a sighting from credible witnesses who meet the criteria we use and stay up late trying, but if we don’t get that and it’s late then eventually must determine if it’s a new moon or not and if sightings come in past that the next morning then I don’t take them to start the day as the determination was already decided for me. So for us, we did not do Yom Teruah starting last night, so we will tonight.
Hopefully no typos in this post. Had to write it quick! Got to post the next one with the sightings we got tonight also.