Molad Times - For the Jewish Years 5780 & 5781 (2020-2021)

When blessing the new month in the synagogue on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh, it is customary to announce the time that the molad (birth of the new moon) occurs in Jerusalem, so that it can be kept in mind while saying the blessing.

Traditionally, the time is announced in hours, minutes and chalakim — e.g., "The molad will occur Sunday evening, eight minutes and seven chalakim after seven o'clock." A chelek is one 1080th part of an hour, or 3.33 seconds. In this table, we have noted the time of the molad in hours and minutes (e.g., 7:08 PM), and we've also noted the number of chalakim, for use in the traditional announcement.

All times listed here are Jerusalem times, and are so announced in the synagogue regardless of location.

For more about the molad, see What is the molad? at the bottom of this page.

Molad Times for 5780 (2019-2020)

Molad for Month of	Day of Week	Date	Time
Tishrei	Sunday	September 29, 2019	5:50 (5 chalakim) AM
Cheshvan	Monday	October 28, 2019	6:34 (6 chalakim) PM
Kislev	Wednesday	November 27, 2019	7:18 (7 chalakim) AM
Tevet	Thursday	December 26, 2019	8:02 (8 chalakim) PM
Shevat	Shabbat	January 25, 2020	8:46 (9 chalakim) AM
Adar	Sunday	February 23, 2020	9:30 (10 chalakim) PM
Nissan	Tuesday	March 24, 2020	10:14 (11 chalakim) AM
Iyar	Wednesday	April 22, 2020	10:58 (12 chalakim) PM
Sivan	Friday	May 22, 2020	11:42 (13 chalakim) AM
Tamuz	Sunday	June 21, 2020	12:26 (14 chalakim) AM
Av	Monday	July 20, 2020	1:10 (15 chalakim) PM
Elul	Wednesday	August 19, 2020	1:54 (16 chalakim) AM

Molad Times for 5781 (2020-2021)

Molad for Month of	Day of Week	Date	Time
Tishrei	Thursday	September 17, 2020	2:38 (17 chalakim) PM
Cheshvan	Shabbat	October 17, 2020	3:23 AM
Kislev	Sunday	November 15, 2020	4:07 (1 Chelek) PM
Tevet	Tuesday	December 15, 2020	4:51 (2 chalakim) AM
Shevat	Wednesday	January 13, 2021	5:35 (3 chalakim) PM
Adar	Friday	February 12, 2021	6:19 (4 chalakim) AM
Nissan	Shabbat	March 13, 2021	7:03 (5 chalakim) PM
Iyar	Monday	April 12, 2021	7:47 (6 chalakim) AM
Sivan	Tuesday	May 11, 2021	8:31 (7 chalakim) PM
Tamuz	Thursday	July 10, 2021	9:15 (8 chalakim) AM
Av	Friday	July 9, 2021	9:59 (9 chalakim) PM
Elul	Sunday	August 8, 2021	10:43 (10 chalakim) AM

Click here to convert Secular to Jewish dates

What Is the Molad?

The Jewish calendar is lunar-based, with each month representing one lunar cycle — the time it takes for the moon to complete one orbit around the earth.

The molad is the time of the moon's "birth." There is a point in the moon's orbit in which it is positioned directly between the earth and the sun, making it invisible to anyone standing on earth's surface. The molad occurs when the moon has moved far enough from this position that a thin crescent of its illuminated surface becomes visible, marking the start of a new Jewish month.

The time it takes for the moon to complete one orbit around the earth — as calculated by sages and confirmed by astronomical observation — is 29 days, 12 hours and 793 chalakim (there are 1,080 chalakim or "parts" in an hour, hence a chelek is 3.33... seconds). This represents the average time from molad to molad. The actual moment at which the moon becomes visible will vary slightly from the average molad, depending on the relative positions of the earth, moon and sun to each other at any given month, where on earth the observer is standing, the length of twilight at given seasons of the year, and other astronomical variables.

For this reason the Jewish calendar is “tweaked” so that Rosh Chodesh — the first of the month — is as close as possible to the time in which the moon would actually be seen in Jerusalem if we were still relying on actual observation of the moon to establish the start of a new month (as was done until the 5th century C.E.). Also, because a month has to be made up of whole days, the Jewish month alternates between 29 and 30 days. This is why Rosh Chodesh will often occur a day or more after the average molad.

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30 Comments

Anonymous Dallas August 21, 2019

Is there an api that gives the molad? I wanted to make an app for kiddush levana. Reply

Chabad.org Staff August 22, 2019

in response to Anonymous:

I'm sorry, our API is not shareable at this time. Reply

Albert Jacobs silver Spring July 30, 2019

I am giving a talk on calculating the Hebrew calendar and using the Molads from this Chabad site. I am calculating for 5780 and after all calculations I completely agree with the Molad for Tishri shown here for 5781 That is on Thursday September 17, 2020. I don't detect any reason for postponement so Rosh Hashanah would be on Friday September 18, 2020 but I just received the 2020 calendar showing Rosh Hashana on Saturday September 19, 2020. Why? The postponement rule states that if Molad is on Friday, postpone but Molad is Thursday? I am very curious as to why? I notice the comment below by H.Lethbridge below and he is right, you should also show dates for Rosh Hashanah and why any postponement. Reply

Yehuda Shurpin for Chabad.org August 4, 2019

in response to Albert Jacobs:

While you are correct about the Molad and its implications for an ordinary month, there is an additional rule being overlooked. which is that the first day of Rosh Hashanah cannot be on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. in the words of Maimonidies (Laws of sanctification of the moon 7:3):When the conjunction takes place at noon or after noon, and [Rosh Chodesh Tishrei would be] postponed to the following day - if that following day is either Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, Rosh Chodesh is postponed again, and is established on the third day after the conjunction.

What is implied? If the conjunction takes place on the Sabbath after noon (in numbers, 7 - 186), in such a year Rosh Chodesh should be established on Monday. Similarly, if the conjunction takes place on Tuesday at noon or after noon, Rosh Chodesh should be established on Thursday.

For more on this rule see Kiddush HaChodesh - Chapter Seven Reply

Albert Jacobs silver Spring August 4, 2019

in response to Yehuda Shurpin for Chabad.org:

Thank you so much. I am correcting my talk to be accurate. Reply

H Lethbridge Leeds, UK May 31, 2019

I think it would be helpful to add the date(s) of Rosh Hodesh. Someone may not be familiar with the distinction between Rosh Hodesh and the molad and may use the molad date as Rosh Hodesh. And in any case it would be useful to include it. Reply

Anonymous Brooklyn December 2, 2018

I want to thank you again for this chart. I print it out every four years or so and keep it in my Gabbai box. I would have to scramble for the molad each month without this. Just to let you know that you are appreciated. I think of you and bless you each month. Thank you and may Gd bless you to keep up your good work in the future. Reply

Norman UK October 4, 2018

It's very good to be able to find this information, but something is missing.
It's all very well knowing the molad, but the chart doesn't tell you if there are one or two days of Rosh Chodesh, so how can you know which day(s) to say in the following prayer. Reply

Anonymous August 6, 2017

Actually, from what I picked up from another website, the molad & kiddish levana times aren't exactly Israel Standard Time either, but Jerusalem Local Mean Time, which is 20 minutes and 56.496 seconds later than IST, so subtract that value from the molad to get the IST equivalent. Reply

david Forest Hills February 14, 2018

in response to Anonymous:

The molad has moved over the centuries. The time announced as the molad corresponds to a certain longitude which is now in Afghanistan Reply

Michoel NJ July 25, 2017

Thanks for this. Now I understand 2 important points: The time announced is not local, nor affected by Daylight Savings; it's the moment of the molad, translated to IST (UTC+2). The other point was the molad is after the new moon, enough time to be seen. Reply

David NY March 5, 2018

in response to Michoel:

The molad is an average value. Conceptually it represents the new moon but more often than not it can be hours off the new moon. Reply

Anonymous July 25, 2017

Do the Molads posted take into account Israel's Daylight Savings Time's or are all posted times always in Israel Standard Time (or whatever their term for it is) ? Reply

Giorgies E. Kepipesiom July 21, 2017

Not 29-1/2 The time it takes for the moon to orbit the earth is only 27-1/3 days, not 29-1/2. The reason the interval between one molad and the next is 29-1/2 days, is that while the moon has been moving, the suns position has also advanced, and so it takes a bit longer for the moon to catch up to the sun. The next molad will be when the moon catches up to the sun, not when the moon returns to where it was at the last molad. Reply

Emil M Friedman Hillside, NJ February 15, 2018

in response to Giorgies E. Kepipesiom:

The time between astronomical new moons is not exactly the same each month. Reply

david ny March 5, 2018

in response to Giorgies E. Kepipesiom:

The molad approximates the synodic month . Youre describing the sidereal month where the moon completes its orbit relative to a fixed position to the stars Reply

Lusia Shindelman West Hills CA. July 30, 2016

Every thing I learn its great for me! I belong to Chabad of West hills ca Reply

Anonymous Baltimore July 29, 2016

Many years ago, my chavrusah in Torah Vodaath was the late Rabbi Yisroel Belsky ZT"L. When we were learning Rambam hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh we called the Hayden Planetarium to see if their figures matched the Rambam's figures. Within a fraction of a minute, they were the same. Reply

david F flug Fresh Meadows March 1, 2018

in response to Anonymous:

This is not correct. The molad time we use is an average number. A good example is the past Aug '17 eclipse which is the astronomical molad which occurred 12 hours before our molad ( Yes , I've taken time zones into account) Reply

Michoel Kotler Morristown March 4, 2018

in response to david F flug:

But the new moon and the molad time are not supposed to be the same thing. The molad is supposed to be some time after the new moon, enough time to actually see the first sliver of the moon. Reply

Yehuda Shurpin for chabad.org December 24, 2015

Re: M Friedman The above here is only intended as a brief overview on the Molad, the Jewish calendar in general is more complex (with entire works written about it). Here is another article on our site which gets into a bit more details. Reply

Emil M Friedman Hillside, NJ December 23, 2015

It has to be more complicated than described above. The molad is based on astronomy but we adjust the calendar to so that Yom Kippur can never fall on Friday or Sunday and so that Hoshanah Rabbah can never fall on Shabbat. Reply

Anonymous USA October 26, 2014

There will be a partial solar eclipse on Friday, March 20, 2015. The eclipse times for Jerusalem are as follows:

Partial Eclipse begins Mar 20 at 11:17 AM
Maximum Eclipse Mar 20 at 11:58 AM
Partial Eclipse ends Mar 20 at 12:39 PM

The molad time published here for that date is 12:43 (3 chalakim) PM.

It's interesting that the molad time published here is only 4 minutes after the eclipse ends. I would think that the moon would still be way too close to the sun at that time to be seen. Is there no relation between the molad time published here and the actual time that the moon should first be visible? Reply

Rabbi Shlomo Yaffe August 14, 2013

To David In any given month there could be a difference between the moon and the actual visible moon of a day or so. As per Maimonides, part of the calendar structure (its tweaks) is to push Rosh Chodesh towards the actual molad of that month. Reply

David Queens NY August 7, 2013

The calendar is not tweaked. The mean molad remains in fairly good sync with the astronomical molad because the value of the mean molad and the mean astronomical lunation period are less than one second apart.-- accurate to one day in 14000 years. Most of the variation comes because the year is chaser (353 days) or malee (355 days) Reply

Shlomo Yaffe Watertown, MA August 6, 2017

in response to David:

I was referencing the month to month variation of the actual time the moon was visible in Israel on a given Rosh Chodesh, not the annualized mean. Reply

Menachem Posner for Chabad.org Montreal, QC January 3, 2011

RE: Molad of Shevat In the current prefixed calendar, the purpose of the calculating the molad is not in order for us to know when to fix a specific Rosh Chodesh during the year. That is mostly set on a predetermined cycle of months of alternating lengths, with the few months that are not fixed adjusting themselves according to the required length of that year. So what do we need to calculate the molads for? The cumulative calculation of the molads helps us determine the date of Rosh Hashanah, as you can read in Maimonides’ work on the subject ( 947925 ). For this reason, the date of a given Rosh Chodesh is completely independent of the molad. (Incidentally even the date of Rosh Hashanah can sometimes be as much as two days after the Molad, as explained halacha 4 of the above link.)

So you ask, why do we announce the molad each month if it has nothing to do with Rosh Chodesh? I found the following explanation in the Shaar Hakolel (by Rabbi Avraham David Lavut - 19th century). He explains that in the days when the moon was sanctified by bet din, after testimony of the real molad (appearance of the moon) of the moon was heard, a special meal--replete with prayers for a good month--was held. Our prayers for the new month on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh mirror those prayers. As such, announcing the molad is a re-enactment of sorts of the testimony given in times gone by. Reply

Anonymous January 2, 2011

Molad of Shvat Please explain why - if the molad for the coming month of Shvat is on Tues night- Rosh Chodesh is Thursday and not Wednesday? Reply

Marc Engel Far Rock, NY July 27, 2009

July 22 09 eclipse A solar eclipse is by definition the physical molad, because there the moon passing the sun can be seen. (This definition of Molad differs from the one on this web site. I have read that which molad time used is a machlokes). This past month the solar eclipse occurred between 1:00 AM and 2:00 AM UT (similar to GMT) depending where in Asia you observed it. So Jerusalem time would be 2 hours later, or between 2-4 AM. This will give you an example of the difference between the average used for the molad compared to the actual molad which can differ by several hours. Reply

Anonymous LA, CA November 9, 2007

Let Moshiach Come I see you have times for 5770. That should be the last year we need them---Moshiach should tell us next time! Reply

Molad Times for 5780 (2019-2020)

Molad Times for 5781 (2020-2021)

What Is the Molad?

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