Why is it that everyone that defends the traditional Hillel II calendar never gives YHWH credit for CREATING the times and seasons in such a way that even a PRIMITIVE FARMER of wheat or barley in the land of Yisrael, living in BCE or CE no matter, would know the season he was in? YHWH did NOT create seasons that were so difficult to verify that it would require scientific instrumentation and Babylonian astronomical know-how to correctly calculate the seasons and the New Year, with some of the technology and knowledge (Equinox) used for the Hillel II calendar not even existing prior. No!!! He made it so even a lowly farmer of barley with at least one working eye could know the season he was in… PLAIN & SIMPLE!

Although it is true that the year was determined by examination of the barley crop and fruit trees in the Apostolic times and the Mishnaic age, it was the Sanhedrin that conducted the examination and made the determination.

Even if there were never again to be a Sanhedrin or another living seed of Abraham within the land of Israel, would this change YHWH’s calendar or how it was given to us to determine? No, it would continue, certified by Kohen in the Temple or not! YHWH’s calendar, shown to us by lunar and agricultural events in the land of Israel, will never cease until HE brings it to an end. The Kohen and the Sanhedrin only VERIFIED, CONFIRMED and BLESSED what ALREADY HAPPENED throughout the land of Israel. What they decreed would not change this observable fact… To believe otherwise places Rabbinical authority ABOVE Torah!

 Only the duly ordained and recognized leadership of the Jewish community—those that sit in the seat of Moses—actually have the authority to determine New Years and calendars.

 I won’t even comment in detail on Moses’ Seat and your implication above as Shem Tov’s Hebrew Matthew and the Karaite studies of this unique antiquity absolutely shreds your implication of Pharisaical (now Rabbinical) authority superseding that of Moses because they sit in Moses’ Seat. Yahushua was clearly telling his followers to obey Moses if a conflict arose between what the Pharisees said (Takanot) and what Moses said (Torah). To claim otherwise is likened to an Ostrich with its head in the sand… Moreover, with almost every deed and miracle Yahushua performed, he specifically and intentionally disobeyed Pharisee Takanot and Ma'asim. He did not come to bring PEACE with "doctrines of men"…

The result was utter disunity. The same is true in the Hebrew Roots movement today.

As long as we are still scattered and the Messiah has not returned; as long as the modern day Pharisees who sit on Moses’ Seat IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL refuse to accept their duty under the Mosaic Covenant (return to Torah-based calendar) and instead claim authority that supersedes and CHANGES that of Moses, there will CONTINUE to be disunity and confusion. The disunity and confusion is brought about by the Rabbis and their Takanot, not by the keepers of Torah.

 The congregation in which Boaz Michael serves, A'm Segulah in Phoenix, AZ, attempted to keep the festivals according to the Aviv barley reckoning and new moon observation for two years. Boaz reports that the attempt resulted in constant uncertainty in the community.

 It’s a shame that YHWH’s calendar disrupts the plans of the Believers by having a New Year and a Day of Trumpets/Shouting that cannot be determined till either somewhat before or until the very day it happens to reveal itself. Makes printing calendars tough… Maybe, like Job, they would like to present their case to YHWH directly? Tell Him how His calendar is unworkable...

 Boaz states that the karaite method resulted in a further sense of separation from the Jewish community and fed a latent arrogance which remains deeply rooted in Messianics; namely, that we know how to do Torah better than anyone else—even better than the Jewish community.

 This statement would be of interest if the “Jewish Community” were following Torah in regards to the Calendar. No comparison can be drawn… Maybe, just maybe, it is Ephraim’s observance of Torah over Takanot that spurs Judah to jealousy, as prophesied, not the other way around? Think about it…

 If a calendar debate like the Aviv barley method was raised in the Apostolic age, it seems most likely that the Master and the Apostles would have followed the majority interpretation in order to maintain continuity with the greater community.

As long as Moses was not superseded… but it is only your opinion none the less… but more than one action of Yahushua and his followers broke from the TRADITIONS and the MAJORITY; the washing of hands, picking grain on Sabbath, as well as healing, making mud, applying saliva to eyes, and telling others to exceed a "Sabbath walk" on Sabbath are just a few… How do we explain these INTENTIONAL and WILLFUL acts of DISOBEDIENCE to Tradition and Majority while at the same time stating his submission to majority rule? Since Yahushua was, is and always will be TORAH, what are we to think?

In the Master's day, the Karaite sects (Sadducees and Bothusians) were following the more literal reading of Leviticus 23:10–16, whereby Shavuot occurred on the day after the 7th weekly Sabbath counting from the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread.

The Sadducees and modern Karites are wrong on what Sabbath is referred to here… That is why there was no conflict recorded. It cannot be taken as proof that the majority opinion was followed for unity… Need we get into long lists of “majority” Rabbinical rulings that every Believer in Messiah,  including FFOZ, rejects and ignores as invalid law? How can we have one and not the other? Who decides?

The festivals are supposed to be national in scope, not individual or even local.

The Festivals are not dates that can be adjusted to fit within national/international unity! They are dates told to us CLEARLY in Torah that YHWH demands that we, his Children, meet with him and He PROMISES to meet with us as well. Who bends: Yahuwah and His Torah or a Nation of men? YHWH does not consult a Hillel II calendar to schedule His appearances! There is no reason Israel still uses a calendar created in Babylonia (an exile due to rebellion and sin) when they now inhabit the land. If the “majority” wants to meet on dates calculated by man, then don’t be surprised when YHWH doesn’t show up. As for me and mine, we will take the narrow road Yahushua spoke of, the one very few find…

It is true that the word Aviv means "fresh young ears of grain." But it is also the name of the month. It is the name of the month that the Israelites came out of captivity (Ex. 13:4) and the month we are to observe the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex. 23:15; 34:18) Aviv is the name of the month, not the method by which the month is determined.

What kind of Brooklyn Bridge are you trying to sell us? Again, the Karaites have done the Body of Messiah a good service by showing it to be “the month of ‘THE’ Aviv,” not “the month of Aviv.” Check the Hebrew… This shows it to be a DESCRIPTION, not a TITLE or NAME. This argument only obfuscates the issue and brings CONFUSION to those who don’t know better and trust your words through ignorance.

There is no prescribed ritual for checking the barley or determining when full ripening has occurred.

Again, the Karaites and other Biblical Calendar groups, many being Orthodox Jewish, have almost TWO DECADES of experience determining AVIV barley. So I go back to my beginning statement that YHWH did not give us a Torah that was vague or impossible to understand in regards to certain elemental matters, such as Sabbath, the Festivals and of the New Moon. YHWH did not intend Torah, IN THESE MATTERS, to require learned Rabbi’s to endlessly debate what YHWH was TRYING to tell us… Do you really believe YHWH gave us a Torah that was so vague and confusing that one could not even rightly know when a Sabbath, Festival or New Year was upon the land of Israel? Seriously… do you hear what you are saying???

There is only a SMALL window of time that would allow barley to be PARCHED without withering or shattering and those who seek the restoration of the Biblical Calendar have enough experience and data on both wild and cultivated barley to show this level of Aviv as proof of YHWH’s time. One day we will have a Kohen and a Temple to certify this to be so…

A similar case might be made regarding the determination of the New Moon. The Torah does not provide any details on determining the New Moon or what qualifies as a New Moon.

Yep, YHWH fooled us again with His mystery Torah, toying with us like little pets… That trickster! How were the ancients to know or determine a conjunction of the sun and moon that happens on the opposite side of the globe (didn’t know about the BALL of the earth or orbits then either), requiring complex SCIENCE to correctly ascertain? Can YOU, modern men of FFOZ staff, determine the Equinox or conjunctions? I sit in absolute awe that the writer would have me believe that the most basic of elements within Torah were knowingly and willfully made vague or left out completely, only given as ORAL Torah (now written down of course). Is that the Elohim you serve, an Elohim that toys with us so? I hope not!

Rather, it is SO SIMPLE that even a primitive farmer of barley in Israel with at least ONE EYE to see the sliver of the New Moon could know when the New Year begins and how to COUNT the days to the Festivals. This is the Elohim I serve! One who makes His ways PLAIN to even the SIMPLE is the Elohim of Israel. Be like a little child and come unto Him on the times of Torah for one day the High Priest will certify the barley and new moon and then we will all know for certain the times and seasons. Till then, I trust Torah and the testimony of two witnesses within the land of Judea…

The same Pharisaic authority over Israel that checked the ripeness of the barley to determine the year during the Apostolic age is the same authority that gave us the fixed calendar we now use.

According to Yahushua, they did not have the authority to CHANGE MOSES! I’ll listen to my Messiah…. Thank you.

If the Apostolic community abided by the traditional, majority determination of the calendar, why wouldn’t we?

Hearsay and conjecture! However it was RETURNED to the aviv barley and the sliver of the moon PUBLICLY. The secret, complex calculations that the Sanhedrin kept hidden from all except the very elite, along with the Books of Genealogies, only became Takanot during Babylonian and Roman exile. Israel has been back in Jerusalem for almost 50 YEARS! The Temple is not required to certify the barley and moon. It is rebellious Judah and Levi that refuses to certify the season with a Sanhedrin… but that may change soon, now that a new Sanhedrin has been formed. May YHWH make it so to end this debate…

Since, it is our heart to follow Yeshua's example and He simply kept the rendering of the majority, perhaps it is appropriate that we do the same.

Unproven! It makes you wonder WHY he was brought before Pilate and crucified, being he followed majority Pharisaic rulings… Hmmmm? He should have been such a good, loved and ACCEPTED Rabbi by your statement… Wonder what happened?

When we see other ways of reckoning the calendar that seem to make more sense than the majority reckoning; when the moon seems out of sync with the calendar date or the season seems out of sync with the month…

Can YHWH scream any louder to you about your calendar than that??? Hello?

But this isn’t really our job. It is the job of the authority over Israel, whether that authority be a new Sanhedrin or Messiah Himself.

Our job is to OBEY TORAH just as Messiah kept Torah PERFECTLY. When we don’t keep perfect Torah, our High Priest, the Messiah, takes up the slack with His atonement. When I try to keep Torah by observing the barley and moon for signs of His festivals, yet I err, than my High Priest makes it good. However, when I willingly and knowingly reject OBSERVABLE Torah for man’s “questionable” decree, with NO EFFORT to correct it, I abuse Messiah’s GRACE! The Apostles NEVER preached otherwise…

Your “JOB” is to follow Torah, just as your Messiah did, not wait around for some official decree to observe Torah that may never come before Messiah!!! Your CALLING to keep Torah PRE-EXISTED Hillel II and the last “questionable” Sanhedrin, thus establishing pro-Torah LEGAL PRECEDENT. Stop pawning off YOUR responsibility as the HIGH PRIEST of YOUR household to someone else by following a calendar you admit is not in line with barley or the moons. Repent!

These calendar irregularities serve to heighten our anticipation of Messiah’s coming as we all look forward to the restoration of all things, including the restoration of the reckoning of the calendar.

Finally, something we can BOTH agree with!!! Amein!!!

Lastly, let us be mindful to not judge one another for differences of opinion in calendar observation. If our brothers and sisters deem it appropriate to reckon the calendar in a different manner than that of traditional Judaism, we wish them all blessings and peace in that endeavor

What motivated this email response was the implication that those who sided with the Karaites and others were in some way REBELLIOUS (Protestant) to the Messiah as there is no way in Torah to know what time or day it REALLY IS, for we are in LIMBO. You also demanded observance of takanot over Torah and misrepresented the authority of those who sit in Moses’ Seat.

I  will willingly allow you to observe your takanot without restriction, for you do not answer to me nor I to you, but when you make these claims to be in Torah truth in public, specifically to my email inbox (via a “Your Arms To Israel” forward), you open yourself to rebuke. In my opinion, you are deceiving others into following your takanot above Torah, and I have now responded with warning. If another like me does the same (two witnesses), you would be wise to proceed cautiously as you are in a position of Co-SHEPHERD of the flock and are held to a high level of accountability… I’m at peace with my charge against you. Take it or leave it.

Till we meet within the camp of the Righteous or at the Supper of the Lamb…

Shalom & Baruch HaShem YHWH,

Robert Glantz

Also check out Eliyahu ben David's response to the FFOZ calendar error at Tsiyon.org <HERE>