Page 262 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

CHAPTER 18 THE SECRET OF IBUR

CHAPTER 18

The Secret of Ibur

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The Hebrew word ibur refers to the act of impregnating—namely, conception.
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In the Hebrew language, one common sense of the term ibur is associated with

the Hebrew calendar and its unique structure. Since this calendar is based on
the lunar month, however most Jewish festivities in Israel are associated with the
annual seasons, there was a necessity to coordinate the moon-based Hebrew cal-
endar with the solar (tropical) year.
To achieve this goal, the Hebrew calendar adds a month to the calendar, called

Adar B (which naturally follows Adar A), and this is done seven times in a cycle of
nineteen years. A year when an extra month is added is called Shanah Meuberet.

Some details of how the Hebrew calendar is structured are given in section
2.1.2 and the references therein.
The subject of this chapter is to explain how ancient Jewish sages came to the
conclusion that the lunar month is 29.53059 days (with exactly that precision).

That Jewish sages have been aware of this figure, and how it is anchored in
Jewish oral and written sources, is the subject of this chapter.

But how close is this estimate to the precise figure, obtained by modern preci-
sion measurements?

According to current measurements, the synodic month (the duration of the

lunar month which is the mean interval between conjunctions of the moon and
the sun, corresponding to the cycle of lunar phases) is 29.53058888531 days.

(Refer, for example, to the Wolfram Research Company Web sites:
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/Month.html;
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/SynodicMonth.html.

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