I've followed the thread that postulates that if this should have been an intercalated year where an extra month is added to the Hebrew calendar then Rosh Hashanah would occur at the new moon in October rather than at the new moon of September this year.

It has been my practice to follow the Karaite Jews calendar that sticks to God’s rules for determining whether the additional month is required based on the ripening of the barley in the land of Israel. This is a pure biblical direction that has not been modified by the Torah rabbis. The Karaites have stated that 2013 is a “normal” 12 month year based on their observation of the barley last spring.

Perhaps God has led me to take a closer look at this or maybe it’s just my desire for a soon rapture but I have found something that might change my mind about this. In determining whether the barley is ripe enough (aviv) to declare the start of God’s new year the Karaite searches the “land of Israel” after each new moon until the barley is found ripe enough (aviv) to serve as the wave offering at Passover. If it is found aviv then that new moon is the start of the year and a few weeks later is the Passover.

The key phrase that I would like to focus on is “the land of Israel”. The area that is present day Israel has seven agricultural growing elevations. Barley would ripen faster in a warmer area like Gaza versus a higher elevation like Jerusalem that is cooler. This would not be a problem in our modern day of fast transportation. Barley could be transported from Gaza to Jerusalem in a couple of hours or less but in biblical times it was a three day journey. This becomes a problem when the barley has to be cut, dried and in Jerusalem for the wave offering during the week of Passover.

Although the Bible is not specific as to where the aviv observation has to be made in the land of Israel, it is practical to believe that it had to be made within a day’s journey of Jerusalem for the barley to be suitable for the wave offering. Having said all that – my point is that from the descriptions for 2013 that I have read it would appear that the barley condition that was determined to be aviv was from areas near the Negev which is a warmer elevation but too far from Jerusalem to be practical for the wave sheath offering of Passover under the conditions of the Old Testament travel limits.

If this is the case then 2013 may need to be a 13 month year which would have pushed all the feasts ahead by one month from where we have them shown on our calendars.

...is there anything in Scripture that indicates that the timing of RH is dependent on the harvest?

If there is, I'm not aware of it.

Leviticus 23:

The seventh month in an intercalated year would actually be the eighth lunar month since an extra un-numbered month is inserted at the end of the previous year to give the barley time to ripen to the aviv stage. Although it technically would still be the seventh month it wouldn't began until the eighth lunar month cycle.

Thanks Grumpy Old Christian for the easy to understand explanation of this extra month.
I agree with you that the barley would have to be close to Jerusalem , it just makes sense.

Email: thessalonians6@bell.net

Ditto, I agree with GOC. Also glad to hear from you brother. In any event, the Lord knows. No doubt these next few weeks/days may prove to be very interesting indeed. Faith may be difficult but anticipation can be grueling!
Can't wait to say that TR has left the planet. No doubt many would agree also.

Love & blessings...Tender Reed

Greetings TR.

Only God knows when He will allow the barley to ripen each year and since it must be just right for the wave sheath offering then the start of the first month is a variable that only God knows. The post-temple period rabbis tried to do away with God's variable by adding the extra month in a regular mathematical fashion that ignores the state of the barley. This has allowed them to plot out feast days years in advance but God never sanctioned this.

Grumpy, it is wonderful to see your posts again!

Bejamin, you might like this page for more on barley being abib (or aviv). According to Chabad, abib means spring which is in agreement with the Kariates specification that it is not the name of a month, but rather Passover is in the month of THE abib, or the barley being at the correct level of ripeness.
http://www.karaite-korner.org/abib_faq.shtml

I had heard some debate earlier this year about the barley being in Israel, but not from around Jerusalem. It didn't seem so important to me at that time, but I gotta say it's been odd to have heat indexes over 100 at the time of the "fall feasts" which are still in the summer. It doesn't seem terribly important for me, since I'm planning on hanging around until the trumpet blows, but it might explain why the restrainer is still apparently restraining things more than we might otherwise have expected.

Email: TxThom@raptureintheairnow.com

Found this article: DID THE JEWISH CALENDAR START A MONTH EARLY IN 2012 BECAUSE THE BARLEY WAS NOT RIPE IN ISRAEL? http://jesusiscoming2016.webs.com/aviv2012amonthoff.htm

Just wondering if there is any important info in the article. Their 2016 date and possibly some other stuff on the site may be off base, but this article might have something in it if you have time to check it out.

Email: bandj.gravelle@gmail.com

Genesis 1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years

The reason some believe that Yom Teruah hasn't occurred yet is because of the above Scripture. We can tell when another month has occurred by the moon. Well how do we know it is time for a new season? By the sun and the equinox. According to the current Jewish calendar (I think it is Hillel II ) and Torahcalendar.com the month of Av/Nisan started prior to the spring equinox. The barley was aviv but the equinox had not come yet so some believe a 13th month should have been added. My only question I have about that relates to the ripening of the barley and if it could have stayed in the fields another month since it was already aviv. I don't know enough about it to ascertain the answer to that.

Email: GodIsLove5bc@gmail.com

I think you are on the right track GOC this is one of those baffling years with some claiming the calendar is off due to the equinox, others claiming the barley was not ripe and now you have explored a new facet of this puzzle by examining if the ripe barley was grown close enough to Jerusalem to be counted as ripe, the city God said would be used for His offerings. Yes the sun moon and stars govern years months seasons etc. but clearly the barley comes into play as God's "reset" button - that is to say if the lunar months get a bit out of whack as they seem to be this year, the barley help reset the clock so we know we are in the first month, the month of "Abib" meaning ripeness in Hebrew. So how can we be in the first month, the month of Abib, ripeness if the barley is not ripe? So yes biblically I believe barley must be considered because God instructs we cannot declare the month of Abib until the barley is Abib- the new moon means nothing until the barley is ripe. If the barley is not ripe, all the new moon declares is that there is a new, second month of Adar (Adar Bet) until the next moon cycle when the barley is certain to be ripe- much like if the new moon is not sighted on the first night it is expected, the second night by default becomes the Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the new month). And what does this have to do with the fall feasts and the seventh month - the bible doesn't address it specifically in scripture but logically how can one know when the seventh month is until one knows for certain when the first month began? God has truly played a wild card this year and can easily confound His most insightful watchers- truly no man knows for certain the day or hour, but we are not in darkness and are called to know when we are in the "season". This very discussion shows that the season may have not arrived yet, and as is our duty to do we are attempting to discern and are diligently watching for it.

From what I have read the issue of where the barley is ripe is what we are talking about. Some of the "early" barley at warmer elevations might have been too ripe if the extra month was added but then the barley near Jerusalem might not have been ripe enough without the extra month.

Even in the Karaite community this has become a point of contention. Currently one of their flock is leaning heavily toward "xianity" as they put it and they call into question his writings on this subject. Let's pray to strengthen his faith in the true messiah and to open their eyes.

This article may interest you:
http://www.abibofgod.com/6.html

N. G. was a co-founder of the kariate movement so obviously his relationship with M. Rood and other Christians, his co-authorship of A Prayer to our Father with a Pastor based on the Lords Prayer has them all worked up and questioning him. They are worried he is leaving their faith. May Abba continue to work on him and open his eyes to the truth of our Messiah. 

Email: GodIsLove5bc@gmail.com

Yes from Brian's letter I quote and highlight:

"The Abib Calendar rules have been established by Him. They are seen in the heavens and on the earth. Under those established rules the priest at the temple in Jerusalem would not be able to go outside and cut a wave sheaf of grain for an offering the end of the Sabbath which would meet the minimum acceptable standard of Leviticus 2:14 each year. IF ONE DOES NOT AGREE WITH THIS SIMPLE FACT AND TRUTH THEY WOULD BE BETTER SERVED KEEPING A START OF THE YEAR SOMETIME IN APRIL AS DO MANY WHO KEEP A NON-RABBINICAL CALENDAR DO. That would accommodate a doctrinal belief of the priest going outside the Temple each year to cut the wave sheaf offering."

It's hard to tell from his statement whether he's for it or against it but I don't think God would have told the temple priest to prepare a grain offering and then God make it impossible for him to do so. It is my "doctrinal belief" that God is fair.

The Lord has many crops He's watching mature. Some are already ripened, some are just about ready for harvesting and then there's the later crops. Perhaps also we are waiting for the almost ripened to be just right for harvesting. Then comes the question of whether we are the wheat, the barley or the grapes. Or maybe He wants to harvest all at the same time. I still feel it's very possible this is a number He's waiting on to be ready. Not a time but the moon seems to indicate a Harvest moon is needed from God's perspective. Only He will know when the time is right. The Head Harvester knows best the timing.

So in this case , what GOC has said makes a great deal of sense as we look at this other calendar. The Lord has many Harvesters in Heaven but on earth not so many. Some are full time Harvesters and some are part time Harvesters. It's reassuring that the Harvesters will know when the time is right. Some crops like grapes are better harvested out of the heat of the sun; at night. The harsh sunlight can bruise them.

What I'm saying is that there are many factors to take in and He won't want to come a minute too soon or a minute too late. The extra month makes sense from this perspective.... just a wee bit more time is needed to get more of the crop harvested. While we may be ready, some others may need a wee bit more time yet. In any case, we'll be glad in the end we waited until all was just right for the Harvesting from His perspective.

Email: victorychanter@raptureintheairnow.com

Website: Rapture In the Air Now

I notice that 2014 shall have two Adar.I have attached the Jewish calendar for 2014 from hebcal.com.

http://www.hebcal.com/hebcal/?year=2014&month=x&yt=G&v=1&nh=on&nx=on&mf=on&ss=on&i=off&lg=s&vis=on&d=on&c=off&geo=zip

When we add a extra month in 2013,that will push 2014 Passover to May 15,and Rosh Hashana 2014 to October 25.And Sukkot shall take place on November 9.

It seems a bit odd to have Passover on mid May and Rosh Hashana on late October because traditional Passover always fall on March/April,and Rosh Hashana always on Sept/Oct,but not on late October.

Should we change 2014 Jewish calendar by not adding an extra Adar to it,so that Passover and Rosh Hashana can fall on the normal dates?

When it is the case,if we can change every Jewish year calendar according to our opinion,then what is it there for the Jews to follow and plan things ahead based on the unknown of Abib each year?

I think we should just leave things the way they are.

2nd coming my suspicion is that the second month of Adar was needed this year, and will not be needed next year. What if the barley is ripe next year after the month of Adar is over? Do we declare a second Adar in opposition to the instructions in God's word merely because it is more convenient for us to do so? The current Hillel calendar is just based on an average and was useful while Israel was not occupied with Torah observant Jews- but it still is a man made calendar. Although God's method of calculation is less convenient and quite often frustrating I would rather leave it in His hands. All of this is probably a moot point anyway because I don't think we will be here next Adar/Abib to worry about it (hopefully!) :)