Sighting the New Moon?

[Shulamyah]

Shalom Aleichem,

I have a question and it is one that as cause many arguements.
Why do we sight the new moon? My understanding is that you really can't see a new moon and when you see a sliver it is the actual begining of the second day. So if you call that the new moon you are a day behind. It would seem to me to be more of a calculation.
If you study the two set-apart days that fall on the fifteenth day after the new moon, Pesach and Sukkoth. If we waited to see a sliver we would be off a day. The full moon would have occured the day before.
Can someone please show me in scripture where "sighting the new moon" is our way of calculating our times?

Shalom
Shulamyah Zaza

[Jody]

Shalom, This past Saturn-day was the final Sabbath of the 6th month making that month 29 days long. The following day was Yom Teruah, the day of Blowing!! The first visible cresent was sighted in Y'rusalyim Sun-day sunset, beginning the 7th month of YHVH's Scriptural calendar.