What the Jews living in lands (like Egypt, Rome) do about knowing the time of Rosh Chodesh, since the flames/torches were all pointed in the direction of Bavel ?
M. Kaplan
Dear Dr. Kaplan,
The answer to your question is that they did their best to find out when Rosh Chodesh was declared in the same way that Jews living in Montana try their best to get kosher meat.
Jews living in New York almost have it handed to them on a silver platter. In Montana you have to work a bit harder. That is the well known reality of Jewish communities - the bigger the community, the more Jewish ammenities.
Bavel probably contained about ninety percent of the Jews living outside of Eretz Yisrael. Therefore, the whole system of supplying Jewish services to the Golah was geared toward Bavel. Perhaps in the west the Jews set up their own courier system - an ancient pony express - that we know nothing about today. But the official system of the torches was reserved for the Jews of Bavel.
b'Yedidus,
Yonasan Sigler
This is not a Psak Halachah
what is your source for this, are you just guessing that they used a courier system, how did the couriers get across the Mediterranean? i think you are making assumptions because no one knows the answer to the question of how they knew when rosh chodesh was outside bavel.
Jeffrey
My courier idea was pure speculation (as I wrote: "Perhaps...").
Warmly,
Yonasan Sigler