INTRODUCTION
HaShem's calendar is the basis for the celebration of Rosh Chodesh (the new moon) and all of the moedim (festivals). This calendar is derived by astronomical observation and careful calculation. This ability to build a calendar is considered important and necessary, in the oral law:
Shabbath 75a ... he who is able to calculate the cycles[1] and planetary courses but does not, one may
hold no conversation with him.[2]
As it exists today, the Biblical, or Hebrew,
calendar is a lunar solar calendar that is based on calculation rather than
observation. This calendar is the official calendar of
The dictionary defines a "calendar" as:
cal en dar (kal n d r) n. [[ME calender < L kalendarium , account book < kalendae , CALENDS]] 1 a system of determining the beginning, length, and divisions of a year and for arranging the year into days, weeks, and months 2 a table or chart that shows such an arrangement, usually for a single year 3 a list or schedule, as of pending court cases, bills coming before a legislature, planned social events, etc. adj. such as that appearing on certain popular, conventional calendars [calendar art, a calendar girl] vt. to enter in a calendar; specif., to schedule ca len dri cal (k len dri k l) or ca len dric (-drik ) adj. [3]
In the encyclopedia we find the following enigmatic statement:
"CALENDAR. People have kept track of the days by the march of daylight and darkness and of the changing seasons in order to know when to plant crops and to get ready for winter. Sometimes they kept the record by notching a stick or knotting a cord once every day. They also watched the changing positions of the sun and stars, the changes of the moon, and the habits of plants and animals. The making of an exact calendar, however, has perplexed mankind for ages because the divisions of time by days, weeks, months, and years do not seem to fit together properly.[4]"
The perplexity men have regarding the calendar is primarily due to a lack of attention to God's word and the oral law. Anyone who has ever desired to observe HaShem's festivals, His moedim, His appointed times, has encountered HaShem's calendar. The scriptures are replete with references to various calendar references. There are the "Rosh Chodeshim", the new moons, the Sabbath, as well as the festivals. In addition to particular days, HaShem's calendar includes months and years. All of these are introduced in:
Genesis 1:14-19 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, And let them be lights in the expanse of
the sky to give light on the earth." And it was
so. God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the
lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the
expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, To govern the day and the night,
and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there
was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day.
When HaShem introduces His calendar, He does so by creating the astronomical bodies which will mark off the various seasons, days, and years. HaShem's calendar is completely defined by the sun and the moon. This is in stark contrast to the Gregorian calendar which does not tie it's days or months, to either the sun or the moon. In the Gregorian calendar, the days are arbitrarily set to start and end at midnight. This makes it impossible to determine when one day ends, and another day begins, by observation. You must rely on a man made timekeeping device. The Gregorian calendar creates the same problem with months. The Gregorian months are totally arbitrary and have no connection with the sun or the moon. Without a "paper calendar" one can not tell where one month starts and another begins. The months have no intrinsic connection to the sun or the moon, or any other astronomical body.
The Gregorian calendar is a modified version of the Julian calendar. The only difference being the specification of leap years. The Julian calendar specifies that every year that is a multiple of 4 will be a leap year. This leads to a year that is 365.25 days long, but the current accepted value for the tropical year is 365.242199 days. To correct this error in the length of the year and to bring the vernal equinox back to March 21, Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull declaring that Thursday October 4, 1582 would be followed by Friday October 15, 1582 and that centennial years would only be a leap year if they were a multiple of 400. This shortened the year by 3 days per 400 years, giving a year of 365.2425 days.
The following chart gives some insights into the Biblical / Hebrew and the Gregorian calendars:
Months of the Year -
Gregorian / Western Calendar
January 31 days; from Roman republican calendar month Januarius,
named for Janus, god of beginnings and doorways.
February 28 days usually, 29 in leap year; from Roman republican
calendar month Februarius, named for Februa, the feast of purification held on
the 15th.
March 31 days; from Roman republican calendar month Martius, named for the god Mars.
April 30 days; from Roman republican calendar month Aprilis. The Romans considered the
month sacred to the goddess Venus, and its name may derive from that of her
Greek equivalent, Aphrodite.
May 31 days; from Roman republican calendar month Maius, probably named for the
goddess Maia.
June 30 days; from Roman republican calendar month Junius, probably named for the
goddess Juno.
July 31 days; from Roman republican calendar month Julius, named for Julius Caesar in
44 BC.
August 31 days; from Roman republican calendar month Augustus, named for the emperor
Augustus in 8 BC.
September 30 days; seventh month of early Roman republican
calendar, from Latin septem, or seven.
October 31 days; eighth month of early Roman republican calendar, from Latin octo, or
eight.
November 30 days; ninth month of early Roman republican calendar,
from Latin nove, or nine.
December 31 days; tenth month of early Roman republican calendar,
from Latin decem, or ten.
Months of the Year -
Biblical / Jewish Calendar
Tishri (Ethanim) 30 days; Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur fall during this month; regarded as birth
month of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
mazzaroth is the scales, symbolizing the weighing
of one's deeds between Rosh Hashanah, the new year
and Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Atonement. The tribe associated with this month is Dan.
Heshvan (Bul) 29 or 30 days; mazzaroth is the
scorpion. The tribe associated with this month is Naphtali.
Kislev 29 or 30 days; Chanukah begins on
25th day; mazzaroth is the bow. The tribe associated with this month is Gad.
Tevet 29 days; fast of Tevet on 10th day; mazzaroth is the
goat. The tribe associated with this month is Asher.
Shevat 30 days; new year for trees, or arbor day, on 15th
day; mazzaroth is the water bearer. The tribe associated with this month is Yoseph.
Adar 29 or 30 days; birth and death of Moses on 7th day; fast of Esther on 13th day; Purim on
14th day; mazzaroth is the fish. The tribe
associated with this month is Benjamin.
Nisan (Aviv) 30 days; Passover begins on
the 15th day; entire month regarded as a prolonged festival
and a blessed month in which to die; no public mourning
is permitted; mazzaroth is the ram. The tribe associated with this month is
Reuben.
Iyar (Zif) 29 days; Israeli Independence Day on 5th; no marriages may be celebrated by the Orthodox until after
17th day; mazzaroth is the bull. The tribe associated with this month is
Shimon.
Sivan 30 days; Hag Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, starts on
6th day; mazzaroth is the twins. The tribe associated with this month is Levi.
Tammuz 29 days; fast of Tammuz on 17th day,
commemorating the first breach in the walls of Jerusalem
and the breaking of the tablets of the Torah; mazzaroth is the crab. The tribe
associated with this month is
Av 30 days; fast of Av on the 9th day; mazzaroth is the
lion. The tribe associated with this month is Issachar.
Elul 29 days; month is devoted to penitence and spiritual preparation for Day of
Judgment; mazzaroth is the virgin. The tribe associated with this month is
Zebulon.
The names of the Jewish
months are actually Babylonian and were brought back to
BIBLICAL CALENDAR BACKGROUND[5]
The Jewish calendar, defined by God's method, is not like the Gregorian calendar. The Biblical calendar uses the sun and the moon to define days, months, and years. This calendar does not start on an arbitrary date determined by some great personality like Caesar or Yeshua, but rather it starts at the creation of the world. This starting point has several obvious advantages:
A. The calendar does not need to be changed with the coming of another man. This avoids a considerable amount of disruption.
B. The calendar starts at the "beginning" of the world, which is the first time that there is any need or reference for a calendar.
C. All of man's beginnings, will coincide with HaShem's beginnings, and the astronomical beginnings.
D. The year contains a running total of the age of creation, preserved for future generations.
The Biblical calendar
shows that the world was created in what is 3762 BC on the Gregorian calendar
(The Gregorian calendar will not be invented for thousands of years, though).
The years, on the Biblical calendar, are designated "AM" for anno mundi, which is Latin for
"year of the world". This system starts its count from the creation
of the world. There is, therefore, no designation of BC or AD as there is in
the Gregorian calendar.
The Biblical calendar is
tied to both the lunar month and the solar year. The lunar cycle is used to
derive months, and the lunar cycle is adjusted, via intercalation, to keep
synchronized with the solar year. There are two beginnings to the Jewish
calendar year, Nisan and Tishrei - reflecting the dual nature of the Jewish
calendar - lunar and solar, respectively. Nisan is the month of the Exodus from
Because the solar year
exceeds twelve lunar months by about eleven days, a 13th month of 30 days is intercalated, or
inserted, seven times in each 19-year cycle. Other adjustments to the calendar
are required periodically to make sure that the festival of Passover follows the first day of Spring.[6]
The problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar loses about 11 days every year and a 13-month lunar gains about 19 days every year. The months on such a calendar "drift" relative to the solar year. On a 12 month calendar, the month of Nisan, which is supposed to occur in the Spring, occurs 11 days earlier each year, eventually occurring in the Winter, the Fall, the Summer, and then the Spring again. To compensate for this drift, an extra month was added, or intercalated: a second month of Adar. The intercalated Adar II, is added seven out of nineteen years. The month of Nisan would occur 11 days earlier for two or three years, and then would jump forward 29 or 30 days, balancing out the drift.
The Biblical year harmonizes the solar and lunar cycle, using the 19-year cycle of Meton (c. 432 B.C.E.) Meton discovered that after nineteen years the years reckoned using the sun and the moon get back into synch (almost.) It corrects so that certain dates should not fall on certain days for religious convenience. The Jewish year has six possible lengths: 353, 354, 355, 383, 384, 385 days, according to the day and time of the new year lunation, and position in the Metonic cycle. Time figures from 6 p.m. the previous night. The lunation of year 1 is calculated to be on a Monday (our Sunday night) at 11:11:20 p.m. The world began with a hypothetical year 0, corresponding to 3762 B.C.E. Calculations for the calendar are figured in the ancient Babylonian unit of halaqim "parts" of the hour = 1/1080 hour.
According to Jewish tradition, the year 1 of the Biblical calendar was the time of tohu and bohu, "formless and void", referred to in Genesis 1:1. Nothing was yet created, and only a virtual clock started to tick on the first day of that year, heard, as it were, only by the Creator. On the first day of the week (Sunday) the twenty-fourth day of Elul, corresponding to August 22, 3760 AM. He said: Let there be light! And creation began. It concluded by the following Sabbath (Saturday) which was the first day of Tishri, year 2.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:5-6 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as
Hashem my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are
entering to take possession of it. You shall guard and You shall do them, for
this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear
about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people."
"You shall guard and you shall do..." Rabbi Shmuel
bar Nahman said in the name of Rebbe Yonatan, from where do we know that it is
a mitzvah for each man to calculate the seasons and the months? It is written,
"You shall guard and you shall do, for it is evidence, in the eyes of the
nations, of the wisdom and understanding that has been given to you." What
is the wisdom and understanding that
Midrash
Rabbah - Esther IV:1 1. THEN THE KING SAID TO THE WISE MEN, WHO KNEW THE TIMES (1, 13). Who were these? R. Simon
said: These were the tribe of Issachar, as it says, And of the children of
Issachar, men that had understanding of the times, to
know what Israel ought to do (I Chronicles XII, 32). R. Tanhuma said: This
means, for fixing the calendar: R. Jose b. Kazrath said: For intercalation. (‘
To know what Israel ought to do’:
Divrei
Hayamim (I Chronicles) 12:23-38 These are the numbers of the men
armed for battle who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul's kingdom over to
him, as HaShem had said: Men of Judah, carrying shield and spear--6,800 armed
for battle; Men of Simeon, warriors ready for battle--7,100; Men of Levi--4,600,
Including Jehoiada, leader of the family of Aaron, with 3,700 men, And Zadok, a
brave young warrior, with 22 officers from his family; Men of Benjamin, Saul's
kinsmen--3,000, most of whom had remained loyal to Saul's house until then; Men
of Ephraim, brave warriors, famous in their own clans--20,800; Men of half the
tribe of Manasseh, designated by name to come and make David king--18,000; Men
of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do--200
chiefs, with all their relatives under their command; Men of Zebulun,
experienced soldiers prepared for battle with every type of weapon, to help
David with undivided loyalty-- 50,000; Men of Naphtali--1,000 officers,
together with 37,000 men carrying shields and spears; Men of Dan, ready for
battle--28,600; Men of Asher, experienced soldiers prepared for battle--40,000;
And from east of the Jordan, men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
armed with every type of weapon--120,000. All these were fighting men who
volunteered to serve in the ranks. They came to Hebron
fully determined to make David king over all
Midrash
Rabbah - Genesis VI:1 1. AND GOD SAID: LET THERE BE LIGHTS (I, 14). R.
Johanan began thus: Who appointest the moon for seasons (Ps. CIV, 19). R.
Johanan commented: The orb of the sun alone was created to give light. If so,
why was the moon created? ‘For seasons’: in order to sanctify new moons and
years thereby.[7] R.
Shila of Kefar Temarta[8] said in
R. Johanan's name: Yet even so, The sun knoweth its coming (ib.): from the sun
one knows its coming [sc. of the month], for we count the beginning of the
month only from sunset. Justa Habra[9] said in
R. Berekiah's name: And they journeyed Irom Rameses
in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first
month, etc. (Num. XXXIII, 3): but if you count by the moon, then so far
there were only thirteen sunsets?[10] Hence
it follows that we count not from the moon but from sunset.
Midrash Rabbah - Genesis VI:3 3. R.
Tanhum and R. Phinehas in R. Simon's name said: After calling them GREAT, He
actually casts a slur [on one by writing] THE GREAT LIGHT... AND THE SMALL
LIGHT (I, 16)! The reason is because it penetrated into its neighbour's
territory.[11] R.
Phinehas said: In respect of all other sacrifices it is written, And one
he-goat for a sin-offering,[12] whereas
in respect of New Moon it is written, And one
he-goat for a sin-offering for the Lord (Num. XXVIII,15): The Holy One, blessed
be He, said: ‘It was I who caused it to enter its neighbor's domain.’[13] Then if
that [sc. the moon] which entered with permission was thus disparaged by Holy
Writ, think how much more one is deserving of this who enters without
permission! R. Levi said in the name of R. Jose b. Lai: It is but natural that
the great should count by the great, and the small by the small. Esau[14] counts
[time] by the sun, which is large, and Jacob by the moon, which is small. Said
R. Nahman: That is a happy augury. Esau counts by the sun, which is large: just
as the sun rules by day but not by night, so does Esau enjoy this world, but
has nought in the World to Come. Jacob counts by the moon, which is small: just
as the moon rules by day and by night, so has Jacob a portion in this world and
in the World to Come. R. Nahman made another observation, thus: R. Nahman said:
As long as the light of the greater luminary functions, the light of the
smaller one is not noticeable, but when the light of the greater one sets, the
light of the smaller one becomes noticeable; even so, as long as the light of
Esau prevails, the light of Jacob cannot be distinguished; but when the light
of Esau sets, that of Jacob shall be distinguished, as it is written, Arise,
shine,... For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
peoples, but upon thee the Lord will arise, and His glory shall be seen upon
thee (Isaiah 60:1).
HISTORY
The Jewish calendar is primarily lunar, with each month beginning on the new moon, when the first sliver of moon becomes visible, after the dark of the moon. In ancient times, the new months used to be determined by observation. When people observed the new moon, they would notify the Sanhedrin. When the Sanhedrin heard testimony from two independent, reliable eyewitnesses that the new moon occurred on a certain date, they would declare the Rosh Chodesh (first of the month) and send out messengers to tell people when the month began.
With the decline of the Sanhedrin, calendrical matters were
decided by the Palestinian patriarchate (the official heads of the Jewish
community under Roman rule). Jewish persecution under Constantius II (reigned
337-361) and advances in Astronomical science led to the gradual replacement of
observation by calculation. According to Hai ben Sherira (died 1038)--the head
of a leading Talmudic academy in
In the fourth century, Hillel II established a fixed calendar based on mathematical and astronomical calculations. This calendar, still in use, standardized the length of months and the addition of months over the course of a 19 year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years. Adar II is added in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years of the cycle. The new year that began Thursday, October 2, 1997 AD (Jewish calendar year 5758 AM) was the first year of the cycle.
The year number on the Jewish calendar represents the number of years since creation, as calculated by adding up the ages of people in the Bible back to the time of creation. However, it is important to note that this date is not necessarily supposed to represent a scientific fact. There is some evidence to suggest that the AM years need to have 240 / 241 years added, to coincide with actuality. It is this authors opinion that the AM years were adjusted to preclude the Messiahship of Yeshua. Jews do not generally use the words "A.D." and "B.C." to refer to the years on the Gregorian calendar. "A.D." means "the year of our L-rd," and most Jews do not believe Yeshua is the L-rd. Instead, we use the abbreviations C.E. (Common or Christian Era) and B.C.E. (Before the Common Era).[16]
Months of the Jewish Year
The "first month" of the Jewish calendar is the month of Nisan, in the spring, when Passover occurs. However, the Jewish New Year is in Tishri, the seventh month, and that is when the year number is increased. This concept of different starting points for a year is not as strange as it might seem at first glance. The American "new year" starts in January, but the new "school year" starts in September, and many businesses have "fiscal years" that start at various times of the year. Similarly, the Jewish calendar has different starting points for different purposes.
The Biblical / Jewish calendar has the following months:
|
Month |
Length |
Gregorian Equivalent |
|
|
|
|
|
Nisan |
30 days |
March-April |
|
Iyar |
29 days |
April-May |
|
Sivan |
30 days |
May-June |
|
Tammuz |
29 days |
June-July |
|
Av |
30 days |
July-August |
|
Elul |
29 days |
August-September |
|
Tishri |
30 days |
September-October |
|
Heshvan |
29 or 30 days |
October-November |
|
Kislev |
30 or 29 days |
November-December |
|
Tevet |
29 days |
December-January |
|
Shevat |
30 days |
January-February |
|
Adar |
29 or 30 days |
February-March |
|
Adar II |
29 days |
March-April |
In leap years, Adar has 30 days. In non-leap years, Adar has 29 days.
The length of Heshvan and Kislev are determined by complex calculations involving the time of day of the full moon of the following year's Tishri and the day of the week that Tishri would occur in the following year.
Note that the number of days between Nisan and Tishri is always the same. Because of this, the time from the first major festival (Passover in Nisan) to the last major festival (Succoth in Tishri) is always the same.
The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar. Before I get into
the calculation, let me try to explain lunar calendars. Each month goes from
new moon to new moon. Between moladot (new moons) is (according to Hebrew
calendar) 29 days, 12 hours (abbreviated h) and 793 (of 1080) halekim (parts
abbreviated p). If one knows one new moon, they could find any other new moon
by adding or subtracting this interval. It also happens that every 19 solar
years corresponds to exactly 235 lunar months. This means you can devise a 19
lunar year cycle made up of 12 years of 12 lunar months and 7 years of 13 lunar
months that corresponds to an equivalent 19 solar years. The Hebrew calendar
has 13 month (leap) years in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years
of this cycle. In the Hebrew calendar the leap month is done by adding a second
Adar of 30 days.
Now if the Hebrew
calendar was based only on this, we could easily calculate one Rosh Hashanah to the next, and the months would
alternate 29 and 30 days. Things would be easy, but this is not the case. First
the extra 793 halokim ,parts, have to be balanced off. Also Rosh Hashanah must
be moved to prevent certain calendar facts from happening (like Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Atonement, from landing on
Friday or Sunday). These reasons mean a year can have 353, 354, 355 days in
non-leap-years, and 383, 384 and 385 in leap-years. To balance this off, in
short years (353 and 383 days) Kislev is shortened to 29 days and in long years
(355 and 385 days) Heshvan is lengthened to 30 days. Now before things get
really hopeless, there is a simple method here.
For any year, find the
day of the molad of Rosh Hashanah and apply the rules to get the real Rosh
Hashanah.
Do the same for the
following year.
Find the number of
days between to get the year length.
Use the table to find
out the adjustments.
|
Year
length |
leap
year |
Heshvan
length |
Kislev
length |
|
353 |
No |
29 |
29 |
|
354 |
No |
29 |
30 |
|
355 |
No |
30 |
30 |
|
383 |
Yes |
29 |
29 |
|
384 |
Yes |
29 |
30 |
|
385 |
Yes |
30 |
30 |
The inter-calculation
of the Gregorian and the Hebrew date is not that complex. The trick is not to
calculate one from the other, but to set some base date to calculate from. To
convert one to the other you first calculate the number of days from the base
date, and then calculate the other from that number of days.
In order for the Jewish calendar to operate accurately, two factors have to be taken into account. Firstly, the Torah commands: 'Shamor Et Chodesh Ha'aviv..' 'Observe the month of Aviv..':
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the
Passover of HaShem your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of
Aviv, which is the first of the year, and today is called Nisan, is the month in which the festival of Pesach (Passover) occurs and since the word Aviv also means "Spring" we learn that Pesach must always fall in the Spring. In order to achieve this, the position of the sun has to be known in order to calculate the seasons. Secondly, the Mitzvah 'Uverashei Chodsheichem Takrivu Ola..' 'On your New Moons you shall offer..etc':
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:11 "'On the first of every month, present
to HaShem a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a
year old, all without defect.
This shows that the months have to calculated according to the position of the moon. Hence we have a LUNAR SOLAR system, one that is determined by both the sun and the moon.
The Bible generally designates the months by number, 'First Month, Fifth Month, etc. However, there are four months actually named in the Bible, so it is probable that, originally, they all had designated names. The four we know are:
|
Aviv |
The 1st month (Deuteronomy 16.1) |
|
Ziv |
The second month (1 Kings 6:1) |
|
Bul |
The 8th month (1 Kings 6:38) |
|
Ethnaim |
The 7th month (1 Kings 8:2) |
The Palestinian Talmud states that the names of the months, as we know them today, were adopted at the time of the Babylonian exile.
THE FOUR NEW YEARS
The Mishna, in Tractate Rosh Hashanah, discusses four 'New Years.' They are:
1st Tishri
1st Nisan
1st Elul
15th Shevat.
1st Tishrei; The new year for years: Simply the birthday of the world.
1st Nisan: The New Year for Kings: Whenever a new king came to the throne, the beginning of his reign was dated from Nisan 1st, irrespective of when he really started to reign.
1st Elul; The New Year for Animals: The beginning of the tax year for tithing animals
15th Shevat; The New Year for Trees: The beginning of the tax year for tithing produce
How the Months were determined
In the Torah, The first day of the new month, known as Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon), is placed on par with festivals. The silver trumpets were blown in the Temple, shofars were blown throughout the land, and special Additional Sacrifices were offered. We can see from the Tanach how important this day was. From the book of Samuel, we see that they had a festive meal, from the book of Amos, we see that no business was done and from the book of Kings, we see that people went to visit the prophets, on this day.
The exact day of the new month was determined by observation of the moon and by seeing when the new crescent actually appeared...
On the 30th of each month the members of the High Court, the
Sanhedrin, assembled in a particular courtyard in Jerusalem (Beit Ya'azek) and
waited to receive testimony from two reliable witnesses. If they came, then the
moon was sanctified. It was considered a very great Mitzvah to come to
Rosh
Hashanah 23b MISHNAH. THERE WAS A LARGE COURT IN JERUSALEM
CALLED BETH YA'AZEK. THERE ALL THE WITNESSES USED TO ASSEMBLE AND THE BETH DIN
USED TO EXAMINE THEM. THEY USED TO ENTERTAIN THEM LAVISHLY THERE[17] SO THAT
THEY SHOULD HAVE AN INDUCEMENT[18] TO
COME. ORIGINALLY THEY USED NOT TO LEAVE THE PLACE THE WHOLE DAY,[19] BUT
RABBAN GAMALIEL THE ELDER INTRODUCED A RULE THAT THEY COULD GO TWO THOUSAND
CUBITS FROM IT IN ANY DIRECTION. THESE WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES [TO WHOM THIS
CONCESSION WAS MADE]. A MIDWIFE WHO HAS COME [FROM A DISTANCE] TO HELP IN
CHILDBIRTH OR ONE WHO COMES TO RESCUE FROM A FIRE OR FROM BANDITS OR FROM A
RIVER IN FLOOD OR FROM A BUILDING THAT HAS FALLEN IN — ALL THESE ARE ON THE
SAME FOOTING AS THE RESIDENTS OF THE TOWN, AND MAY GO TWO THOUSAND CUBITS [ON
SABBATH] IN ANY DIRECTION.
GEMARA. The question was raised: Do we read here
Beth Ya'azek or Beth Ya'zek? Do we read Beth Ya'azek, regarding the name as an
elegantia[20] based
on the Scriptural expressions, And he ringed it round and cleared it of stones?[21] Or do
we read Beth Ya'zek, taking the name to connote constraint,[22] as it
is written, being bound in chains?[23] — Abaye
said: Come and hear [a proof that it is the former]: THEY USED TO ENTERTAIN
THEM LAVISHLY THERE SO THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE AN INDUCEMENT TO COME. [This is
not conclusive], as perhaps they treated them in both ways.[24]
MISHNAH. HOW DO THEY TEST THE WITNESSES? THE PAIR
WHO ARRIVE FIRST ARE TESTED FIRST. THE SENIOR OF THEM IS BROUGHT IN AND THEY
SAY TO HIM, TELL US HOW YOU SAW THE MOON — IN FRONT OF THE SUN OR BEHIND THE
SUN?[25] TO THE
NORTH OF IT OR THE SOUTH? HOW BIG WAS IT, AND IN WHICH DIRECTION WAS IT
INCLINED?[26] AND HOW
BROAD WAS IT? IF HE SAYS [HE SAW IT] IN FRONT OF THE SUN, HIS EVIDENCE IS
REJECTED.[27] AFTER
THAT THEY WOULD BRING IN THE SECOND AND TEST HIM. IF THEIR ACCOUNTS TALLIED,
THEIR EVIDENCE WAS ACCEPTED, AND THE OTHER PAIRS WERE ONLY QUESTIONED BRIEFLY,[28] NOT
BECAUSE THEY WERE REQUIRED AT ALL, BUT SO THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE DISAPPOINTED,
[AND] SO THAT THEY SHOULD NOT BE DISSUADED FROM COMING.[29]
GEMARA.
‘IN FRONT OF THE SUN’ is surely the same as ‘TO THE NORTH OF IT’, and ‘BEHIND
THE SUN’ is surely the same as TO THE SOUTH OF IT’?[30] — Abaye
said: [It means], whether the concavity of the moon is in front of the sun or
behind the sun.[31] If he
says, in front of the sun, his evidence is rejected, since R. Johanan has said:
What is meant by the verse, Dominion and fear are with him, He makes peace in
his high places?[32] Never
did the sun behold the concavity of the new moon nor the concavity of the
rainbow. It never sees the concavity of the moon, so that she should not feel
humiliated.[33] It
never sees the concavity of the rainbow so that the worshippers of the sun
should not say, He is shooting arrows [at those who do not worship him].[34]
Rosh
Hashanah 24a HOW HIGH WAS IT AND IN WHICH DIRECTION WAS IT
INCLINED. One Tanna taught: [If he says], To the north, his evidence is
accepted; [if he says], To the south, his evidence is rejected.[35] But it
has been taught to the opposite effect: ‘[If he says], To the south, his
evidence is accepted; [if he says], To the north, his evidence is rejected’? —
There is no contradiction; one statement speaks of the dry season,[36] the
other of the rainy season.[37]
The Rabbis taught: If one[38] says
that it was two ox-loads high and the other three,[39] their
evidence is accepted. If one, however, says that it was three and the other
five, their evidence is nullified, only each of them can be joined with another
witness.[40]
Our Rabbis taught: ‘[If they say], We saw it in
water, we saw it in a mirror, we saw it through the clouds, they are not
allowed to testify concerning it. [If they say], We saw half of it in water,
half of it through the clouds, half of it in a mirror, they are not allowed to
testify concerning it’. Since you disallow them [when they see] the whole, can
there be any question [when they see] only half? — In fact the statement should
run as follows: ‘[If they say they saw] half of it in water and half in the
sky, half of it through the clouds and half in the sky, half of it in a mirror
and half in the sky, they are not allowed to testify.’
Our Rabbis taught: [If they say], We saw it
[once], but did not see it again, they are not allowed to testify concerning
it. [Why so?] Are they to go on seeing it the whole time? — Abaye replied: What
is meant is this. [If they say], We saw it by chance,[41] but
when we came to look for it deliberately[42] we
could not see it, they are not allowed to testify concerning it. What is the
reason? Because I might say, they saw only a circular disc in the clouds.
MISHNAH. THE HEAD OF THE BETH DIN SAYS,
SANCTIFIED’, AND ALL THE PEOPLE REPEAT AFTER HIM, SANCTIFIED, SANCTIFIED.
WHETHER THE NEW MOON IS SEEN AT ITS PROPER TIME[43] OR NOT
AT ITS PROPER TIME, IN EITHER CASE [THE NEW MOON] IS SANCTIFIED.[44] R.
ELEAZAR B. ZADOK, HOWEVER, SAYS THAT IF IT IS NOT SEEN AS ITS PROPER TIME [THE
NEW MOON] IS NOT [FORMALLY] SANCTIFIED, BECAUSE HEAVEN HAS ALREADY SANCTIFIED
IT.
GEMARA. THE HEAD OF THE BETH DIN etc. What is the
Scriptural warrant for this? — R. Hiyya b. Gamda said in the name of R. Jose b.
Saul, who had it from Rabbi: The Scripture says, And Moses declared the
appointed seasons of the Lord;[45] from
this we learn that the head of the Beth din says, ‘sanctified’.
AND ALL THE PEOPLE REPEAT AFTER HIM, ‘SANCTIFIED,
SANCTIFIED’. Whence do we learn this? — R. Papa said: Scripture says, which ye
shall proclaim [them].[46] [For
otham] read attem.[47] R.
Nahman b. Isaac said, [we learn it from here]: Even these [hem] are my
appointed seasons;[48] [which
implies], they shall say, my seasons.[49]
SANCTIFIED, SANCTIFIED: why twice? — Because it
is written, holy convocations.[50]
R. ELEAZAR B. ZADOK SAYS THAT IF IT IS NOT SEEN
AT ITS PROPER TIME IT IS NOT SANCTIFIED. It has been taught: Polemo says: If
seen at its time is is not sanctified,[51] if seen
out of its time it is sanctified. R. Eleazar b. Simeon says: in either case it
is not sanctified, since it says, And ye shall sanctify the fiftieth year,[52] which
shows that you are to sanctify years, but are not to sanctify months.
Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: The
halachah is as laid down by R. Eleazar b. Zadok. Abaye said: We have also
learnt to the same effect: ‘If the Beth din and all Israel saw it,[53] and if
the witnesses had been tested, but they had no time to say ‘sanctified’ before
it grew dark, the month is prolonged’, which implies that it is prolonged[54] but
that [the new month] is not sanctified [later in the day]. [This is not
conclusive, since] there was a special reason for mentioning the prolonging.
You might think that since the Beth din and all Israel saw it [the new moon]
everyone knew that it had appeared and therefore the month should not be
prolonged. Therefore we are told [that this is not so].
MISHNAH. R. GAMALIEL USED TO HAVE A DIAGRAM OF
PHASES OF THE MOON ON A TABLET [HUNG] ON THE WALL OF HIS UPPER CHAMBER, AND HE
USED TO SHOW THEM TO THE UNLEARNED AND SAY, DID IT LOOK LIKE THIS OR THIS?
GEMARA. Is this allowed, seeing that it is
written, Ye shall not make with me,[55] which
we interpret, ‘Ye shall not make the likeness of my attendants’? — Abaye
replied: The Torah forbade only those attendants of which it is possible to
make copies,[56] as it
has been taught: A man may not make a house in the form of the Temple, or an
exedra in the form of the Temple hall,[57] or a
court corresponding to the Temple court, or a table corresponding to the
[sacred] table or a candlestick corresponding to the [sacred] candlestick, but
he may make one with five or six or eight lamps, but with seven he should not
make, even of other metals.[58]
During the period of the
Sanhedrin, a committee of the Sanhedrin met to evaluate reports of sightings of
the lunar crescent. If sightings were not possible, the new month was begun 30
days after the beginning of the previous month.
Much later, under the patriarchate of Rabbi
Jews living far off always celebrated the 30th day as Rosh Chodesh and if the messengers didn't arrive in time, or if they were informed that it was postponed to the 31st day, they celebrated that as well.
There was a special committee of the Sanhedrin which was charged with the responsibility of deciding whether it was necessary or not to intercalate that year. This committee was called the Sod Haibbur, the calendar council, and they calculated the beginnings of the seasons (Tekufot) on the basis of information which had been handed down to them by tradition. They considered the matter regularly and reviewed the weather conditions to determine whether an extra month was going to be required to ensure that Passover fell in the spring.
The Talmud explains that they intercalated the year when the barley in the fields was not yet ripened, when the fruit on the trees was not yet properly grown, when the winter rains had not yet stopped, when the roads for the Passover pilgrims had not dried up and when the young pigeons had not yet become fledged.
Rosh HaShana 7a ‘For leap years’. Do we reckon [a New Year] for leap years from Nisan?[59] Has it not been taught: ‘A leap year is not
decreed[60] before New Year,[61] and if such a decree is issued it is not
effective. In cases of emergency,[62] however, the decree may be issued
immediately after New Year, and even so the intercalary month must be [the
second] Adar’![63] — R. Nahman b. Isaac replied: What is meant
here by ‘leap years’? The closing of a leap year, as we have learnt: ‘They
testified that the year may be declared a leap year throughout the whole of
Adar, since others asserted that this could be done only until Purim.’[64] What was the reason of those who held that
this could be done only until Purim? — Since a Master has stated that
‘inquiries are made regarding the laws of Passover for thirty days before
Passover,[65] People might be led into neglecting the
rules of leaven.[66] What says the other to this? — He says that
people know that a leap year depends on calculation, and they say to themselves
that the Rabbis have only now got the calculation right.[67]
Under the patriarch Hillel II (330 - 365) the rules to intercalate the year were published. The most important of which states; "Whenever it becomes apparent that winter will last until 16th Nisan, make this a leap year without hesitation."
As had happened in the
past the Romans decreed that the Jews were not to celebrate the New Moon or
announce it. So Hillel the Younger established a fixed calendar so the people
would know when to celebrate the festivals.
In our times we go
according to Hillel the Younger, the last representative of the national court
(the Sanhedrin), who fixed the calendar for the times of the Galut, around A.M.
4119 (359 C.E), and in each cycle of nineteen years there are seven such leap
years of thirteen months, always the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh,
fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth.
The Babylonian exile, in
the first half of the sixth century B.C.E., greatly influenced the Hebrew
calendar. This is visible today in the names of the months.
A CLOCK WHICH IS OUT OF THIS WORLD[68]
The Cesium and Rubidium
atom clocks at the U.S. Naval Observatory Time Center are accurate to one
second in 300,000 years. But three thousand years ago, Moses, had no such
time-piece. However, somehow Moshe knew the exact length of the lunar month -
29.53059 days - an accuracy which was literally out of this world! In the
reference work Astronomy and Astrophysics[69] the precise length of the lunar month is listed
as 29.530589 days! How did Moses have a figure so accurate that it took science
three thousand years to come to the same number? That number was given to Moses
by Hashem and was passed down from Moses to Hillel the Younger, the last prince
of the House of David. When Hillel the Younger sanctified all the new moons
from his day until the final redemption, he had to know the exact length of the
lunar month to within a fraction of a second, for even a small error would,
over millennia, amount to a visible error. This was in fact the case with the
calendar of Julius Caesar, which by the year 1582 had wandered so far that Pope
Gregory XIII erased 10 days from the calendar, with the result that the day
after the 4th October 1582 was called the 16th October! There have been
approximately 41,000 new moons since the time of Moses, but from Mount Sinai
onward, the secret of the exact length of the lunar month has always been known
to the Jewish People, because Moshe Rabbeinu had a clock that was literally
'out of this world'...
In 358 C.E (4118 AM), Hillel the Younger (330-365 C.E), established a fixed calendar based on mathematical and astronomical calculations. This calendar, still in use, standardized the length of months and the addition of months over the course of a 19 year cycle, so that the lunar calendar realigns with the solar years.
Up till the time of Hillel the Younger, the date of the festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, Succoth and Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah - The Feast of Trumpets) were established via testimony based on the sighting of the new moon. The new month was declared in Jerusalem, and it would take many days for the news to reach the furthest outposts of Jewish settlement. Those outlying communities would observe two days of Pesach and Succoth etc., and thus they would be sure of observing the festival on the correct day, no matter which day had been sanctified in Jerusalem as the new moon.
Until the era of the two great Talmudic sages Abaye and Rava, the months were still established by sighting. However, from their time onward, the date of the New Moon was established by calculations alone. These computations were given to Moses at Sinai, and provided for the fixing of the beginning of each month throughout the possible span of world history. Thus all the lengths of all future months in exile were now fixed.
The Talmud gives us some insight into this new, fixed calendar:
Beitzah 4b R. Zera said: Logic supports R. Assi; for we are now well acquainted
with the fixing of the new moon and, nevertheless, we do observe two days.[70] Abaye said: Logic supports Rab; for we have
learnt: In early times they used to light bonfires,[71] but on account of the mischief of the
Samaritans[72] the Rabbis ordained that messengers should
go forth.[73] Now if the [mischief of the] Samaritans
ceased[74] we would [all] observe only one day; and
[even during the Samaritan mischief] wherever the messengers arrived[75] they observed [only] one day.[76] But now that we are well acquainted with
the fixing of the new moon,[77] why do we observe two days? — Because they
sent [word] from there [Palestine]:[78] Give heed to the customs of your ancestors
which have come down to you; for it might happen that the government might
issue a decree[79] and it will cause confusion [in ritual].
Pesachim
52a R. Safra said to R. Abba:[80] For
instance I,[81] who
know [the art] of fixing the New Moon,[82] in
inhabited places I do not work,[83] because
it is a change [which would lead to] strife. [But] how is it in the wilderness?
— Said he to him, Thus did R. Ammi say: In inhabited regions it is forbidden;
in the desert it is permitted. R. Nathan b. Asia went from Rab's academy [in
Sura][84] to
Pumbeditha on the second Festival day of Pentecost, [whereupon] R. Joseph put
him under the ban. Said Abaye to him, Yet let the master punish him with
lashes? — Said he to him, I have treated him more severely, for in the West
[sc. Palestine] they take a vote for punishing a disciple with lashes, yet they
do not take a vote on the ban.[85] Others
say, R. Joseph had him lashed. Said Abaye to him, Yet let the Master ban him,
for Rab and Samuel both said: We impose the ban for [the violation of] the two
Festival days of the Diaspora? — Said he to him, That refers only to an
ordinary person, but here it is a scholar, so I did what was better for him,
for in the West they take a vote for punishing a disciple with lashes, yet they
do not take a vote on the ban.
TIME[86]
Minutes and seconds do not correspond to any
natural cycle as hours, days, months and years do. They are simply divisions of
the day. We are used to saying that a day is a period of twenty-four hours, an
hour sixty minutes, and a minute sixty seconds. Actually it is the other way
around. The definition of an hour is one twenty-fourth of a day. We know how
long a day is from the rising and setting of the sun. It is that cycle that
defines a day. We divide that period into twenty-four equal parts and call each
one an hour. These units - hours - are useful in referring to smaller periods
of time. Instead of saying, "I slept for one third of a day", we say,
"I slept for eight hours". Instead of saying, "I'll meet you
here in one twelfth of a day", we say, "I'll meet you here in two
hours". They are also useful in referring to different parts of the day.
2:00 PM, 5:00 PM, and 11:00 AM are more accurate than earlier afternoon, late
afternoon, and late morning. In the next section we shall see how to use
astronomy to determine the hour, day, month, and year.
In the same way we divide each hour into sixty
equal parts and call them minutes. It is more convenient to say ten minutes
than one sixth of an hour. A minute is defined as one
sixtieth of an hour, not the other way around. So it is clear that a minute
is not defined as sixty seconds, rather that the definition of a second is one
sixtieth of a minute.
To sum up, the definition of a day is one
complete cycle of setting, rising, and setting of the sun. It is not defined by
time on a clock or any other device. It is defined only by the sun. The Torah
teaches us this also in its reference to days in the verse quoted at the
beginning of the chapter. Based on this unit, the day, we define several new
units:
|
A |
week |
equals 7 days |
|
An |
hour |
equals 1/24th of a day |
|
A |
minute |
equals 1/60th of an hour |
|
A |
second |
equals 1/60th of a minute |
HOURS
An hour is one twenty-fourth of a day. Messiah alluded to this in:
Yochanan (John) 11:9 Yeshua answered, "Are there not twelve
hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this
world's light.
This figure shows how the mazzaroth
would appear to a person watching the early evening sky at the beginning of
Nisan. Shaur (2) to Moznaim (7) are visible because they are above the horizon.
Aqurav (8) to Toleh (1) are below the horizon so they cannot be seen. If he
watches all night he will see them all rise except for Toleh, because it is
hidden by the sun. If he recognizes all the mazzaroth, he can also tell which
time of the night it is. Since the twelve mazzaroth make a full circle around
the Earth in twenty-four hours, a new Mazal
rises every two hours. If Moznaim has just risen at 6:00 right after sunset,
then when Aqurav rises it must be 8:00. When Keshet rises it is 10:00, Ghedi
12:00, Deli 2:00, Dagim 4:00, and when the sun rises at 6:00 he knows that
behind it are the stars Toleh.[87]
We say that a mazal is oleh - rising - even if it is
in the daytime when we cannot actually see it, so we can speak of each of the
twelve as rising for two hours each day. When the sun hides a certain mazal, we
say that the sun is "in" that mazal. So in Nisan the sun is in Toleh,
in Iyar it is in Shaur, etc. The next month that mazal rises in the morning
just before the sun. When we say that a mazal
is rising in a certain month we are referring to that mazal that rises just
before the sun after being hidden during the previous month. So, in Nisan,
Dagim is rising and in Iyar, Toleh is rising.
Most folks know that it
is possible to tell the hour of the day with the aid of a sun dial. This device
effectively plots the movement of the sun to tell time.
Now that we know about
how to tell time during the evening hours and during the daylight hours, we can
see how we can use HaShem's astronomy to determine the hour of the day and
night.
DAYS
HaShem marks His days from sunset to sunset. So, by merely observing the setting sun, one can readily "observe" when one day ends and another begins. The scriptures demonstrate this in:
Genesis 1:5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called
"night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day.
Genesis 1:8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and
there was morning--the second day.
Genesis 1:13 And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day.
Genesis 1:19 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day.
Genesis 1:23 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day.
Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was
evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.
Notice that each day starts with the "evening", and ends with "morning". Thus, HaShem's day is directly tied to the setting and the rising sun.
The Jewish day begins at sunset. The status of the period between sunset (the disappearance of the sun behind the horizon) and nightfall (the emergence of three medium-sized stars) is doubtful. For some purposes, it is treated as part of the previous day, e.g. at the end of Shabbat, when the prohibition of creative activities (melacha) remains in force until nightfall.
Books, calendars, and computer programs for conversions between the Jewish and Gregorian (civil) calendars are based on the daylight portion of the Jewish day. For instance, if you know that one of your ancestors was born on 26 Nisan 5580, you will find that this corresponds to 10 April 1820 - but the actual birthday may have been 9 April 1820, in the evening. This can be very confusing to the uninitiated.
By tradition, days of the week are designated by number, with only the seventh day, Sabbath, having a specific name. Days are reckoned from sunset to sunset, so that day 1 begins at sunset on Saturday and ends at sunset on Sunday. The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday.
Six of HaShem's days have no name, but are called by a number. The seventh day is called by number and it is also called by name. The seventh day is also called the Sabbath. We see this in:
Bereshit (Genesis) 8:13 By the first day of the first month of
Noah's six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah
then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground
was dry.
Divrei Hayamim (II Chronicles) 3:2 He began building on the second day of the
second month in the fourth year of his reign.
Ezra 6:15 The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the
sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
Zechariah 7:1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to
Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.
Yehezechel (Ezekiel) 1:1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month
on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens
were opened and I saw visions of God.
Shemot (Exodus) 16:5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what
they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other
days."
Shemot (Exodus) 16:26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the
seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."
With the exception of the Shabbat, the weekdays have no names. They are simply numbered:
|
1 |
yom rishon (first day) |
Sundown Saturday till sundown Sunday. |
|
2 |
yom sheni (second day) |
Sundown Sunday till sundown Monday. |
|
3 |
yom sh'lishi (third day) |
Sundown Monday till sundown Tuesday. |
|
4 |
yom revi'i (fourth day) |
Sundown Tuesday till sundown Wednesday. |
|
5 |
yom chamishi (fifth day) |
Sundown Wednesday till sundown Thursday. |
|
6 |
yom shishi (sixth day) |
Sundown Thursday till sundown Friday. |
The week culminates in the seventh day, the Holy Shabbat (Shabbat kodesh).
WEEK
The seven-day week has
no astronomical basis. It was designated by HaShem in the creation account, of
Genesis one. By the 3rd century AD,
the
The week as a unit of time depends upon the
observance of Sabbath, which is a specific sign between HaShem and His people. Through
the influence of the Bible and Jewish teachings, it has become widespread in
the world today.[89]
MONTHS
HaShem marks His months from one new moon till the next new moon, which is one lunar cycle. By observing the slim, silver crescent of the new moon, one can discern when one month ends, and the next month starts. The scriptures demonstrate this in:
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:14 With each bull there is to be a drink
offering of half a hin of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each
lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each
new moon during the year.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 66:22-23 "As the new heavens and the new earth
that I make will endure before me," declares HaShem, "so will your
name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath
to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says HaShem.
Even HaShem's word for "month" is connected to the moon. The first scriptural use of the word "month", is found in:
Bereshit (Genesis) 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in
the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the
fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Strong's concordance
defines the word "month" as:
2320 chodesh, kho'-desh; from 2318; the new moon; by impl. a month:-month (-ly), new moon.
------------------- Dictionary Trace -------------------
2318 chadash, khaw-dash'; a prim. root; to be new; caus. to rebuild:-renew, repair.
The dictionary
defines a month as:
The word month is derived from the Old English word for moon. A month was originally the time between two new moons. Today astronomers refer to this period of time as a lunar month. Its average length is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.8 seconds. The moon travels around the Earth in 27 days, 7 hours, 43 minutes, and 11.5 seconds. This is the sidereal month.[90]
So, a month is defined by the new moon.
Now, we need to know what specific month we are in. To do this, we need to know that each new moon is in front of a different set of stars, or constellation. By knowing which constellation corresponds to which month, we can tell to which month a particular new moon corresponds. For example, the new moon for the seventh month, the month of Tishrei, is in front of the constellation of Bethulah, the virgin. The following chart details the relationship between the constellations and the name, and number, of the month:
|
Month |
Month |
Hebrew |
Greek |
|
Number |
Name |
Name |
Name |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
Nisan |
Dagim |
Pisces |
|
2 |
Iyar |
Toleh |
Aries |
|
3 |
Sivan |
Shaur |
Taurus |
|
4 |
Tammuz |
Teomaim |
Gemini |
|
5 |
Av |
Sartan |
Cancer |
|
6 |
Elul |
Aryeh |
Leo |
|
7 |
Tishrei |
Bethulah |
Virgo |
|
8 |
Cheshvan |
Meoznaim |
Libra |
|
9 |
Kislev |
Aqurav |
Scorpio |
|
10 |
Tevet |
Qashot |
Sagitarius |
|
11 |
Shevat |
Ghedi |
Capricorn |
|
12 |
Adar |
Deli |
Aquarius |
The Biblical month is based on the lunar or synodic month, the time it takes for the moon to circle the earth. Since the exact duration of one revolution is a little over 29.5 days, the length of the months normally alternates between 29 and 30 days. A month of 30 days is called male ('full'), one of 29 days chaser ('defective'). There are two months which are male in some years and chaser in others.
Arachin 8b MISHNAH. THERE ARE NEVER LESS THAN FOUR FULL MONTHS IN THE YEAR, NOR
DID IT SEEM RIGHT TO HAVE MORE THAN EIGHT.[91] THE TWO LOAVES[92] WERE CONSUMED NEVER EARLIER THAN THE
SECOND, NOR LATER THAN THE THIRD DAY. THE SHEWBREAD[93] WAS CONSUMED NEVER EARLIER THAN THE NINTH
NOR LATER THAN THE ELEVENTH DAY. AN INFANT MAY NEVER BE CIRCUMCISED EARLIER
THAN THE EIGHTH NOR LATER THAN THE TWELFTH DAY.[94]
GEMARA.
What does DID NOT SEEM RIGHT TO HAVE MORE THAN EIGHT mean? — R. Huna said: It
did not appear right to the Sages to make more than eight months full.
Wherefore is the difference with regard to nine, that they would not [make
full]? Because if they did not [stop at eight] the new moon[95] would come three days too early! But now,
too. It would come two days too early?[96] — This is in accord with what R.
Mesharsheya said: ‘It refers to a case where the preceding year was prolonged’,[97] Here, too, the reference is to a year
following a prolonged year, and the prolongation of a year is one month.[98] But put one full month against one
incomplete month, and there will be still one day left?[99] — People do not pay too much attention to
that.[100]
Arachin 9a ‘Ulla said: [the meaning is,] It did not seem right to the Sages to
make more than eight defective months. He [the Tanna] states here a reason:[101] What is the reason that it did not seem
right to the Sages to have less than four full months? Because it did not seem
right to them to have more than eight defective months. Why not nine? Because
in that case the new moon would be coming three days too late?[102] But now, too, it would be coming two days
too late? — That is to be explained in accord with R. Mesharsheya: ‘It refers
to a case where the preceding year was prolonged’; here, too, the reference is
to a year following a prolonged year.[103] Deduct one defective month against one full
month, and still there will be one day left?[104] They [the people] will say: It [the moon]
has actually been seen, whilst we had paid no attention.[105] In what principle do they differ?[106] — In regard to the prolonged year. For it
was taught: By how much is a year prolonged? By thirty days. R. Simeon b.
Gamaliel said: By a month.2[107]
An
objection was raised: The Feast of Weeks can fall only on the day of the
waving,[108] and the New Year can fall only on either
the day of the waving or the day following the night of the last day of the
full month [of Nisan].[109] Now that will be right according to ‘Ulla
if eight defective months could be arranged, but not full ones; hence this may
happen thus: if both are defective, it falls on the day of the waving; if one
is full and the other defective, it falls on the day following the night of the
last day of the full month.[110] But according to R. Huna who says one does
make [eight] full months, it may happen that it falls on the day following the
day after the night of the last day of the full month?[111] — R. Huna will answer you: But is it indeed
right. according to ‘Ulla? Only eight [full] months are not made, but we do
make seven. Now can it not happen that we arrange them not in winter but in the
summer, with the result that it would possibly fall upon the day following the
day after the last day of the full month![112] — Rather, this is in agreement with the
‘Others’, for it was taught: ‘Others’ taught. Between one Feast of Weeks and
the other, and between one New Year and the other, there is an interval of no
more than four days [of the week], or in the case of a prolonged year, five
days.[113] But, at all events, on the view of the
‘Others’, it could not fall on the day of the waving? — R. Mesharsheya said:
The reference is to a prolonged year, and the prolongation of a year is by
thirty days. Deduct one [full] month against the other [full one] and it will
fall upon the day of the waving.[114]
Said
R. Adda b. Ahabah to Raba: Do ‘Others’ intend teaching us [how to count] the
number?[115] — This is what they convey to us: That it
is not obligatory to proclaim a new moon on the basis of having seen it.[116] Rabina demurred: But there are days made of
hours,[117] and days of thirty years?[118] — Since they do not occur every year, he
does not count them. Samuel, too, agreed with the view of R. Huna, for Samuel
said: The lunar year consists of no less than three hundred and fifty-two, nor
of more than three hundred and fifty-six days. How is that? — If the two are
full,[119] there are [fifty] six; if the two are
incomplete. [fifty] two; if one is complete and one incomplete, [fifty] four.
The month begins with the appearance of the new moon. In the time of the Temple, the Sanhedrin (the highest court) sanctified the new month when two witnesses had actually sighted the moon. In the middle of the fourth century C.E., a fixed calendar was introduced.
In the Torah, the months are numbered; the first month, is
the one in which the Exodus from
The first day of each month, with the exception of Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the seventh month, is Rosh Chodesh, literally the 'head of the month', and so is the thirtieth day of the preceding month, if there is one. For example, if a gravestone inscription mentions the first day of Rosh Chodesh Elul, the calendar date 30 Av is meant.
YEARS
Years are counted from the Year of Creation, or Anno Mundi, which corresponds to 3760 BCE, October 7 on the Gregorian calendar. Each year consists of twelve or thirteen months, with months consisting of 29 or 30 days. An intercalated month is introduced in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 in a nineteen-year cycle of 235 lunations. The initial year of the calendar, A.M. (Anno Mundi) 1, is year 1 of the nineteen-year cycle.
A true year, as opposed
to a calendar year, may be defined as the time the Earth takes to return to the
same point on its orbit around the sun. But there are several ways of defining
the "same point." Another way of saying this is to define a year as
the period of one complete cycle of the sun through the mazzaroth (the
constellations on the ecliptic). The year ends when the sun returns to the spot
on the circle of the mazzaroth that it stood when
the year began. Astronomers therefore recognize different kinds of year.
The simplest reference
point is one on the orbit in which the Earth aligns with the sun and a
particular star. Such a point is fixed: It remains the same century after
century. The year measured between two successive crossings of such a point is
called the sidereal year, from the Latin word sidus, meaning "star," or "planet." It is 365
days, 6 hours, 9 minutes, and 9.5 seconds long.
Another reference is a point on the orbit where the Earth's axis is perpendicular, or at a right angle, to a line from the sun. This occurs twice a year, in the spring and fall. A year measured between successive crossings of one of these points is called the tropical year. Its duration is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. The seasons keep in step with the tropical year because both are based on the position of the Earth's axis. For that reason the calendar year is based on the tropical year.[120]
An ordinary year consists of twelve months. When Cheshvan has 29 days and Kislev 30, it is "regular" (kesidra); if both have 30 days, it is "complete" (sh'lema) or "excessive", and if both have 29 days it is "defective" (chasera). Thus, an ordinary year can have 353, 354 or 353 days.
A lunar year of 354 days is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, i.e. one revolution of the earth around the sun, which corresponds to the cycle of the seasons. If the Jewish calendar were based exclusively on the lunar year, Pesach (15 Nisan) would fall in the spring in one year, in the winter a few years later, then in the autumn, then in the summer and - after about 33 years - in the spring again. But the Torah says that Pesach must be celebrated in the spring (be-chodesh ha-aviv, Shemot [Exodus] 13:4), and so the average length of the Jewish year must be adjusted to the solar year. This is achieved by adding an entire month about every three years: In each cycle of 19 years, the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th years are leap years, the others are common years. For example, 5755 AM was a leap year because it was the 17th year in the 303rd cycle of 19 years: 5755/19 = 302 + 17/19. (This is something that you can calculate online.)
The extra month in a leap year has 30 days so that the year lasts for 383, 384 or 385 days. It is added after the month of Shevat and is called Adar I, whereas the original Adar (of 29 days) becomes Adar II. Purim, which is on 14 Adar, is celebrated in Adar II in a leap year. Someone who was born in Adar of a common year will celebrate the anniversary in Adar II in leap years, but yahrzeit for someone who died in Adar of a common year is observed in Adar I in leap years.
The new year begins with Rosh Hashanah, the first of Tishri (although this is the seventh month), in September or early October according to the Gregorian (civil) calendar. Jewish years are counted from the Creation of the world. To convert the Jewish year to the year of the Common Era (CE), subtract 3760 (or 3761 for the first months; in most years, 1 January falls in Tevet). For example, the major part of the Jewish year 5678 AM corresponded to 1918 AD; the beginning of 5678 AM was in 1917 AD. When the year is written with Hebrew letters, the 5000 is usually omitted ("small count", abbreviated ). In that case, one can find the civil equivalent by adding 1240.
For instance, the numerical values of the letters add up to 756, short for 5756 AM. That is the Jewish year which corresponds to 1996 (756 + 1240 = 1996); to be precise, it lasts from the evening of 24 September 1995 until the evening of 13 September 1996. (Such conversions can be calculated online with a form that even shows the Hebrew letters.)
HOLIDAYS
All Jewish holidays, fast days, remembrance days etc. have a fixed date in the Jewish calendar. Some of them are shifted to a different day if they fall on or just before the Shabbat.
Major festivals
The Torah describes two cycles of festivals (cf. Vayikra [Leviticus] Chapter 23, Bamidbar [Numbers] Chapter 28-29): the three pilgrimage festivals (Pesach, Shavuot, Succoth) and the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah, Yom HaKippurim).
Rosh Hashanah (New Year) 1-2 Tishri
Yom HaKippurim (Day of Atonement)
10 Tishri
Succoth (Tabernacles):
Diaspora: 15-16 Tishri
Succoth: Chol Hamoed (Semi-Holidays)
Diaspora: 17-21 Tishri
Shemini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly)
22 Tishri
Simchat Torah (Rejoicing of the Torah)
Diaspora: 23 Tishri
Pesach (Passover):
Diaspora: 15-16 Nisan
Pesach (Passover): Chol Hamoed
Diaspora: 17-20 Nisan
Pesach (Passover): Last day
Diaspora: 21-22 Nisan
Shavuot (Festival of Weeks)
Diaspora: 6-7 Sivan
Minor festivals
Two festivals commemorating the miraculous salvation of the Jewish people were instituted after the beginning of the Babylonian exile: Purim has its basis in the biblical Book of Esther, Chanukah in the apocryphal Books of the Maccabees and in the gospel of John..
Chanukah (Feast of Dedication)
If Kislev has 30 days: 25 Kislev - 2 Tevet
If Kislev has 29 days: 25 Kislev - 3 Tevet
Purim (Festival of Lots)
14 Adar
In leap years: 14 Adar II
Shushan Purim (in
15 Adar
In leap years: 15 Adar II
Fast days
In addition to Yom Kippur and Ta'anit Esther, four public fast days commemorating the destruction of the
first
Tzom Gedalya (assassination of the governor Gedaliah) 3 Tishri
If 3 Tishri falls on Shabbat, the fast is observed on Sunday (4 Tishri)
Asara b'Tevet
(beginning of the Babylonian siege of
Ta'anit Ester (Fast of Esther) 13 Adar
In leap years: 13 Adar II
If 13 Adar falls on Shabbat, the fast is observed on Thursday (11 Adar)
Shiv'a Asar b'Tammuz
(first breach in the walls of
If 17 Tammuz falls on Shabbat, the fast is observed on Sunday (18 Tammuz)
Tish'a b'Av (destruction of the
9 Av
If 9 Av falls on Shabbat, the fast is observed on Sunday (10 Av)
Other special days
After the proclamation of the State of Israel, new minor festivals and memorial days were introduced; Tu bi-Shvat and Lag ba-Omer, which go back to Talmudic times, became particularly popular with children.
Tu B’Shevat (New Year of Trees)
15 Shevat
Yom HaSho'ah (Holocaust Memorial Day)
27 Nisan
Yom HaZikkaron (Memorial day for fallen Israeli soldiers)
Eve of Yom
ha-Atzma'ut
Yom ha-Atzma'ut (Israel Independence Day)
5 Iyar
If 5 Iyar falls on Friday or Shabbat, the celebrations are held on Thursday (4 or 3 Iyar) so as to avoid a desecration of Shabbat
Lag ba-Omer (33rd day in the Omer period)
18 Iyar
Yom Yerushalayim
(
28 Iyar
TERMINOLOGY
Terminology of the Hebrew Calendar:
Deficient (haser) month: a month comprising 29 days.
Full (male) month: a month comprising 30 days.
Ordinary year: a year comprising 12 months, with a total of 353, 354, or 355 days.
Leap year: a year comprising 13 months, with a total of 383, 384, or 385 days.
Complete year (shelemah): a year in which the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 30 days.
Deficient year (haser): a year in which the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 29 days.
Regular year (kesidrah): a year in which Heshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30 days.
Halokim (singular, halek): "parts" of an hour; there are 1080 halokim per hour.
Molad (plural, moladot): "birth" of the Moon, taken to mean the time of conjunction for modern calendric purposes.
Dechiyah (plural, dechiyot): "postponement"; a rule delaying 1 Tishri until after the molad.
Calculating the
Biblical, or Jewish, Calendar:
Being able to calculate the calendar is considered an important responsibility. We see this in:
Shabbath 75a A curtain which was attacked by a moth was torn [round the moth hole]
and re-sewn... R. Zutra b. Tobiah said in Rab's name: He who pulls the thread
of a seam[121] on the Sabbath is liable to a sin-offering;
and he who learns a single thing from a Magian[122] is worthy of death;[123] and he who is able to calculate the cycles[124] and planetary courses but does not, one may
hold no conversation with him.[125]
Let's see what goes into calculating the calendar. The first thing that we need to do is to understand some astronomy, because the Jewish calendar, and therefore HaShem's calendar, depends on the movement of the heavenly bodies.
ASTRONOMY[126]
The sun rises each morning in the
East and sets each evening in the West. For a person standing on the Equator,
it rises and sets at a 900 angle as in Figure 1. That is, straight up and down.
Figure 1
For a person in the Northern
Hemisphere, which includes Eretz Yisrael, Europe, and
During the
morning, as the sun becomes higher and higher, it also travels farther and
farther toward the South. At noon, when the sun begins to go down, it turns
toward the North. During the afternoon,
as the sun gets lower, it continues toward the North, and it sets at an angle
toward the North in the evening.
Figure 2
To understand this,
picture the Earth as a ball spinning Eastward on an axis that runs through the
North and South poles, as in Figure 3. For a person standing on the Earth, this
makes the sky appear to be a giant sphere surrounding the Earth and spinning on
the same axis, but in the opposite direction. (Figure 4).
Figure 3
Figure 4
The sun and the stars
appear to be attached to the sphere, d to spin along with it. At any moment, he
can see only the half the sphere that is above him. The other
half is hidden by the Earth on which he is standing. The Earth appears to him
not as a I but as a flat disc surrounded by the horizon. Beyond the horizon
spins the great sphere that carries the sun and the stars. (figure 5). The plane
of this disc is tangent to the surface of the
Figure 5
Earth. The direction
that he calls "down" is really the direction toward the center of the
Earth. What he calls "up" is really the direction away from the
center of the Earth. So up and down are different for people standing at
different spots on the Earth. (Figure 6).
Figure 6
As we watch the sky
during the night, the stars seem to move, most of them from East to West. But
there is one star that appears not to move. It is called the North Star,
because it is directly above the North Pole of the Earth. Wherever you stand on
the Earth, if you face the North Star you are facing North. The reason it does
not move is that it is right on the axis around which the great sphere
revolves. The stars close to the North Star appear to travel on small circles
around it, and the farther a star is from the North Star, the larger a circle
it describes. Figure 7 shows the North Star and the paths of the stars around
it. The stars that are close to the North Star never rise and set, because the
circles on which they travel never cross the horizon, but the stars that are
farther away rise in the East, travel in a circle around the North Star, and
set in the West. If you could see the North Star during the daytime, you would
see that the sun does the same thing. It rises in the East, travels in a circle
around the North Star, and sets in the West.
Figure 7
Figure 8 shows the sky as it appears from the
Northern Hemisphere. You can see that the paths of all the stars are at an
angle with the horizon which tilts
toward the South. One such line also represents the path of the sun.
Figure 8
How close to the North Star a star must be for it
never to set depends upon where on the Earth a person is standing. Figure 9
shows what the sky looks like to a person standing on the equator looking East.
The North Star appears just on the horizon, directly to the North. All the
other stars rise and set, and in fact they do so at 90' angles to the horizon. When
he looks North, the North Star is on the horizon and the stars close to it
appear to travel in semicircles. You can see why at the equator the sun also
rises and sets at right angles to the horizon.
Figure 9
Figure 10
A person standing a little North of the equator
sees the North Star a little above the horizon as in Figure 10, and only the
stars very close to it do not rise and set. As he moves farther North, the
North Star appears higher and higher in the sky and there are more and more
stars that never set. Finally, at the North Pole, the North Star is directly
overhead. No stars set. They all travel around the sky parallel to the horizon,
each at its own constant height, in a clockwise direction as shown in Figure
11.
Figure 11
Figure 12
From Figure 12 you can see that the height of the
North Star is equal to the latitude at which it is being observed. Remember
that the stars are so far away that lines pointing to the North Star from all
points on the Earth are parallel.
In the Southern Hemisphere the whole appearance
of the sky is reversed. The North Star cannot be seen, and instead, the stars
of the Southern part of the sky appear to rotate clockwise around a point
opposite the South Pole. (Figure 13). The sun rises in the East, but at an
angle toward the North, and it sets in the West at an angle toward the South.
(Figure 14).
We include this to round off our description of
the sky, and for the sake of those readers who live in the Southern Hemisphere,
such as
Figure 13
Figure 14
AUTHORITY
Nowhere does the Torah tell us how to regulate the calendar, even though it is impossible to fulfill the Torah's commands, without regulating it. For example:
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1 Observe the month of Abib and
celebrate the Passover of HaShem your God, because in the month of Abib he
brought you out of
Shemot (Exodus) 12:1-11 HaShem said to Moses and Aaron in
Abib is defined by Strong's as:
24 'abiyb, aw-beeb'; from an unused root (mean. to be tender); green, i.e. a young ear of grain; hence the name of the month Abib or Nisan:-Abib, ear, green ears of corn.
With the above scripture, and definition, in mind, let me state the problem:
Passover must occur in the springtime when the barley is in the green ear stage. Passover must occur in the first month (moon) of the year. A lunar year is approximately 354 days long: 12 months of 29 or 30 days long. This leaves us about 11 days short of a solar year. If we do not account for those 11 days, in less than ten years, Passover will no longer occur in the spring when the barley is in the green ear stage. Therefore, someone must regulate the year to ensure that Passover falls in the springtime. Passover is not the only festival that has calendar requirements. At Hag Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), the new wheat must be ready to wave before HaShem. At Hag HaSuccoth (the Feast of Tabernacles), the major part of the harvest must be in the barn. From these Torah requirements, we see that the lunar calendar must be regulated
The way the Sanhedrin decided to synchronize the lunar and the solar year, is through intercalation, the adding of an additional month, at regular intervals.
The Bible does not provide us the complete means for calculating a calendar. There are no calculations provided in the Scriptures. The Bible clearly indicates that there were the components of a calendar in existence almost from the beginning: hours, days, months, seasons, and years are all mentioned. These are the essential elements of any calendar.
The Sanhedrin, the highest court of Israel, received its authority as a mandate of HaShem:
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 17:8-13 If there arise a matter too hard for thee
in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke
and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou
arise, and get thee up into the place which HaShem thy G-d shall choose; And
thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be
in those days, and inquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which HaShem
shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all
that they inform thee: According to the sentence of the law which they shall
teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou
shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee,
to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously,
and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before HaShem
thy G-d, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away
the evil from
Based upon the above passage, a court was developed that
determined judgements of religious and legal disputes and controversies. During
the time of Yeshua, the highest court of Israel was called the Sanhedrin. This
court consisted of 71 judges who met within the Chamber of the Hewn Stone in
the
This court on earth, authorized by HaShem, is modeled after a heavenly court. The heavenly court is overseen by the Father Himself as told by the prophet Daniel.
Daniel 7:9-10 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did
sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure
wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A
fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands
ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the
judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Midrash Rabbah - Exodus XV:30 30. Another interpretation of THIS MONTH
SHALL BE UNTO YOU. God was like a king who possessed treasure-houses filled
with gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, and who had one son. As long
as the son was small his father guarded them all, but when the son grew up and
reached manhood, his father said to him: ‘As long as thou wert small, I guarded
them all; but now that thou hast reached manhood, I hand over everything to
thee.’ So did God guard everything, as it says: And let them be for signs, and
for seasons (Gen. I, 14); but as soon as Israel arose, He entrusted them with
all of these, for it says: THIS MONTH SHALL BE UNTO YOU.[127]
The Talmud rules that work is permitted on Rosh Chodesh, but describes a tradition that women abstain from work on the day [compare also Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 45]
Rosh Hashanah 23a Our Rabbis taught ‘Beacon fires are lit
only for the new moon which has been seen at its proper time,[128] [to announce that] it has been sanctified.
When are they lit? On the night following its announcement.[129] This means to say that we light beacons for
defective months but not for full months. What is the reason? — R. Zera said:
It is a precaution on account of a defective month which ends on Friday. [In
that case] when do we light? On the termination of Sabbath; and if you were to
insist that we should light up also for full months, this might give rise to
confusion, since people would say: This month may be defective, and the reason
why beacons were not lit yesterday is because it was impossible,[130] or perhaps it is full and they are lighting
up at the proper time. But why should we not light up whether for a full month
or a defective month, and when New Moon is on Friday not light up at all, so
that since we do not light at the termination of Sabbath, in spite of the fact
that we usually light for a full month, people will know that it is defective?
— This nevertheless may lead to errors, since people will say, This month is
full, and the reason why they have not lit up is because they have been
prevented.[131] But why not light up for the full months
and not at all for the defective months? — Abaye replied: So as not to deprive
the public of two working days.[132]
Rosh Chodesh was celebrated only eleven times a year. In Tishrei, Yom Teruah coincides with Rosh Chodesh; to this day, the new moon of Tishrei is not proclaimed in advance in the synagogue; Yom Teruah rather than Rosh Chodesh is dominant liturgically.
It was an established rule that no year should consist of less than four nor more than eight FULL months.
Sanhedrin 10b THE INTERCALATION[133] OF THE MONTH BY THREE. [The Tanna of the
Mishnah] mentions neither the ‘calculation’[134] nor the ‘sanctification’[135], but the INTERCALATION of the month. [Why
then the need of three for this?] Suppose it is not sanctified [on the thirtieth
day] it will then be automatically intercalated! — Abaye therefore said: Read
then, THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE MONTH. It is also taught to the same effect:
The sanctification of the month and the intercalation of the year is to be
determined by three. So R. Meir holds. But, asked Raba, does not the Mishnah
say, the INTERCALATION? — Hence, said Raba, the Mishnah means that the
sanctification made on INTERCALATION, that is on the intercalary day,[136] is determined by three; but on the day
after it there is to be no sanctification. And this represents the opinion of
R. Eliezer b. Zadok, as it has been taught: R. Eliezer b. Zadok says: If the
new moon has not been visible in time, there is no need for the Sanctification
next day, as it has already been sanctified in Heaven.[137]
The Hatzi (partial) Hallel, the yaaleh v'yavo prayer, and the mussaf (extra) service are done.
In second
"Originally, the New Moon was not fixed by astronomical
calculations, but was solemnly proclaimed after witnesses had testified to the
reappearance of the crescent of the moon. On the 30th of each month, the
members of the High Court assembled in a courtyard in
In addition to the witnesses, the molad for the new moon is also calculated by the Beit Din (Court) that has had their ordination conferred on them in a direct line from Moses. The Beit Din is the only body that is authorized by halacha to sanctify the new moon.
If I could calculate the conjunction, and if it were up to me, I might simply declare that the day of the conjunction was the day of the new moon, no adjustments, no confusion. My problem is that I have no authority for one system over the other. The rules are easy to write - the problem is, who writes the rules?
Naturally, we would expect to turn to the Bible to see what
the law told
Shemot (Exodus) 12:2 "This month shall be unto you the
beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you."
It may be hard to believe, but everything else we know about the calendar we know from the oral law. For example, how can you tell from the text just quoted which month was the first month? What time of year was it? The oral law tells us it was in the spring, but the only help we get from the Bible is the name of the month:
Shemot (Exodus) 13:3-4"And Moses said unto the people,
Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of
bondage; for by strength of hand HaShem brought you out from this place; there
shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came yet out in the month
Abib".
And so we know the Hebrew name of the month Abib. And we know that Abib means, "green ears." From other scriptures we learn that the green ears in question were barley, so we infer that the month Abib is the month when there are green ears of barley in the field.
All this is very clever of us, but it is curious that something so important was left to the oral law instead of being written in the Torah. Instructions for sacrifices are laid out in excruciating detail. Why were the instructions for the calendar not done the same way? Naming a month after green ears of barley is better than nothing, but it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. What if the ears are not green until the last day of the month ? How would you have known to make that month Abib? Okay, we can decide that the month following the onset of green ears is Abib. But what if the ears turn green on the second day of the new moon? Will they still be green the following month? If not, how could it be the month of green ears'? The ears will often be green in two consecutive months. Which is Abib?
The Torah does not explain and we seem to be left with the oral law to tell us how to do it. This decision is critical, because the month of Abib is the beginning of the religious year.
The leap years were reasonably predictable. If they had just added a 13th month, they could be sure they would not have to for the next two years. Early on they noticed a 19-year cycle in which the leap years occurred on a repeating basis. Reason suggests that they rarely had to fall back on observation to announce a leap year. Observation could confirm, but it came too late to predict. If they could not predict, how could pilgrims know when to leave home to arrive in time for the festival season. The determination of the calendar had serious practical considerations as well as religious implications.
Where did they find all this in the law? They didn't. In
fact, they found nothing at all about calendar adjustments, leap years, 13th
months, conjunctions or new crescents. The children of
Paul may have been talking about this sort of thing when he spoke of the "oracles" of HaShem. In writing about the Jews and their relationship with HaShem, he asked,
Romans 3:1-2 "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of
circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God".
The word for "oracles" is the Greek:
3051 logion, log'-ee-on; neut. of 3052; an utterance (of God):-oracle.
--------------------- Dictionary Trace ----------------
3052 logios, log'-ee-os; from 3056; fluent, i.e. an orator:-eloquent.
logion which means, literally, "sayings." The Jews retained an oral law besides the written laws we find in the Torah and the oral law included a calendar system into which HaShem placed all the holy days of the sacred year.
Postponement Authority
The modern Hebrew calendar is sometimes challenged because the "new moon" may be postponed one or two days based on a complex set of rules. Actually, these rules are applied only once in the year - on the first day of the seventh month - the Feast of Trumpets. This particular new moon (the beginning of the civil year) is determined and then all the others are established by it. Since a cycle of the moon is about 29 1/2 days (plus 44 minutes), the first seven months of the religious year (in which all the Holy days occur) simply alternate between 29 and 30 days. The extra 44 minutes created an extra day at predictable intervals, and that is handled by having two consecutive 30 day months from time to time. In order to keep confusion to a minimum, those months are always in the second half of the year.
The objections to the Jewish custom come in two forms: one argues that any postponement from the conjunction is wrong and the other argues that only the observed new crescent can start a month. But we recall at this point that the Bible does not define a new moon either way. If it did, I suppose there would be no argument.
In calculating the new moon of the Feast of Trumpets, the pivotal point of the Jewish year, the rules proclaim the new moon on the day of the conjunction with some exceptions. For example, if the conjunction occurs after noon, the official new moon is "postponed" to the following day. In fact, the first new crescent will almost certainly be observed the following day.
This rule generally satisfies those who want the month to begin with the observed new crescent. But there is another rule they find more troubling. When the conjunction occurs on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, the official new moon (and the Feast of Trumpets) is postponed to the following day for religious reasons. The religious requirements are that the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) must not fall on the day before or after a Sabbath, and the day before the Last Great Day of the autumn feast cannot fall on a Sabbath. (There are other postponements required because of mathematical consequences of the first two.)
But can "religious requirements" take precedence over the law? In some cases, yes. When the Pharisees challenged Yeshua and His disciples over Sabbath observance, He asked them, "Have ye not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? (Matthew 12:5). In other words, the priest had to carry on the work of the sacrificial system even on the Sabbath day. This created a conflict between the sacrificial law (which required sacrifices every day) and the Sabbath (which required that no work be done).
We would normally assume that when laws come into conflict the lesser laws would give way to the greater. There can be no greater law than the Ten Commandments and yet the sacrificial law superseded even the Sabbath. The priesthood had special responsibilities on the holy days and the new moons, so it would not be surprising if they should take those duties into account when working out their calendar rules - especially when the law gave them no specific instructions to the contrary. They had a modest requirement to make a morning and evening sacrifice (each one lamb) every day of the year. In addition, each Sabbath day they sacrificed two more lambs with meal, oil and drink offerings (Numbers 28:9). All this work increased dramatically on the day of the new moon. On the first of every month, they were required to sacrifice ten animals, two young bullocks, one ram and seven lambs, plus the other offerings (Numbers 28: 11). It is easy to see the importance of predictability when there is this much work to be done.
Each of the annual Holy days also had special offerings. On the Day of Atonement, for example, the prescribed offering was one bullock, one ram, seven lambs, plus any prescribed meal, oil and drink offering and a special goat for a sin offering. Since the Day of Atonement is a fast day, it should not be surprising if steps were taken to avoid it falling before or after a Sabbath day. One can, of course, argue to the contrary but there is no Biblical authority that prevents the rules of the calendar from being written this way. We don't know with any precision when the rules for postponements came to be. They seem to have coalesced in their present form in the 10th century, but the principles underlying them are much older. There is evidence dating from much earlier that the authorities "adjusted" their observations to avoid having Yom Kippur fall just before or just after a Sabbath. It was no great trick. They just changed the observation point.[139]
A Holy Day
What does it take to make a day holy? When Moses encountered
the burning bush, HaShem told him to take off his shoes for the ground he stood
on was holy. The ground was not holy of itself; it was holy because HaShem was
there. The Tabernacle was not holy until HaShem entered it and filled it with
His presence. The spot where the
Both the Tabernacle and the Temple
were built by human hands. True, HaShem gave them specifications, but it was
left to them to build. We know that HaShem inspired the craftsmen, but we still
have to guess what certain parts of it looked like. As long as the
In the same way, the rules of the calendar were written by men. The days of the year were not holy until selected by HaShem. They are, in a sense, made holy by His presence. He told Israel what days in their calendar He would be present - what days He would meet with them (the old expression "tabernacle of the congregation" actually means "tent of meeting").
Did HaShem give specifications for the calendar like He gave specifications for the temple? We know that He must have! We know that the Israelites got more from HaShem than the book we call the Bible. The writer of the book of Hebrews opens his account by telling us that HaShem spoke to the fathers in time past at "sundry times and in divers manners." The Tanach, the Old Testament, contains much, but not all of that communication. The leaders of HaShem's people commonly consulted HaShem about questions and judgements and they got answers that are sometimes recorded for us, and sometimes not.
We don't know whether
We also know that HaShem established an administration to go
with the law. It may come as a surprise to learn that the law did not answer
all questions pertaining to human relationships, not even of man's relationship
with HaShem. When Moses complained to HaShem about the burden of leading the
people of
Bamidbar (Numbers) 11:16-24 "And HaShem said unto Moses, Gather
unto me seventy men of the elders of
This is the origin of the "seventy elders" of
It is important for us to understand that, from the
beginning, there was an authoritative judiciary in
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 17:8-13 If cases come before your courts that are
too difficult for you to judge--whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults--take
them to the place HaShem your God will choose. Go to the priests, who are
Levites, and to the judge who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and
they will give you the verdict. You must act according to the decisions they
give you at the place HaShem will choose. Be careful to do everything they
direct you to do. Act according to the law they teach you and the decisions
they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to
the left. The man who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands
ministering there to HaShem your God must be put to death. You must purge the
evil from
When one of these courts rendered a decision, it was as binding as any law given by HaShem Himself - even to the extent of exacting the death penalty. What they bound on earth, was bound in heaven.
The Authority
of Moses' Seat
This is why Yeshua told His people:
Matityahu (Matthew) 23:1-3 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in
Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and
do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not".
In spite of their hypocrisy, they did have authority from HaShem. The calendar is a good example of that authority.
From ancient times, the Sanhedrin had the authority to make the rules and observations that sanctified the Hebrew calendar. Yeshua and the apostles accepted their authority in this area. While there is ample evidence that the early Christians kept the Holy days, there is no hint in the Nazarean Codicil (the so called New Testament) that they ever attempted to sanctify a calendar apart from the Jewish calendar.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when one
considers abandoning the published Hebrew calendar is that we have no Biblical
authority for any other system.
* * *
TEKUFAH literally ‘cycle’, or ‘season’, is the length of time from where the sun is now, to where the sun is back in the same place a year from now.. The Jewish Calendar, while being lunar, takes cognizance of the solar system to which it is adjusted at the end of every cycle of nineteen years. For ritual purposes the four Tekufoth seasons, are calculated according to the solar system, each being equal to one fourth of 365 days, viz. 91 days, 71/2 hours.
|
Tekufah of Nisan (Vernal equinox) |
March 21 |
|
|
|
|
Tekufah of Tammuz (Summer Solstice) |
June 21 |
|
|
|
|
Tekufah of Tishri (Autumnal equinox) |
Sept. 23 |
|
|
|
|
Tekufah of Tevet (Winter Solstice) |
Dec. 22 |
Should the Tekufah of Tammuz extend till after the Succoth Festival, or the Tekufah of Tevet till the sixteenth of Nisan, the year would be intercalated, so that the festivals might fall in their due seasons, viz., Passover in Spring, Succoth in Autumn.
Strong's defines "tekufah" as:
8622 tequwphah, tek-oo-faw'; or tequphah, tek-oo-faw'; from 5362; a revolution, i.e. (of the sun) course, (of time) lapse:-circuit, come about, end.
"Tekufah"
appears in the Scriptures four times:
Divrei Hayamim (II Chronicles) 24:23 At the turn [tekufah] of the
year, the army of
Shemot (Exodus) 34:22 "Celebrate the Feast of
Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering
at the turn [tekufah] of the year."
Tehillim (Psalms) 19:4-6 Their voice goes out into all
the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched
a tent for the sun, Which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit [tekufah] to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.
Shmuel (I Samuel) 1:20 So in the course [tekufah]
of time Hannah conceived and gave birth
to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked HaShem for
him."
INTERCALATION
Years are counted from the Era of Creation, or Era Mundi, which corresponds to -3760 October 7 on the Julian proleptic (The anachronistic representation of something as existing before its proper or historical time) calendar. Each year consists of twelve or thirteen months, with months consisting of 29 or 30 days. An intercalary month is introduced in years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 in a nineteen-year cycle of 235 lunations. The initial year of the calendar, A.M. (Anno Mundi) 1, is year 1 of the nineteen-year cycle.
The calendar for a given year is established by determining the day of the week of Tishri 1 (first day of Rosh Hashanah or New Year's Day) and the number of days in the year. Years are classified according to the number of days in the year.
Classification of Years in the Hebrew Calendar
Deficient Regular
Complete
Ordinary year 353 354 355
Leap year 383 384 385
COMMON LEAP
YEAR YEAR
1 Tishri 30 30 30 30
30 30
2 Heshvan 29 29 30 29
29 30
3 Kislev 29 30 30 29
30 30
4 Tevet 29 29 29 29
29 29
5 Shevat 30 30 30 30
30 30
6 Adar I 29 29 29 30
30 30
7 Adar II -- -- --
29 29 29
8 Nisan 30 30 30 30
30 30
9 Iyar 29 29 29 29 29 29
10 Sivan 30 30 30 30
30 30
11 Tammuz 29 29 29 29
29 29
12 Av 30 30 30 30
30 30
13 Elul 29 29 29 29
29 29
--- --- --- ---
--- ---
353
354 355 383 384 385
Sanhedrin 11b Our Rabbis taught: A year may be intercalated on three grounds: on
account of the premature state of the corn-crops;[140] or that of the fruit-trees;[141] or on account of the lateness of the
Tekufah[142] Any two of these reasons can justify
intercalation, but not one alone. All, however, are glad when the state of the
spring-crop is one of them.[143] Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel says: On account
of [the lateness of] the Tekufah. The Schoolmen inquired: Did he mean to say
that ‘on account of the [lateness of the] Tekufah’ [being one of the two
reasons], they rejoiced,[144] or that the lateness of the Tekufah alone
was adequate reason for intercalating the year? — The question remains
undecided.
Our
Rabbis taught: [The grain and fruit of the following] three regions [are taken
as the standard] for deciding upon the declaration of a leap-year: Judea,[145] Trans-Jordania,[146] and Galilee.[147] The requirements of two of these regions
might determine the intercalation, but not those of a single one. All, however,
were glad when one of the two was Judea, because the barley for the Omer[148] was obtained [by preference] in Judea.[149]
Our
Rabbis taught: The intercalation of a year can be effected [by the Beth din]
only in Judea; but if for some reason [it had been decided upon by the Beth
din] in Galilee, the decision holds good. Hanania of Oni, however, testified:
‘If the intercalation was decided upon in Galilee, it is not valid.’ R. Judah
the son of R. Simeon b. Pazi asked: What is the reason for the view of Hanania
of Oni? — Scripture states, Unto His habitation shall ye seek and thither thou
shalt come:[150] whatever search[151] you have to make shall be only in the
habitation of the Lord.[152]
Our
Rabbis taught: A leap-year is to be declared only by day, and if it has been
declared by night, the declaration is invalid. The sanctification of a month is
to be performed by day, and if it has been performed by night it is not valid.
R. Abba says: What passage [proves this]? — Blow the horn at the new moon, at
the covering[153] of the moon our feast-day.[154] Now on which feast is the moon covered? —
We must say on the New Year.[155] And it is thereupon written, For this is a
statute for Israel, a judgment[156] of the God of Jacob: Just as judgment is
executed by day,[157] so also must the sanctification of the
month take place by day.
Talmudic sources tell us that the calendar committee did not rely solely on calculation but on observation as well. They added a 13th month "when the barley in the field had not yet ripened, when the fruit on the trees had not grown properly, when the winter rains had not stopped, when the roads for Passover pilgrims had not dried up and when the young pigeons had not become fledged".[158]
ROSH CHODESH - The New Moon
In principle the beginning of each month is determined by a tabular New Moon (molad) that is based on an adopted mean value of the lunation cycle. To ensure that religious festivals occur in appropriate seasons, months are intercalated according to the Metonic cycle, in which 235 lunations occur in nineteen years.
Menachoth 64a I would say that he is in agreement with the Sages.[159] And, on the other hand, perhaps R. Ishmael
the son of R. Johanan b. Beroka only said so there, since the requirements for
the Most — High have been fulfilled,[160] so that there is no further need to profane
the Sabbath; but here, since the requirements for the Most High have not yet
been fulfilled,[161] so that there is a need to profane the
Sabbath, I would say that he is in agreement with the Sages![162] — Said Rabbah, R. Ishmael and R. Hanina the
Vice-High Priest both hold the same view. For we have learnt: R. HANINA THE
VICE-HIGH PRIEST SAYS, ON THE SABBATH IT WAS REAPED BY ONE MAN WITH ONE SICKLE
INTO ONE BASKET, AND ON A WEEKDAY IT WAS REAPED BY THREE MEN INTO THREE BASKETS
AND WITH THREE SICKLES. BUT THE SAGES SAY, WHETHER ON THE SABBATH OR ON A
WEEKDAY IT WAS REAPED BY THREE MEN INTO THREE BASKETS AND WITH THREE SICKLES.
Now did not R. Hanina the Vice-High Priest say there that where it is possible
[to manage with one] we must not trouble [more to work on the Sabbath]? Here,
too, since it is possible [to manage with less] we must not trouble [to do more
on the Sabbath]. Whence [do you know this]? Perhaps R. Ishmael only said so
here, since there is no opportunity for making the matter public,[163] but there, since there is an opportunity
for making the matter public,[164] I would say that he is in agreement with
the Rabbis.[165] And, on the other hand, perhaps R. Hanina
the Vice-High Priest only said so there, for after all, whether one man or
three are employed, the service to the Most High is performed according to its
prescribed rites, but here, since the service to the Most High is not performed
according to its prescribed rites,[166] I would say that he is in agreement with
the Sages![167] — Rather. said R. Ashi, R. Ishmael and R.
Jose both hold the same view. For we have learnt: Whether [the new moon] was
clearly visible or not, they may profane the Sabbath because of it.[168] But R. Jose says. If it was clearly visible
they may not profane the Sabbath because of it.[169] Now did not R. Jose say there that wherever
it is possible [to manage without them] we do not trouble [them to profane the
Sabbath]? Here, too, since it is possible [to manage with less] we must not
trouble [to do more on the Sabbath]. Whence [do you know this]? Perhaps R.
Ishmael only said so here, since the reason ‘it will result that you will
prevent them from coming in the future’ does not apply, but there, since the
reason ‘it will result that you will prevent them from coming in the future[170] applies, I would say that he is in
agreement with the Rabbis.[171] And, on the other hand, perhaps R. Jose
only said so there, since the matter in question is no service to the Most
High,[172] and moreover the Sabbath has not been
overridden [by another service], but here, since it is a service to the Most
High.[173] and the Sabbath has already been overridden
[by other acts of work].[174] I would say that he is in agreement with
the Rabbis.
Full vs. Defective months
A full month (lit., ‘a prolonged one’) is one of thirty days, a defective one is one of twenty-nine days. The average year has six months of thirty days each, and six of twenty-nine days each. For there are about twenty-nine and one half days between one new moon and the other, whence a month of thirty days, to restore the balance, must be followed by one of twenty-nine days. However, there are more then twenty-nine and one half days between one new moon and the other, approximately twenty-nine days, twelve hours and forty minutes; furthermore, there are other causes influencing the fixing of the calendar, as the result of which the arrangement of six full and defective months undergoes certain variations, so that one year might have a larger number of full, the other more than the half of defective months. In the time of the Mishna the Sanhedrin decreed the beginning of the new months on the basis of the testimony of witnesses who had actually seen the new moon. But even then conditions would arise (such as non-visibility of the new moon, due to cloudy weather) when the Sanhedrin would be guided by its own astronomical calculations. For such a decree the principle was adopted that no year may have more than eight, nor less than four full months.
CALCULATING THE CALENDAR
To construct the calendar for a year, you must first find the length of the year by determining the first day of the year (Tishri 1, or Rosh Hashanah) and the first day of the following year. This selects one of the six possible month length configurations listed above.
Finding the first day of the year is the most difficult part. Finding the date and time of the new moon (or molad) is the first step. For this purpose, the lunar cycle is assumed to be 29 days 12 hours and 793 halokim. A halokim is 1/1080th of an hour or 3 1/3 seconds. (This assumed value is only about 1/2 second less than the value used by modern astronomers -- not bad for a number that was determined so long ago.) The first molad of year 1 occurred on Sunday at 11:11:20 P.M. This would actually be Monday, because the Biblical day is considered to begin at sunset.
Since sunset varies, the day is assumed to begin at 6:00 P.M. for calendar calculation purposes. So, the first molad was 5 hours 204 halokim after the start of Tishri 1, 0001 (which was Monday September 7, 3761 BC. by the Gregorian calendar). All subsequent molads can be calculated from this starting point by adding the length of a lunar cycle.
Once the molad that starts a year is determined the actual start of the year (Tishri 1) can be determined. Tishri 1 will be the day of the molad unless it is delayed by one of the following four rules (called dechiyot). Each rule can delay the start of the year by one day, and since the Molad Zaken rule can combine with one of the other rules, it can be delayed as much as two days.
* * *
Conventions: For purposes of calculating the Hebrew calendar the following conventions are to be noted.[175]
The current Hebrew calendar rules are ASSUMED as fixed for all time periods both Past and future. The current Gregorian calendar rules are ASSUMED as fixed for all time periods both Past and future. All Gregorian years will be suffixed with the lower case "g".
Hence, 5757 AM is the year that spans both 1996g and 1997g.
For purposes of convenience, a Gregorian year 0g is assumed to have existed between -1g and 1g. 0g spans 3760 AM and 3761 AM. -1g spans 3759 AM and 3760 AM. 1g spans 3761 AM and 3761 AM. In this convention 0g is a Gregorian leap year.
All Hebrew days begin at exactly 18:00 hours which corresponds to hour 0 of the Hebrew calendar's day. So learn to recognize that in all subsequent calculations hour 0 is actually 18:00 or 6 PM.
The rabbis also divided the hours into 1080 halokim (parts), thus making each part 3 and 1/3 seconds and each minute 18 parts. All calculations are done in days, hours and parts.
The week days are numbered as follows
1 = Sunday
2 = Monday
3 = Tuesday
4 = Wednesday
5 = Thursday
6 = Friday
7 = Saturday
The MOLAD Period
The time of birth of the new moon, i.e., the MOLAD, is determined by the period of the MOLAD. This period was determined to be 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 parts. The molad is an arithmetical result of the calendar computations which very accurately tracks the time of any mean lunar conjunction to within 1 day in 14,000 years.
The 19 Year Cycle
The ancient Greek astronomer Meton (c. 4th cent. BCE.) observed that 235 lunation periods brought back the solar year into very close synchronization with the lunar years.
Thus, our scholars created a calendar cycle of 19 years consisting of 12 years of 12 lunar months each and 7 years of 13 lunar months each for a total of 235 lunar months.
Y''zst j''ud (GUCHADZaT)
The Leap Year Distribution
Our scholars eventually declared years 3 (d), 6 (u), 8 (j), 11 (th), 14 (sh), 17 (zh), and 19 (yh) of the 19 year cycle to be leap years of 13 months each.
That distribution is easily remembered by the mnemonic Y''zst j''ud (GUCHADZaT) which stands for the Hebrew letters gimel-vov-het aleph-daled-zayyen-tet.
A given Hebrew year is a leap year whenever its value divided by 19 leaves a remainder that is either 0, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, or 17.
For example, the year 5757 AM (1996g/1997g) is a leap year because after division by 19 the remainder is 0. That by the way also makes it the last year of the 303rd 19 year cycle.
In a Hebrew leap year a 30 day month is added to the year. This month is today known as the month of Adar I and is inserted immediately after the Hebrew month of Shevat. In our times, the insertion tends to take place in the February/March period of the Gregorian calendar year.
Molad shel Tohu - s''rvb (BaHaRaD)
The s''rvb (BaHaRaD) is the acronym given to the time of the Molad shel Tohu (the birth while formless). That took place on the 1st day of Tishrei of the first year of creation, 1 AM.
That molad took place on Sunday (The Hebrew days begin at 0 hours = 6 PM. Hence 5 hours on Monday is actually 11 PM on the civilian Sunday.), September 6, -3760 AM corresponding to the second day of the week (bet - b), 5 hours (hey - v), and 204 halokim (parts) (resh-daled) -s''r. We use this moment as the starting point of the Hebrew calendar, and we calculate every future molad from this point.
The Time of Any Molad of Tishrei
For any given Hebrew year, AM, you first count the number of months that have elapsed since the first of Tishrei of Hebrew year 1.
To calculate any molad of Tishrei:
the integer of (235 * AM - 234) / 19
You then multiply the mean lunation time of 29 days; 12 hours; 793 parts by the integer result for the total number of months.
To that time is added the value of s''rvb (BaHaRad), and the result provides you with the time of the molad of Tishrei for any Hebrew year.
That value when reduced to days; hours (max of 23); halokim (parts - max of 1079) will give you the time of the molad for target year AM. The total number of days is then divided by 7 and the remainder is the day of the week.
Hebrew Year (AM) Lengths
The above rules lead to AM years which can have either: 354, 355, 383, or 384 days.
Hebrew Month Lengths
The Hebrew months basically alternate between 30 and 29 days beginning with the month of Nisan as follows:
Nisan 30
Iyar 29
Sivan 30
Tammuz 29
Av 30
Elul 29
Tishrei 30
Heshvan 29
Kislev 30
Tevet 29
Shevat 30
(Adar II 30)
Adar 29
For leap years the 30 day month of Adar II is added immediately after Shevat. It is this particular placement of the leap month which forces the use of the Molad Zaken rule. Calendar arithmetic can show that if the leap month is placed prior to the month of Kislev, then the Molad Zaken postponement rule is not required.
It is now necessary to compute the length of the year. Normally this is done by finding the Rosh Hashanah date of the next year and differencing.
When the difference is 355 or 385 days, Heshvan gets a day to become 30 days. When the difference is 353 or 383 days, Kislev loses a day to become 29 days.
And there you have it... except that no one can tell you over which spot on Earth the Molad shel Tohu took place at BaHaRaD.
An Example
The time of the MOLAD for Tishrei 5758 AM is
2,102,728 days; 4 hours; 129 parts.
Dividing the days by 7 leaves a remainder of 5, which means that the MOLAD of Tishrei 5758 AM occurs on a Thursday. The postponement rules do not apply for this timing of the molad and so Rosh Hashanah 5758 AM will begin on Thursday.
The time of the MOLAD for Tishrei 5759 AM is
2,103,082 days; 12 hours; 1005 parts.
Dividing the days by 7 leaves a remainder of 2, which means that the MOLAD of Tishrei 5759 AM occurs on a Monday. The postponement rules do not apply for this timing of the molad and so Rosh Hashanah 5759H will begin on Monday.
Taking the days to 5758 AM away from the days to 5759 AM leaves 354.
This means that the length of year 5758 AM is 354 days. And from this information it is now possible to layout, not only all of the calendar details for 5758H, but also all of the religious details that are calendar dependent, such as the occurrences of the Holidays, the Torah portions for any given day, the set of psalms to be read each day, and so on.
The Tekufot of Reb Shmuel are prescribed in accordance to a completely different set of astronomical parameters, and so require additional arithmetic in order to be mapped onto the Hebrew calendar. This arithmetic, among other things, governs the addition or omission of certain liturgical phrases in such prayers as the Amidah.
Hebrew to Gregorian Date Conversion
The Constant Annual Period
The annual calendar period which begins on the first day of the 29 day month of Adar and ends with the 29th day of Heshvan forms a constant period of 265 days. It is within that period that may be found all of the biblically ordained festivals such as Pesach, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Succoth, and Shemini Atzeret.
The period of time beginning with the first day of Pesach on Nisan 15th up to and including Shemini Atzeret which occurs on Tishrei 22nd is exactly 185 days long.
The period of time from the traditional first day of the vernal equinox which is normally March 21st up to and including the traditional day of the autumnal equinox, usually September 21st, is also exactly 185 days long.
It would be interesting to know whether or not these two periods of time are the same length merely by coincidence.
It is to be noted that the starting day of the constant annual calendar period is fixed by the first day of Tishrei for the immediately following Hebrew year and not from the day of Rosh Hashanah for the current Hebrew year.
The Keviyot - Species of the Hebrew Year
The years of the Hebrew calendar can be laid out in exactly 14 different ways. This is due to the calendar arithmetic.
Each one of these layouts is described uniquely by the week day for Rosh Hashanah of that particular year and by that particular year's length. Each of these layouts is known as a "keviyah" or species.
If a year length is 353 or 383 days the year is called "haser", ie, "deficient", because a day is taken away from the month of Kislev. This keviyah is denoted by the Hebrew letter j.
If a year length is 354 or 384 days the year is called "kesidrah", ie, "regular", because none of its months are changed. This keviyah is denoted by the Hebrew letter e.
If a year length is 355 or 385 days the year is called "shalem", ie, "abundant", because a day is added to the month of Heshvan. This keviyah is denoted by the Hebrew letter a.
A third Hebrew letter is sometimes added to the first two which represents the day of the week for the first day of Pesach in that year.
The 14 Keviyot
The 14 possible calendar layouts are derived from the fact that if Hebrew years begin on
Mondays then they can have only either 353, 355, 383, or 385 days Tuesdays then they can have only either 354, or 384 days Thursdays then they can have only either 354, 355, 383, or 385 days Saturdays then they can have only either 353, 355, 383, or 385 days.
The Keviyot
Year Type Sequences
The calendar arithmetic develops the following pair-wise sequence of Hebrew (AM) years.
By definition, a leap year cannot immediately follow any other leap year. Regular years can not follow regular years, and neither can deficient years follow deficient years. But abundant years can be followed by abundant years. Regular leap years are always followed by abundant years of 355 days.
The Hebrew Calendar Repetition Cycle
The 19 year cycle does not cause the Hebrew calendar to repeat itself every 19 Hebrew years. For one thing, no specific demands are made as to what the length of the years ought to be for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc... years other than whether or not these require the additional leap month. Moreover all periods of 19 Hebrew years can be either 6938, 6939, 6940, 6941, or 6942 days each. Since none of these values are exact multiples of 7 it follows that no two consecutive periods of 19 years can begin on the same day of the week. Hence, the Hebrew calendar clearly does not repeat itself after every 19 years.
At one time some authorities suggested that the calendar would repeat itself after every 13 cycles of 19 years, that is once every 247 years. However, simple arithmetic shows that the 247 year cycle is short by 905 parts (about 50 minutes) in order to be a full repetition. The true calendar repetition cycle actually requires 689,472 Hebrew years, which is 36,288 cycles of 19 years.
The Accuracy of the Hebrew Calendar
The accuracy of the Hebrew calendar is fixed by the value of the mean lunation period coupled to the 19 year cycle of 235 lunar months. That leads to an average Hebrew year length of 365.2468 days.
The mean tropical solar year is about 365.2422 days. Hence, the average Hebrew year is slower than the average solar year by about one day in every 216 years. That means that today, we celebrate the holidays, on average about 8 days later than did our ancestors in 359g at the time that the fixed calendar rules were published.
The Accuracy of the Gregorian Calendar
The actual repeatable cycle of the Gregorian calendar is 400 Gregorian years. Hence, the average Gregorian year is 365.2425 days long. That means that the Gregorian calendar is slower than the mean tropical solar year by about 3 days in every 10,000 years. So it too, if left unchecked will cause its dates to travel the seasons.
The Relative Rate of the Hebrew Calendar
The above mean values indicate that the average Hebrew year is slower than the average Gregorian year by about 1 day in every 231 years.
In modern terms it simply means that Rosh Hashanah cannot occur any earlier than September 5, which last happened in 1899g and will next happen in 2013g. It also means that Rosh Hashanah cannot occur any later than October 5, which last happened in 1967g and will next occur in 2043g.
After the year 2089g, Rosh Hashanah will not be able to occur any earlier than September 6.
When Rosh Hashanah advances to a new day in the Gregorian calendar, it always does so in the 9th year of the 19 year cycle.
The Most Popular Rosh Hashanah Start
An old Jewish tradition suggests that Tuesday is a good day because it was twice blessed at Creation. (See Genesis 1:9-13). Hence, it should follow that Tuesday would be the most popular day on which to start Rosh Hashanah. Amazingly, it ranks a very poor 4th place among the 4 permissible start days of the week.
Moreover, Yom HaKippurim can never occur on a Tuesday! But all is not lost. Even though Jewish tradition suggests that Passover took place on a Thursday, it is Tuesday that is the most popular start day for Passover!
* * *
Table "A"
Terminology of the Hebrew Calendar
Deficient (haser) month: a month comprising 29 days.
Full (male) month: a month comprising 30 days.
Ordinary year: a year comprising 12 months, with a total of 353, 354, or 355 days.
Leap year: a year comprising 13 months, with a total of 383, 384, or 385 days.
Complete year (shelemah): a year in which the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 30 days.
Deficient year (haser): a year in which the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 29 days.
Regular year (kesidrah): a year in which Heshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30 days.
Halokim(singular, halek): "parts" of an hour; there are 1080 halokim per hour.
Molad (plural, moladot): "birth" of the Moon, taken to mean the time of conjunction for modern calendric purposes.
Dechiyah(plural = dechiyot): "postponement"; a rule delaying 1 Tishri until after the molad.
The months of Heshvan and Kislev vary in length to satisfy requirements for the length of the year (see Table "B"). In leap years, the 29-day month Adar is designated Adar II, and is preceded by the 30-day intercalary month Adar I.
Table "B": Classification of Years in the Hebrew
|
|
Calendar |
||
|
|
Deficient |
Regular |
Complete |
|
Ordinary year |
353 |
354 |
355 |
|
Leap year |
383 |
384 |
385 |
For calendrical calculations, the day begins at 6 P.M.,
which is designated 0 hours. Hours are divided into 1080 halokim; thus one
chalek is 3 1/3 seconds. (Terminology is explained in Table "A".)
Calendrical calculations are referred to the meridian of
Rules for constructing the Hebrew calendar are given in the sections that follow. Cohen (1981), Resnikoff (1943), and Spier (1952) provide reliable guides to the rules of calculation.
THE FOUR DECHIYOT[176]
(Postponement Rules)
The date for Rosh Hashanah may be postponed by up to two days depending on the time calculated for the MOLAD.
In addition to the leap year cycle, the length of each year is slightly adjusted to meet a number of constraints called dechiyot. These small adjustments are made by selecting the length of the two months of Cheshvan and Kislev to be 29 or 30 days. There are four possible combinations, but only three are actually used:
|
Year Kind |
Cheshvan |
Kislev |
length of regular
year |
|
Chasera "incomplete" |
29 days |
29 days |
353 |
|
Kesidra "in order" |
29 days |
30 days |
354 |
|
---- |
30 days |
29 days |
---- |
|
Shleima "complete" |
30 days |
30 days |
355 |
The four constraints (Dechiyot) that determine the exact year length have to do with the exact timing of the holidays in relation to the phase of the moon and with relations to the day of the week.
The 4 special rules, each of which is called a Dechiyah (or postponement), and each of which serve a particular religious, or arithmetic purpose, are as follows:
Dechiya 1
Molad Zaken
The name for this rule is often translated as the "old moon" or "obsolete moon" rule. If the Molad of Tishrei occurs at 18 hours (i.e., noon) or later of a permissible day then the first day of Rosh Hashanah is postponed to the next allowable day. In other words, if the Tishri molad occurs at or after 18 hours (i.e., noon), then Tishri 1 is postponed one day. If this causes Tishri 1 to fall on day 1, 4, or 6, then Tishri 1 is postponed an additional day to satisfy dechiyah ust -ADU.
The moon goes in orbit around the Earth. Every month, there is one instance in which the moon is exactly between the Earth and the sun and the Earth faces the dark side of the moon. This instance is called Molad ("birth" of a new moon) and it marks the beginning of a new month. The Molad of the first month of the year, Tishrei, marks the Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah.
Since the Earth is facing the dark side of the moon, the moon becomes visible later that day or the next day.
In a year when the Molad of Tishrei occurs after 12:00 noon, Rosh Hashanah is postponed until the next day because the moon would not become visible until the next day. This is done by adding one day to the previous year. This rule can postpone Rosh Hashanah by up to 2 days.
Some noteworthy scholars have suggested that this rule will guarantee the visibility of the new moon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
However, simple calendar arithmetic very strongly suggests that the molad zaken rule is no more than an arithmetical device which ensures that the calculated time of any molad does not exceed the first day of any Hebrew month.
This dechiyah is an artifact of the ancient practice of beginning each month with the sighting of the lunar crescent. It is assumed that if the molad (i.e., the mean conjunction) occurs after noon, the lunar crescent cannot be sighted until after 6 P.M., which will then be on the following day.
Rosh HaShana 20b Samuel said: I am quite able to make a
calendar[177] for the whole of the Diaspora. Said Abba
the father of R. Simlai to Samuel: Does the Master know [the meaning] of this
remark which occurs in [the Baraitha known as] the secret of the Calendar?[178] ‘If the new moon is born before midday or
after midday’? — He replied: I do not. He then said to him: Since the Master
does not know this, there must also be other things which the Master does not
know. When R. Zera went up [to Palestine], he sent back word to them [in
Babylon]: It is necessary that there should be [on New Moon] a night and a day
of the new moon.[179] This is what Abba the father of R. Simlai
meant: ‘We calculate [according to] the new moon's birth. If it is born before
midday, then certainly it will have been seen shortly before sunset. If it was
not born before midday, certainly it will not have been seen shortly before
sunset’. What is the practical value of this remark? — R. Ashi said: To [help
us in] confuting the witnesses.[180]
R.
Zera said in the name of R. Nahman: The moon is invisible for twenty-four hours
[round about new moon]. For us [in Babylon] six of these belong to the old moon
and eighteen to the new;[181] for them [in Palestine] six to the new and
eighteen to the old.[182] What is the practical value of this remark?
— R. Ashi said: To confute the witnesses.
Dechiyah 2
ust -ADU Sunday, Wednesday, Friday
The name ust (ADU) is an acronym formed from the Hebrew letters alef (=1 for Sunday) daled (=4 for Wednesday) vuv (=6 for Friday).
If the Molad of Tishrei falls on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, Rosh Hashanah is postponed by one day to Monday, Thursday or Saturday, respectively.
The reason is that if Rosh Hashanah is on Wednesday or Friday, then Yom Kippur would occur on Friday or Sunday. That would make Yom Kippur adjacent to Shabbat and there would be two consecutive days in which it is forbidden to do any kind of work including the preparation of food.
If Rosh Hashanah is on Sunday, Hoshana Rabbah would fall on Saturday and that would prevent the custom of 7 Hakafot.
This dechiyah increases the possible year lengths from 4 to 8. These Lengths may be either 353, 354, 355, 356, 382, 383, 384, or 385 days.
Dechiyah 3 - s'ryd
(GaTaRaD)
Molad of Regular Year on Tuesday
If the Tishri molad of an ordinary year (i.e., of twelve months) falls on day 3 at or after 9 hours, 204 halokim, then Tishri 1 (Rosh Hashanah) is postponed two days to day 5, thereby satisfying dechiyah ust -ADU.
This dechiyah prevents an ordinary year from exceeding 355 days. If the Tishri molad of an ordinary year occurs on Tuesday at or after 3:11:20 A.M., the next Tishri molad will occur at or after noon on Saturday. According to dechiyah molad zaken), Tishri 1 of the next year must be postponed to Sunday, which by dechiyah ust -ADU occasions a further postponement to Monday. This results in an ordinary year of 356 days. Postponing Tishri 1 from Tuesday to Thursday produces a year of 354 days.
If the Molad of Tishrei of a regular year with 12 months occurs on Tuesday morning, Rosh Hashanah would occur on Tuesday. However, this would cause a problem with Rosh Hashanah of the following year.
To see why, remember that the length of a regular year can be 353, 354 or 355 days. If Rosh Hashanah occurs on Tuesday, we can determine the day of Rosh Hashanah of the following year by adding (days-in-year modulu 7) days to Tuesday (number modulu 7 is the remainder resulting from dividing the number by 7).
|
Year Kind |
Days in
Year |
Modulu 7 |
Next Rosh
Hashanah |
|
Chasera "incomplete" |
353 |
3 |
Tuesday + 3 = Friday |
|
Kesidra "in order" |
354 |
4 |
Tuesday + 4 = Saturday |
|
Shleima "complete" |
355 |
5 |
Tuesday + 5 = Sunday |
We can see from this table that if this year has 353 or 355 days, the next Rosh Hashanah falls on Friday or Sunday, which contradicts constraint number 2.
Therefore this year must have 354 days and the next Rosh Hashanah will fall on Saturday. However, the accurate length of a lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 1/3 seconds. The accurate length of a lunar year (12 lunar months) is therefore 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes and 40 seconds. This means that if the Molad of this year occurs on Tuesday 6 AM, the Molad of the following year will occur on Saturday 2:48:40 PM, and Rosh Hashanah will have to be postponed to Sunday according to constraint number 1 and then postponed again to Monday according to constraint number 2. In order to do that, this year will have to be 356 days long, which is not possible.
The conclusion of the above logic is constraint number 3 which states That if a Molad of a regular year occurs after Tuesday 3:22 AM, Rosh Hashanah is postponed to Thursday.
s'ryd (GaTaRaD) eliminates all 356 day Hebrew years. It is not found in the Talmud.
Dechiyah 4
Y''pe, u''yb - BaTU TaKaFot
Molad of Leap Year on Thursday
If a Molad of a leap year occurs after Thursday 12:00 noon, the next Rosh Hashanah is postponed from Monday to Tuesday.
If the first molad following a leap year falls on day 2 at or after 15 hours, 589 halokim, then Tishri 1 is postponed one day to day 3.
This dechiyah prevents a leap year from falling short of 383 days. If the Tishri molad following a leap year is on Monday, at or after 9:32:43 1/3 A.M., the previous Tishri molad (thirteen months earlier) occurred on Tuesday at or after noon. Therefore, by dechiyot s'ryd (GaTaRaD) and Molad Zaken, Tishri 1 beginning the leap year was postponed to Thursday. To prevent a leap year of 382 days, This dechiyah postpones by one day the beginning of the ordinary year.
ARBAAH SHAARIM[183] (The Four Gates
- for the four dechiyot)
|
Day of Rosh
Hashanah |
Monday c |
Tuesday d |
Thursday v |
Shabbat z |
|||
|
Length of Year |
j |
a |
f |
(j) f |
a |
j |
a |
|
Day of Passover |
(v) d |
(z) v |
(z) v |
(t) z |
(d) t |
(d) t |
(v) z |
|
Leap Year
3,6,8,11,14, 17,19 |
Shabbat 12:00 Noon j''h 'z 1 & 2 |
Sunday 2:00 PM 491 ch. T''m, 'f 't |
Monday 12:00 Noon j''h 'c 1 |
Tuesday 12:00 Noon j''h 'd 1 & 2 |
Wednesday 5:00 AM 695 ch. V''mr, t''h 's |
Thursday 12:00 Noon j''h 'v 1 & 2 |
Friday 2:00 PM 491 ch. T''m, 'f 'u 5 |
|
Regular Year
before a Leap Year 2,5,10,13,16 |
'' |
Sunday 3:00 AM 204 ch. S''r 'y 't 5 |
'' |
Tuesday 3:00 AM 204 ch. s''r 'y 'd 3 |
Thursday 3:00 AM 204 ch. s''r 'y 'v 5 |
'' |
Friday 3:00 AM 204 ch. s''r 'y 'u 5 |
|
Regular Year
Between two Leap Years 7,18 |
'' |
'' |
Monday 9:00 AM 589 ch. y''pe, u''y 'c 4 |
'' |
'' |
'' |
'' |
|
Regular Year
after a Leap Year 1,4,9,12,15 |
'' |
'' |
'' |
'' |
'' |
'' |
Friday 6:00 PM 408 ch. j'', 'u 6 |
Notes:
1. Molad Zoken (an old birth) - The molad (birth of the moon) falls
after noon, so Rosh Hashanah must be pushed off to the next day or later.
2. ts''u (ADU or first day of
the week [t, the third day of the week [s], or the sixth day of the week [u])- Rosh Hashanah cannot fall on
Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday, so it must be pushed off to the next day
3. ds''ryd (GaTRaD - d stands for third day of the
week, y for nine hours, and s''r for 204 halokim) - Rosh Hashanah is pushed off from
Tuesday to Thursday so that the next Rosh Hashanah can fall on Monday.
4. y''pe, u''yc (BeTU TaKPaT - c stands for the second day of the week, u''y for the fifteenth hour, and y''xe, for 589
halokim) - Rosh Hashanah is pushed off from Monday to Tuesday because the
previous year must have 383 days, the minimum length for a leap year.
The following affect the length of the year
only, not the day of Rosh Hashanah:
5. Next year's molad (birth of the
moon) will be molad Zoken (an old birth), so the year must be a day longer, but
since that would put Rosh Hashanah of the next year on one of the impossible
days, it is two days longer instead.
6. Next year's molad (birth of the
moon) will be GaTRaD, so the year must be two days longer to push next year's
Rosh Hashanah from Tuesday to Thursday.
You can verify notes 5 and 6 by
adding 5 days, 21 hours, and 589 halokim for a leap year of 4 days, 8 hours,
and 876 halokim for a regular year to the times on the chart to get the molad
of the following Tishrei.
Determining Tishri 1
The calendar year begins with the first day of Rosh Hashanah (Tishri 1). This is determined by the day of the Tishri molad and the four rules of postponements (dechiyot). The dechiyot can postpone Tishri 1 until one or two days following the molad. Tabular new moons (maladot) are reckoned from the Tishri molad of the year A.M. 1, which occurred on day 2 at 5 hours, 204 halokim (i.e., 11:11:20 P.M. on Sunday, -3760 October 6, Julian proleptic calendar). The adopted value of the mean lunation is 29 days, 12 hours, 793 halokim (29.530594 days). To avoid rounding and truncation errors, calculation should be done in halokim rather than decimals of a day, since the adopted lunation constant is expressed exactly in halokim.
Lunation Constants for Determining Tishri 1
Lunations Weeks-Days-Hours-Halokim
1 = 4-1-12-0793
12 = 50-4-08-0876
13 = 54-5-21-0589
235 = 991-2-16-0595
Lunation constants required in calculations are shown in the above table. By subtracting off the weeks, these constants give the shift in weekdays that occurs after each cycle.
Determining the Length of the Year
An ordinary year consists of 50 weeks plus 3, 4, or 5 days. The number of excess days identifies the year as being deficient, regular, or complete, respectively. A leap year consists of 54 weeks plus 5, 6, or 7 days, which again are designated deficient, regular, or complete, respectively. The length of a year can therefore be determined by comparing the weekday of Tishri 1 with that of the next Tishri 1.
First consider an ordinary year. The weekday shift after twelve lunations is 04-08-876. For example if a Tishri molad of an ordinary year occurs on day 2 at 0 hours 0 halokim (6 P.M. on Monday), the next Tishri molad will occur on day 6 at 8 hours 876 halokim. The first Tishri molad does not require application of the dechiyot, so Tishri 1 occurs on day 2. Because dechiyah ust -ADU, the following Tishri 1 is delayed by one day to day 7, five weekdays after the previous Tishri 1. Since this characterizes a complete year, the months of Heshvan and Kislev both contain 30 days.
The weekday shift after thirteen lunations is 05-21-589. If the Tishri molad of a leap year occurred on day 4 at 20 hours 500 halokim, the next Tishri molad will occur on day 3 at 18 hours 9 halokim. Because of dechiyah Molad Zaken, Tishri 1 of the leap year is postponed two days to day 6. Because of dechiyot s'ryd (GaTaRaD), Tishri 1 of the following year is postponed two days to day 5. This six-day difference characterizes a regular year, so that Heshvan has 29 days and Kislev has 30 days.