From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 1997 1:10 AM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: The Jewish Calendar
From: Chris Jackson
To: "'heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com'"
<heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com>
Subject: calendar
I recently read the information on the holidays and calendar on the web site of Hebraic
Roots. It is said that every 2 or 3 years a extra month was added to keep the lunar calendar
in line with the solar. I know the feast are Torah but I have not read anything in the
Torah where HaShem ever says to use a extra month. Where can this be found
in the Tanak?
c jackson
>From Eddie:
**************
Chris,
Here is your answer. It is taken from Jewish sources.
"In order to appreciate fully the meaning of the Jewish holidays
--- their relationship to the seasons, to historical events, and to
each other --- it is necessary to have a basic understanding of the
Jewish calendar ... the main purpose of the Jewish calendar is, and
always has been, to set the dates of the festivals. Our present
calendar has its roots in the Torah, but it has been modified by
Jewish religious authorities through the ages. The principle rules
were established by the Sages and Rabbis of antiquity and were
supplemented by medieval scholars. In Talmudic times, the regulation
of the calendar was the exclusive right of the Jewish leadership in
the land of Israel, particularly that of the Nasi. Since that time,
such regulation has been regarded as a task of crucial importance for
the observance of Judaism.
In the Bible, the Hebrew months are lunar (i.e. each month
begins with the "birth" of the new moon). However, since festivals
such as Passover and Sukkot had to occur in the proper agricultural
season (i.e. according to the solar year), it is obvious that the
Jewish calendar must be lunar-solar. This means that the lunar year
(appoximately 354 days) and the solar year (approximately 365 days)
had to be harmonized and adjusted to each other, a complex process
that was meticulously refined by the ancient and medieval Rabbis. The
Jewish day has twenty-four hours and starts in the evening.
The introduction of a permanent Jewish calendar became
increasingly urgent after Jews began to spread throughout the world.
As Jewry dispersed, regular contacts with the Jewish leadership in the
Land of Israel, which had the sole privilege of regulating the
calendar, became more and more difficult. The most important step in
this process of permanent calendar reform was the adoption in the
eighth century (C.E. of a nineteen-year cycle of "intercalatiion")
(i.e. harmonization of the solar and lunar calendar). The adoption of
this cycle made the actual physical observation of the new moon and
the signs of approaching spring unnecessary. This cycle of nineteen
years adjusts the lunar year to the solar year by inserting into it
seven leap years (i.e. the additional 30-day month of Adar) in the
following order: every third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth,
seventeenth, and nineteenth year.
In the Bible, the months are most frequently designated by
ordinal numbers. However, there are references both to such ancient
names as Ziv, Ethanim, and Aviv and to some of the now customary names
Kislev, Tever, Adar, Nisan, Sivan, and Elul. which are of Babylonian
origin. But, it is only since the first century that the Hebrew
calendar has employed the now traditional month names of Nisan, Iyar,
Sivan, Tamuz, Av, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, and Adar.
A.D., B.C. and B.C.E.
The Jewish tradition of counting years since the
creation of the world has its roots in early Talmudic times, but it
was not adopted authoritatively until several centuries later. In
Biblical times, dates were referred to as being "two years before the
earthquake" or "the year of the death of King Uzziah" etc. In Talmudic
times, we find instances of dating from the creation of the world, but
this was adopted as the Jewish method only much later as a response to
Christian dating.
It was in the eighth century that Christians began to
date their documents generally as A.D. (the year of the Lord), and so
it is hardly a coincidence that in the eighth or ninth centuries we
find more and more Jewish documents dated "since the creation of the
world". Obviously, calculating dates based on the Christian
theological principles were not acceptable to Jews; nevertheless, it
was not until the twelvth century that dating "since the creation" was
accepted by Jews universally.
Only a minority of Jews today would take the traditional
Jewish date as being literally "since the creation of the world".
Jewish texts will often use such designations as B.C.E.
(Before the Common Era) or C.E. in order to avoid any dating related
to Christianity. In order to determine the Jewish year for a given
civil year, the number 3760 is added; conversely in order to find the
civil year for a given Jewish year, 3760 is substracted. Of course,
since the Jewish year changes with Rosh HaShanah, the number to work
with from Rosh HaShanah to December 31 is 3761.
Not only was the confirmation and sanctification of the new
moon --- and therefore the new month --- the duty of the Palistinian
authorities, but theirs was also the task of communicating the dates
of the new moons to every Jewish community. This was a task of vital
importance, as the new moon determines the dates of the festivals. At
an earlier time, the new moon (i.e. the first of the month) was
communicated to all the Jews in Palestine and the Diaspora by kindling
flares on hilltops. However, after the Samaritans kindled flares at
the wrong time to confuse the Jews, the news about the New Moon had to
be communicated by messengers. The change was introduced by Juda
Hanasi (135-200 C.E)
Since it happened tha the messengers did not arrive in
time at the right places of their destination outside of Palestine
because of road hazards, wars, or political upheavals, a second day
was added to the holidays for the Jews in the Diaspora. During the
Talmudic period a stable, scientifically determined calendar was
adopted, and so the pragmatic need for "second days" disappeared.
*************************************************************************
From: Jerry Baker
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The Biblical Calendar
Dear Eddie,
Can you tell me when God changed the new year from just before
Passover as He stated in Exodus to the fall on Trumpets? I can find no
biblical source for this change and am wondering when this transpired.
Thanks
Jerry
>From Eddie:
***************
Jerry,
Actually you have it backwards. Rosh HaShanah starts the new
year for the CIVIL calendar. The CIVIL calendar existed FIRST.
In Exodus 12:1-2, God introduced the RELIGIOUS calendar as it
is written:
"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
saying, THIS MONTH shall be unto the BEGINNING of MONTHS: it
shall be the FIRST MONTH of the year to you"
In Exodus 13:4 it is written:
"This day came ye out in the month of Abib (Aviv / Nisan)"
Therefore, the CIVIL calendar originally existed and God
introduced the RELIGIOUS calendar in Exodus 12 when the month of
Passover is the FIRST MONTH. According to Jewish tradition, the world
was created on Tishrei 1.
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