Hot answers tagged calendar
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The discrepancy has been raised repeatedly over the centuries, by scholars Jew and non-Jew, Orthodox or not, alike.
Rabbi Shimon Schwab penned an essay on it whereby he very much raised the possibility that the non-Seder-Olam chronology may be correct, though later referring to it as a "thought experiment."
In his taped lectures on the history of the ...
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The Shulchan Aruch (OC 428:2) informs us that under the current fixed calendar, Rosh Chodesh Nissan will only fall on either Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. So there can be weeks of 7, 5, 3, or 1 day respectively.
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The Ritva writes (RH 11a):
ויומי ניסן לאו דוקא אלא כל מקום ומקום לפי מה שהוא דמלבלבי.
"The days of Nissan" is not precise, but rather every place according to when the trees blossom.
Based on this, Rabbis Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss (Minchat Yitzchak 10:16) and Tzvi Pesach Frank (Har Tzvi OC 118) ruled that in the Southern Hemisphere the blessing ...
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The Rambam here is giving an easy way to calculate the moment of conjunction for future months. A (lunar synodic) month, as you stated, is 29 days 12 hours and 793/1080 hours. Since 28 days is exactly 4 weeks (bringing us back to the same point in the week), the next conjunction will occur 1 day 12 hours and 793/1080 hours later in the week relative to the ...
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There are two main Regalim - Pesach and Sukkot. Each one has another one-day mini yom-tov without special mitzvos afterwards. They are each called an "Atzeret" since they have no special mitzvot and are a culmination of the previous holiday. 7 weeks after the beginning of Pesach is Shavuot/Atzeret, and the day after Sukkot is Shemini Atzeret.
The ...
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Rav Yaaqov Medan wrote this article about using the Exodus from Egypt as the reference point for years on 5/11/315. That's right: he wrote it on the 5th of Shevat in the year 3315 AE (After the Exodus). He claims to use that notation for all of his "dating in memoranda that he sends to academics, legalists and government officials with whom he comes into ...
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Your first question is a duplicate of When did we start counting the Year since Creation?
In answer to your second question, I have no source, but I would be shocked if the answer was more complex than that the originators of this counting system simply believed (as many still do, myself included) that it was completely accurate.
I suppose that those ...
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The Talmud in Rosh Hashanah (20A) explains that Yom Kippur shouldn't fall out on the day before or after Shabbat, since two consecutive Shabbat-like days could be problematic. If Rosh Hashanah were to fall out on Friday, Yom Kippur would fall out on sunday. Two reasons are given (see the gemara there for a discussion of these two reasons):
If someone dies ...
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Nitey Gavriel (Rosh Hashana pg. 153) brings the custom to have white paroches etc until after Yom Kippur. In Nitey Gavriel (Sukkos pg. 362) he brings the Maharil, Sharey Efrayim and Minhagei Amsterdam who say to put up white paroches etc. on Hashana Rabba - implying that they had already been changed back from Rosh Hashana. However he writes (without citing ...
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The Mishna in Rosh haShana (3:1) states that even if all the Jews and the Beit Din saw the new moon, but didn't manage to declare the new month before the end of the day, then the (previous) month is 'full' (ie has 30 days and the new month would begin the next day).
In other words, Rosh Chodesh is set by declaration of the people via Beit Din, not by when ...
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Let's denote a year by what day is the first day of Rosh Hashanah and what day is the first day of Pesach. So, for example, "2-3" means Rosh Hashanah on Monday and Pesach on Tuesday. For our purposes, years run from Tishrei through Elul.
We have to consider the following yomim tovim: Rosh Hashanah, for which we're provided the day of the week; Yom Kippur, ...
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According to the Dvar Avraham (1:34), the reason one does not count ספירת העומר מספק is because if you do not know for certain what number it is, that is not considered "counting" at all. According to this reason, if there was an actual doubt, you would not be able to count at all. As the Dvar Avraham explains,
אבל לפי דברינו הנ"ל נראה לומר דבר חדש ...
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Rambam Le'am (Mosad Harav Kook, 5717) to Hilchos Kidush Hachodesh 8:6 explains that we want to make all required adjustments at the first possible opportunity in the year. We do not want to do anything to affect Tishrei because of all the Yomim Tovim in that month, and so the next possible months which we can change are Cheshvan and Kislev. (See also "Na'veh ...
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Amazing what you can see when you look.
Irv Bromberg at the University of Toronto discusses an adjustment. Currently there are 13 months in 7 years out of every 19; the new formula would involve 130 leap years out of every 353.
As he clarifies, witnesses only determined when exactly the new month would start; the Sanhedrin could decide whether to make it a ...
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There is a Chabad custom (Oztar Minhagei Chabad pg. 393) to announce on Motzei Simchas Torah the Posuk "ויעקב הלך לדרכו" (And Yaakov went on his way), indicating that the holiday season of Tishrie is now over, and it is now time to implement to inspiration we have received throughout the month into our everyday life. There is also a custom to make this ...
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In this question, Destruction of the world after 1000 years of Moshiach?, Shmuel Brin in the course of his answer says,
Regarding the seventh millenium, the Gemara says (Sanhedrin 97a) that
"Six thousand years the world will exist and for one it will be
destroyed".
and there are other references in answers as to what will happen after 6000 years.
...
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http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/987524/jewish/Why-Babylonian-Names-for-Jewish-Months.htm
So why did we begin to use these names? Why didn't we stick with the
Biblical practice of referring to months by their number?
Nachmanides suggests that this is consistent with Jeremiah's
prophecy: "Therefore, behold days are coming, says G‑d, ...
3
Some of this is conjecture on my part, but it seems like Rashi commentary discusses why we need all these dates (except Aharon's passing). He seems to be implicitly answering your question.
The first census
Rashi (Bamidbar 1:1) says that G-d often counted the Jews because He loved them. The Maskil Ledavid, in his commentary on Rashi, explains that all the ...
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Seder Olam Rabbah 8 says the Jews left Sinai on 20 Iyar of Year 2 after the Exodus, traveled to Kibrot Hattaavah, spent 30 days there (because that's how long they ate the quail for Num 11:20), traveled to Chatzerot, spent 7 days there (because that's how long Miriam was expelled for Num 12:15), traveled to Midbar Paran, arriving on 28 Sivan or the same ...
2
Echad, Shtayim, Shalosh (Cardinal numbers)
Rishon, Sheni, Shlishi (Ordinal numbers)
Ordinal makes more sense to me: You are ranking (enumerating) the days, not counting how many there are.
But Bereishis mixes the two types - which is explained here: http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5769/bereishit69/aliya.htm
"The day is called YOM ECHAD (cardinal number) ...
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The tradition of counting from the creation of the world (anno mundi, or AM, vs. anno domini, or AD) comes from various texts of the Middle Ages. Counting from the creation of the world was common through the eighteenth century in many general histories as well, though the Enlightenment tradition critiqued such historical views (such as AM and organizing the ...
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The Maharal in "Tiferes Yisroel" perek 4, explains at length why the amount of negative commandments corresponds to the number of days in the solar year and the positive commandments to the limbs in the human body. Basically he says that the purpose of the negative commandments are to keep the world in order similar to the never changing properties of the ...
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The רמב"ם in הלכות קידוש החודש פרק ו says in הלכה ח:
והמולד הראשון שממנו תתחיל, הוא מולד שהיה בשנה ראשונה של יצירה, והוא
היה בליל שני חמש שעות בלילה ומאתיים וארבעה חלקים, סימן להם ב' ה' ר"ד;
וממנו היא התחלת החשבון.
So Molad Tohu was on Sunday night, 2 Tishrie year 0001, 5 hours and 204 parts after sunset, i.e. 23:11 PM and 33⅓ seconds, according ...
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Because it stands between the two holy days of Rosh Chodesh Sivan and the Shloshes Yemei Hagbala (similar to Taanis 18a: "Since it was between two festivals, they made it a festival itself. See also Sanhedrin 104a. - Ta'amey Haminhagim (610). Nitey Gavriel brings it in the name of Shu"t Haelef Lecha Shlomo (331)
Since on that day Hashem said to us "ואתם ...
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January 27th is probably the most universally accepted non-Jewish holocaust remembrance day. It is the anniversary of the day that Soviet Troop liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945. It was designated by the UN in 2005 and as of 2004 at least 12 countries have some type of official observance on this day. Israel has designated this day, not as a holocaust ...
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In his Luach Hayom Yom, the Lubavitcher Rebbe explains the message of Pesach Sheini: "The theme of Pesach Sheini is that it is never too late. It is always possible to put things right. Even if one was tamei (ritually impure), or one was far away, and even in a case of "lachem", when this (impurity etc.) was deliberate - nonetheless he can correct it." This ...
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(Background: Biblically, the new grain becomes permitted at dawn on the 16th of Nissan if there is no Korban Omer being brought, but Rabbi Yochanon ben Zakai enacted to wait the whole day now that there is no Temple.)
The Talmud (Menachot 68b) records:
רב פפא ורב הונא בריה דרב יהושע אכלי חדש באורתא דשיתסר נגהי שבסר קסברי חדש בחוצה לארץ דרבנן ולספיקא לא ...
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The Baal HaMaor asks (last piece on Pesachim) why we don't count twice for the ספיקא דיומא. He answers that if so, the count will go until the first day of Shavuos (i.e. you'll count "today is 49" on Shavuos itself), and we will come to disgrace Yom Tov. The Raavad answers the same question by saying that if we count on two days we will end up with a ...
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In a non-leap year that starts on Monday and has 29 days in Kislev, no yom tov is Shabas in Israel or out of it. So zero days is the least.
In a non-leap year that starts on Shabas and has 29 days in Kislev, the first days of Rosh Hashana, Sukos, and Sh'mini Atzeres are Shabas, as is the seventh day of Pesach. No year has more, so four days is the most.
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