Hebrew calendar

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Jewish calendar, showing Adar II between 1 !" and 1 #$ %he Hebrew or Jewish calendar & , , , , ha'luach ha'ivri' is a lunisolar calendar used today predominantly for Jewish religious observances( It determines the dates for Jewish holidays and the appropriate public reading of %orah portions, yahrzeits &dates to commemorate the death of a relative', and daily )salm readings, among many ceremonial uses( In Israel, it is used for religious purposes, provides a time frame for agriculture and is an official calendar for civil purposes, although the latter usage has been steadily declining in favor of the *regorian calendar( %he calendar used by Jews has evolved over time( %he basic structural features of the early calendar are thought to have been influenced by the +abylonian calendar, including the seven, day week, the lunisolar intercalary ad-ustment and the names of the months( .ntil the %annaitic period &appro/imately 101!!0 23' the calendar employed a new crescent moon, with an additional month normally added every two or three years to correct for the difference between twelve lunar months and the solar year( When to add it was based on observation of natural agriculture,related events(415 %hrough the Amoraic period &!001600 23' and into the *eonic period, this system was gradually displaced by the mathematical rules used today( %he principles and rules were fully codified by 7aimonides in the Mishneh Torah in the 1!th century( 7aimonides8 work also replaced counting 9years since the destruction of the %emple9 with the modern creation,era Anno Mundi. +ecause of the roughly eleven,day difference between twelve lunar months and one solar year, the length of the :ebrew calendar year varies in the repeating 1 ,year 7etonic cycle of !;6 lunar months, with the intercalary month added according to defined rules every two or three years, for a total of seven times per 1 years( 3ven with this intercalation, the average :ebrew calendar year is longer by about < minutes and !6=!6>6" seconds than the current mean solar year, so that every !!# years, the :ebrew calendar will fall a day behind the current mean solar year? and about every !;1 years it will fall a day behind the *regorian calendar year(

%he era used since the middle ages is the Anno Mundi epoch &@atin for 9in the year of the world9? :ebrew: ,, 9from the creation of the world9'( As with Anno Domini &A.D. or AD', the words or abbreviation for Anno Mundi &A.M. or AM' for the era should properly precede the date rather than follow it, although this is no longer always followed( A7 6""; began at sunset on 1< Aeptember !01! and ended on # Aeptember !01;( A7 6""# began at sunset on # Aeptember !01; and will end on !# Aeptember !01#( A7 6""6 will begin at sunset on !# Aeptember !01# and end on 1; Aeptember !016(4!5

Contents
4hide5

1 2omponents o 1(1 Bay and hours

o

1(! Weeks

1(!(1 Cames of weekdays 1(!(! Bays of week of holidays

1(; 7onths

1(;(1 Importance of lunar months 1(;(! Cames of months 1(;(; @eap months

1(# Dears

1(#(1 )revious systems 1(#(! Anno 7undi &A7' 1(#(; Cew year 1(#(# @eap years 1(#(6 Eosh :ashanah postponement 1(#(< Beficient, regular, and complete years

! :istory
o o o

!(1 7ishnaic period !(! 7odern calendar !(; .sage in contemporary Israel

; Fther practices

o o o

;(1 Garaite calendar ;(! %he Humran calendar ;(; )ersian civil calendar

# Astronomic calculations
o o o o

#(1 Aynodic month , the molad interval #(! Aeasonal drift #(; Implications for Jewish ritual #(# Worked e/ample

6 9Eectifying9 the :ebrew calendar < Aee also " Eeferences $ +ibliography 3/ternal links
o

(1 Bate converters

Components[edit]
Day and hours[edit]
Further information: Zmanim %he Jewish day is of no fi/ed length( %he Jewish day is modeled on the reference to 9(((there was evening and there was morning(((94;5 in the 2reation account in the first chapter of *enesis( +ased on the classic Eabbinic interpretation of this te/t, a day in the Eabbinic :ebrew calendar runs from sunset &start of 9the evening9' to the ne/t sunset( Fne complicating factor is that there is no clear cut sunrise or sunset time at the e/treme latitudes during certain seasons( At higher latitudes in summer, when the sun does not sink below the horiIon, a day is counted from midday to midday, and in the winter, when the sun does not rise above the horiIon, from midnight to midnight(4#5 %here is no clock in the Jewish scheme, so that a civil clock is used( %hough the civil clock, including the one in use in Israel, incorporates local adoptions of various conventions such as time Iones, standard times and daylight saving, these have no place in the Jewish scheme( %he civil clock is used only as a reference point , in e/pressions such as: 9Ahabbat starts at (((9( %he steady progression of sunset around the world and seasonal changes results in gradual civil time

changes from one day to the ne/t based on observable astronomical phenomena &the sunset' and not on man,made laws and conventions( Instead of the international date line convention, there are varying opinions as to where the day changes( Fne opinion uses the antimeridian of Jerusalem( &Jerusalem is ;6J1;K east of the prime meridian, so the antimeridian is at 1##J#"8 W, passing through eastern Alaska(' Fther opinions e/ist as well(4654<5 3very hour is divided into 10$0 halakim &singular: helek' or parts( A part is ;L seconds or 1>1$ minute( %he ultimate ancestor of the helek was a small +abylonian time period called a barleycorn, itself eMual to 1>"! of a +abylonian time de ree &1J of celestial rotation'(4"5 Actually, the barleycorn or she was the name applied to the smallest units of all +abylonian measurements, whether of length, area, volume, weight, angle, or time( %he weekdays start with Aunday &day 1, or !om "ishon' and proceed to Aaturday &day "', Ahabbat( Aince some calculations use division, a remainder of 0 signifies Aaturday( While calculations of days, months and years are based on fi/ed hours eMual to 1>!# of a day, the beginning of each halachic day is based on the local time of sunset( %he end of the Ahabbat and other Jewish holidays is based on nightfall &Tzeth ha#ochabim' which occurs some amount of time, typically #! to "! minutes, after sunset( According to 7aimonides, nightfall occurs when three medium,siIed stars become visible after sunset( +y the 1"th century this had become three second,magnitude stars( %he modern definition is when the center of the sun is "J below the geometric &airless' horiIon, somewhat later than civil twilight at <J( %he beginning of the daytime portion of each day is determined both by dawn and sunrise( 7ost halachic times are based on some combination of these four times and vary from day to day throughout the year and also vary significantly depending on location( %he daytime hours are often divided into $ha%oth Zemaniyoth or 9:alachic hours9 by taking the time between sunrise and sunset or between dawn and nightfall and dividing it into 1! eMual hours( %he nighttime hours are similarly divided into 1! eMual portions, albeit a different amount of time than the 9hours9 of the daytime( %he earliest and latest times for Jewish services, the latest time to eat 2hametI on the day before )assover and many other rules are based on $ha%oth Zemaniyoth( For convenience, the modern day using $ha%oth Zemaniyoth is often discussed as if sunset were at <:00pm, sunrise at <:00am and each hour were eMual to a fi/ed hour( For e/ample, halachic noon may be after 1:00pm in some areas during daylight saving time( Within the 7ishnah, however, the numbering of the hours starts with the 9first9 hour after the start of the day(4$5

Weeks[edit]
%here is a weekly cycle of seven days, mirroring the seven,day period of the +ook of *enesis in which the world is created( %he names for the days of the week, like those in the 2reation account, are simply the day number within the week, with Ahabbat being the seventh day( 3ach day of the week runs from sunset to the following sunset and is figured locally( %here are additional rules in the :ebrew calendar to prevent certain holidays from falling on certain days of the week( &Aee Eosh :ashanah postponement, below(' %hese rules are

implemented by adding an e/tra day to 7archeshvan &making it ;0 days long' or by removing one day from Gislev &making it ! days long'( Accordingly, a common :ebrew calendar year can have a length of ;6;, ;6# or ;66 days, while a leap :ebrew calendar year can have a length of ;$;, ;$# or ;$6 days( Names of weekdays[edit]

A bronIe Ahabbat candlestick holder made in +ritish 7andate )alestine in the 1 #0s( %he :ebrew calendar follows a seven,day weekly cycle, which runs concurrently but independently of the monthly and annual cycles( %he names for the days of the week are simply the day number within the week( In :ebrew, these names may be abbreviated using the numerical value of the :ebrew letters, for e/ample , &Day &, or Dom Eishon & , '':

, &abbreviated ,', meaning 9first day9 4corresponds to Aunday5 &starting at preceding sunset of Aaturday' 2. Dom Aheni , , , &abbr( ,' meaning 9second day9 4corresponds to 7onday5
1. Dom Eishon , 3. Dom Ahlishi , 4. Dom Eevii ,

,, , &abbr( ,' meaning 9third day9 4corresponds to %uesday5

,, , &abbr( ,' meaning 9fourth day9 4corresponds to ,, , &abbr( ,' N 9fifth day9 4corresponds to %hursday5

Wednesday5
5. Dom 2hamishi , 6. Dom Ahishi ,

, , &abbr( ,' meaning 9si/th day9 4corresponds to Friday5 , &abbr( ,', or more usually Ahabbat , N 9Aabbath,

7. Dom Ahabbat ,

rest day9 4corresponds to Aaturday5( %he names of the days of the week are modeled on the seven days mentioned in the 2reation story( For e/ample, *enesis 1:6 9((( And there was evening and there was morning, one day9( 'ne day & ,' in *enesis 1:16 is translated in J)A as first day, and in some other conte/ts &including GJO' as day one( In subseMuent verses the :ebrew refers to the days using ordinal

numbers, e(g(, 8second day8, 8third day8, and so forth, but with the si/th and seventh days the :ebrew includes the definite article &9the9'(4 5 %he Jewish Ahabbat has a special role in the Jewish weekly cycle( %here are many special rules which relate to the Ahabbat, discussed more fully in the %almudic tractate Ahabbat( In :ebrew, the word $habbat & ' can also mean 9&%almudic' week9,4105 so that in ritual liturgy a phrase like 9Dom Eevii bPAhabbat9 means 9the fourth day in the week9(4115 Days of week of holidays[edit] Main article: Days of (eek on )ebre( calendar %he period from 1 Adar &or Adar II, in leap years' to ! :eshvan contains all of the festivals specified in the +ible , )urim &1# Adar', )esach &16 Cisan', Ahavuot &< Aivan', Eosh :ashanah &1 %ishrei', Dom Gippur &10 %ishrei', Aukkot &16 %ishrei', and Ahemini AtIeret &!! %ishrei'( %his period is fi/ed, during which no ad-ustments are made( +osh #$ Hashanah' Passover "havuot %ammu&' "ukkot' ,om Chanukah %u Purim first first #. %evet %isha "hmini -ippur first day! (ishvat day! day! ()*v *t&eret' first day! Aun or Aun or %hu Aat Aun AunQ 7on Wed Aat or 7on 7on %ue Fri Aun %ue Aun %ue %hu 7on Wed Fri Aun %ue %hu %ue %hu Aat %hu Aat 7on 7on Wed or %hu Fri or Aat %ue Wed, %hu, or Fri Fri or Aun 7on %ue, Wed, or %hu %hu or Aat

Q)ostponed from Ahabbat

/onths[edit]
%he :ebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar, meaning that months are based on lunar months, but years are based on solar years(41!5 %he calendar year features twelve lunar months of twenty, nine or thirty days, with an intercalary lunar month added periodically to synchroniIe the twelve lunar cycles with the longer solar year( &%hese e/tra months are added seven times every nineteen years( Aee @eap months, below(' %he beginning of each Jewish lunar month is based on the appearance of the new moon(41;5 Although originally the new lunar crescent had to be observed and certified by witnesses,41#5 the moment of the new moon is now appro/imated arithmetically(

%he mean period of the lunar month &precisely, the synodic month' is very close to ! (6 days( Accordingly, the basic :ebrew calendar year is one of twelve lunar months alternating between ! and ;0 days: %ishrei &;0 days', 7archeshvan &! days', Gislev &;0 days', %evet &! days', Ahevat &;0 days', Adar &! days', Cisan &;0 days', Iyar &! days', Aivan &;0 days', %ammuI &! days', Av &;0 days', and 3lul &! days', for a total of ;6# days( In leap years &such as 6""1' an additional month, Adar I &;0 days' is added after Ahevat, while the regular Adar is referred to as 9Adar II(9 %he insertion of the leap month mentioned above is based on the reMuirement that )assoverRthe festival celebrating the 3/odus from 3gypt, which took place in the springRalways occur in the 4northern hemisphere8s5 spring season( Aince the adoption of a fi/ed calendar, intercalations in the :ebrew calendar have been assigned to fi/ed points in a 1 ,year cycle( )rior to this, the intercalation was determined empirically: %he year may be intercalated on three grounds: 8aviv 4i(e(the ripeness of barley5, fruits of trees, and the eMuino/( Fn two of these grounds it should be intercalated, but not on one of them alone(
4165

0mportance of lunar months[edit] From very early times, the 7esopotamian lunisolar calendar was in wide use by the countries of the western Asia region( %he structure, which was also used by the Israelites, was based on lunar months with the intercalation of an additional month to bring the cycle closer to the solar cycle(
41<5

Cum 10:10 stresses the importance in Israelite religious observance of the new month &:ebrew: , Eosh 2hodesh, 9beginning of the month9': 9((( in your new moons, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt,offerings(((9 Aimilarly in Cum !$:11( 9%he beginning of the month9 meant the appearance of a new moon( According to the Mishnah and %osefta, in the 7accabean, :erodian, and 7ishnaic periods, new months were determined by the sighting of a new crescent, with two eye witnesses reMuired to testify to the Aanhedrin to having seen the new lunar crescent at sunset(41"5 %he practice in the time of *amaliel II &c( 100 23' was for witnesses to select the appearance of the moon from a collection of drawings that depicted the crescent in a variety of orientations, only a few of which could be valid in any given month(41$5 %hese observations were compared against calculations(41 5 At first the beginning of each Jewish month was signaled to the communities of Israel and beyond by fires lit on mountaintops, but after the Aamaritans began to light false fires, messengers were sent(4!05 %he inability of the messengers to reach communities outside Israel before mid,month :igh :oly Bays &Auccot and )assover' led outlying communities to celebrate scriptural festivals for two days rather than one, observing the second feast,day of the Jewish diaspora because of uncertainty of whether the previous month ended after ! or ;0 days(4!15 In his work Mishneh Torah &11"$', 7aimonides included a chapter 9Aanctification of the Cew 7oon9, in which he discusses the calendrical rules and their scriptural basis( :e notes,

9+y how much does the solar year e/ceed the lunar yearS +y appro/imately 11 days( %herefore, whenever this e/cess accumulates to about ;0 days, or a little more or less, one month is added and the particular year is made to consist of 1; months, and this is the so,called embolismic &intercalated' year( For the year could not consist of twelve months plus so,and,so many days, since it is said: throughout the months of the year &Cum !$:1#', which implies that we should count the year by months and not by days(94!!5 Names of months[edit] +iblical references to the pre,Jewish calendar include ten months identified by number rather than by name( In parts of the %orah portion *oach &9Coah9' &specifically, *en ":11, $:;,#, $:1;, 1#' it is implied that the months are thirty days long(4!;5 %here is also an indication that there were twelve months in the annual cycle &1 Gings #:", 1 2hronicles !":1,16'( 7any countries in the western Asian region used the 7esopotamian calendar from very early times, though the names of months varied(41<5 )rior to the +abylonian e/ile, the names of only four months are referred to in the %anakh:

Aviv , first month , literally 9spring9 &3/odus 1!:!, 1;:#, !;:16, ;#:1$, Beut( 1<:1'? Ziv , second month , literally 9light9 &1 Gings <:1, <:;"'? +thanim , seventh month , literally 9strong9 in plural, perhaps referring to strong rains &1 Gings $:!'? and ,ul , eighth month &1 Gings <:;$'(

All of these are believed to be 2anaanite names(4!#5 %hese names are only mentioned in connection with the building of the First %emple( :Tkan .lfgard suggests that the use of what are rarely used 2anaanite &or in the case of 3thanim perhaps Corthwest,semitic' names indicates that 9the author is consciously utiliIing an archaiIing terminology, thus giving the impression of an ancient story(((9(4!65 At some point during the +abylonian e/ile or diaspora, which started in 6 " +23, +abylonian Jews commenced to use +abylonian month names, which names continue to be used today(41<5 %he Ayrian calendar used in the @evant region shares many of the names for months as the :ebrew calendar, such as Cisan, Iyyar, %ammuI, Ab, 3lul, %ishri, and Adar, indicating a common +abylonian origin( :ebrew names and romaniIed transliteration may somewhat differ, as they do for 7archeshvan & 'or Gislev & ': the :ebrew words shown here are those commonly indicated e. . in newspapers( Hebrew names of the months with their (abylonian analo1s Holidays' Common' (abylonian Hebrew %iberian *cademy 4en1th Notable 3ther analo1 days

Notes

, , CUsVn

Cisan

Cissan

;0 days *isanu

)assover

2alled Abib &3/odus 1;:#, !;:16, ;#:1$, Beut( 1<:1' and Cisan &3sther ;:"' in the %anakh( 2alled Ziv in 1 Gings <:1, <:;"(

/ , , ,,

IyyVr

Iyyar

Iyar

! days Ayaru

)esach Aheni @ag +8Fmer Ahavuot

/ , , AUwVn , ! %ammWI #
X" YlWl

Aivan

Aiwan

;0 days $imanu

%ammuI

%amuI

! days Dumuzu

6 <

Av 3lul

Ab

;0 days Abu ! days -lulu

Camed for Aeventeent the h of +abylonian %ammuI god BumuIi %isha +8Av %u +8Av Eosh :ashanah Dom Gippur Aukkot Ahemini AtIeret Aimchat %orah

"

, , , %iZrU

%ishri

%ishrei

;0 days Tashritu

2alled +thanim in 1 Gings $:!( First month of civil year(

/ 7ar$eZwV n / & , Gisl[w , & ' & (["[)

7archeshva 7ar%eshva n ! or Arakhsamn n 2heshvan ;0 days a 7ar%eshwan Gislev %evet Gislev 2hisleu 2hislev %ebeth ! or #islimu ;0 days ! days Tebetu :anukkah %enth of %evet

2alled ,ul in 1 Gings <:;$(

10

11 1!@Q

' \ P"V* + / + +

Ahvat Adar IQ Adar > Adar IIQ

Ahevat Ahebat Aebat

;0 days $habatu ;0 days

%u +ishvat

1!

],Vr

! days Adaru

)urim

Fnly in @eap years(

In a regular &kesidran' year, 7archeshvan has ! days and Gislev has ;0 days( :owever, because of the Eosh :ashanah postponement rules &see below' Gislev may lose a day to have ! days, and the year is called a short &chaser' year, or 7archeshvan may acMuire an additional day to have ;0 days, and the year is called a full &maleh' year( %he calendar rules have been designed to ensure that Eosh :ashanah does not fall on a Aunday, Wednesday or Friday( %his is to ensure that Dom Gippur does not directly precede or follow Ahabbat, which would create practical difficulties, and that :oshana Eabbah is not on a Ahabbat, in which case certain ceremonies would be lost for a year( 4eap months[edit] %he solar year is about eleven days longer than twelve lunar months( %he +ible does not directly mention the addition of 9embolismic9 or intercalary months( :owever, without the insertion of embolismic months, Jewish festivals would gradually shift outside of the seasons reMuired by the %orah( %his has been ruled as implying a reMuirement for the insertion of embolismic months to reconcile the lunar cycles to the seasons, which are integral to solar yearly cycles( When the observational form of the calendar was in use, whether or not an embolismic month was announced after the 9last month9 &Adar' depended on 8aviv 4i(e(the ripeness of barley5, fruits of trees, and the eMuino/( Fn two of these grounds it should be intercalated, but not on one of them alone(4165 It may be noted that in the +ible the name of the first month, Aviv, literally means 9spring9( %hus, if Adar was over and Apring had not yet arrived, an additional month was observed( %raditionally, for the +abylonian and :ebrew lunisolar calendars, the years ;, <, $, 11, 1#, 1", and 1 are the long &1;,month' years of the 7etonic cycle( %his cycle, which can be used to predict eclipses, forms the basis of the *reek and :ebrew calendars, and is used for the computation of the date of 3aster each year Buring leap years Adar I &or Adar Aleph R 9first Adar9' is added before the regular Adar( Adar I is actually considered to be the e/tra month, and has ;0 days( Adar II &or Adar +et R 9second Adar9' is the 9real9 Adar, and has the usual ! days( For this reason, holidays such as )urim are observed in Adar II, not Adar I(

,ears[edit]

%he :ebrew calendar year conventionally begins on Eosh :ashanah( :owever, other dates serve as the beginning of the year for different religious purposes( %here are three Mualities that distinguish one year from another: whether it is a leap year or a common year, on which of four permissible days of the week the year begins, and whether it is a deficient, regular, or complete year( 7athematically, there are !# &!^#^;' possible combinations, but only 1# of them are valid( 3ach of these patterns is called a keviyah &:ebrew _`abc for 9a setting9 or 9an established thing9', and is encoded as a series of three :ebrew letters( Previous systems[edit] +efore the adoption of the current A7 year numbering system, other systems were in use( In early times, the years were counted from some significant historic event( &e(g( 1 Gings <:1' Buring the period of the monarchy, it was the widespread practice in western Asia to use era year numbers according to the accession year of the monarch of the country involved( %his practice was also followed by the united kingdom of Israel &e(g( 1 Gings 1#:!6', kingdom of Judah &e(g( ! Gings 1$:1;', kingdom of Israel &e(g( ! Gings 1":<', )ersia &e(g( Cehemiah !:1' and others( +esides, the author of Gings coordinated dates in the two kingdoms by giving the accession year of a monarch in terms of the year of the monarch of the other kingdom, &e(g( ! Gings $:1<' though some commentators note that these dates do not always synchronise(4!<5 Fther era dating systems have been used at other times( For e/ample, Jewish communities in the +abylonian diaspora counted the years from the first deportation from Israel, that of Jehoiachin in 6 " +23, &e(g( 3Iekiel 1:1,!'( %he era year was then called 9year of the captivity of Jehoiachin9( &e(g( ! Gings !6:!"' Buring the :ellenistic 7accabean period, Aeleucid era counting was used, &e(g( 1 7accabees 1:6#' at least in the *reek,influenced area of Israel( %here is indication that Jews of the Ehineland in the early 7iddle Ages used the 9years after the destruction of the %emple9 &e(g(, 7ainI Anonymous'( %he $eder 'lam "abbah also recogniIed the importance of the Jubilee and Aabbatical cycles as a long,term calendrical system, and attempted at various places to fit the Aabbatical and Jubilee years into its chronological scheme( *nno /undi */![edit] Further information: Anno Mundi

%he Jewish calendar8s reference point is traditionally held to be about one year before the 2reation of the world(

Aince the codification by 7aimonides in 11"$ 23, the Jewish calendar has used the Anno 7undi epoch &@atin for din the year of the world,e abbreviated AM or A.M.. :ebrew , ', sometimes referred to as the d:ebrew era(e Buring the %almudic era, from the 1st to the 10th century, the center of world Judaism was in the 7iddle 3ast, primarily in the %almudic Academies of IraM and )alestine( Jews in these regions used Aeleucid 3ra dating &also known as the 9Anno *raecorum &A*'9 or the 93ra of 2ontracts9' as the primary method for indicating a year number(4!"5 For e/ample, the writings of Josephus and the +ooks of the 7accabees used Aeleucid 3ra dating e/clusively, and the Avodah farah states: Eav Aha b( Jacob then put this Muestion: :ow do we know that our 3ra 4of Bocuments5 is connected with the Gingdom of *reece at allS Why not say that it is reckoned from the 3/odus from 3gypt, omitting the first thousand years and giving the years of the ne/t thousandS In that case, the document is really post,datedg Aaid Eav Cahman: In the Biaspora the *reek 3ra alone is used( :e 4the Muestioner5 thought that Eav Cahman wanted to dispose of him anyhow, but when he went and studied it thoroughly he found that it is indeed taught 4in a +araita5: In the Biaspora the *reek 3ra alone is used(4!$5 Fccasionally in %almudic writings, reference was made to other starting points for eras, such as Bestruction 3ra dating,4! 5 being the number of years since the "0 23 destruction of the Aecond %emple, and the number of years since the 2reation year based on the calculation in the Aeder Flam Eabbah of Eabbi Jose ben :alafta in about 1<0 23(4;05 +y his calculation, based on the 7asoretic %e/t, Adam was created in ;"<0 +23, later confirmed by the 7uslim chronologist al, +iruni as ;##$ years before the Aeleucid era(4;15 An e/ample is the c( $th century +araita of Aamuel( In the $th and th centuries, the center of Jewish life moved from +abylonia to 3urope, so that counting using the Aeleucid era 9became meaningless9(4!"5 In 11"$ 23, 7aimonides wrote in the Misheh Torah, $anctification of the Moon &11(1<', that he had chosen the 3poch from which calculations of all dates should be as 9the third day of Cisan in this present year ((( which is the year # ;$ of the creation of the world9 &7arch !!, 11"$ 23'(4;!5 :e included all the rules for the calculated calendar and their scriptural basis, including the modern epochal year in his work, and beginning formal usage of the anno mundi era( From the 11th century, anno mundi dating became dominant throughout most of the world8s Jewish communities4!"54;;5 %oday, the rules detailed in 7aimonides8 calendrical code are those generally used by Jewish communities throughout the world( According to Eabbinic reckoning, the beginning of 9year 19 is not 2reation, but about one year before 2reation, with the new moon of its first month &%ishrei' to be called molad tohu &the mean new moon of chaos or nothing'( %he Jewish calendar8s epoch &reference date', 1 %ishrei A7 1, is eMuivalent to 7onday, " Fctober ;"<1 +2>+23 in the proleptic Julian calendar, the eMuivalent tabular date &same daylight period' and is about one year before the traditional Jewish date of 2reation on !6 3lul A7 1, based upon the $eder 'lam "abbah of Eabbi Dossi ben :alafta, a !nd,century sage(4;#5 %hus, adding ;"<0 before Eosh :ashanah or ;"<1 after to a Julian &or proleptic *regorian' year number starting from 1 23 &AB 1' will yield the :ebrew year( For earlier years there may be a discrepancy &see: 7issing years &Jewish calendar''( %he year A7

6""1 began on Aeptember !010 &1 %ishrei or Eosh :ashanah' and, since it was a 1;,month year, ended on !$ Aeptember !011 &! 3lul'( In :ebrew there are two common ways of writing the year number: with the thousands, called ' -& 9ma-or era9', and without the thousands, called '. '-& 9minor era9'( New year[edit]

A shofar made from a ram8s horn is traditionally blown in observance of Eosh :ashanah, the beginning of the Jewish civic year( 3/odus 1!:! and Beut 1<:1 set Aviv &now Cisan' as 9the first of months9: this month shall be unto you the beginning of months? it shall be the first month of the year to you( Cisan 1 is referred to as the ecclesiastical ne( year( In ancient Israel, the start of the ecclesiastical new year for the counting of months and festivals &i(e( Cisan' was determined by reference to )assover( )assover is on 1# Cisan, &@eviticus !;:#,<' which corresponds to the full moon of Cisan( As )assover is a spring festival, it should fall on a full moon day around, and normally -ust after, the vernal &northward' eMuino/( If the twelfth full moon after the previous )assover is too early compared to the eMuino/, a leap month is inserted near the end of the previous year before the new year is set to begin( According to normative Judaism, the verses in 3/odus 1!:11! reMuire that the months be determined by a proper court with the necessary authority to sanctify the months( :ence the court, not the astronomy, has the final decision(4;65 According to some 2hristian and Garaite sources, the tradition in ancient Israel was that 1 Cisan would not start until the barley is ripe, being the test for the onset of spring(4;<5 If the barley was not ripe an intercalary month would be added before Cisan( %he day most commonly referred to as the 9Cew Dear9 is 1 %ishrei, which actually begins in the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year( Fn that day the formal Cew Dear for the counting of years &such as Ahmita and Dovel', Eosh :ashanah &9head of the year9' is observed( &see 3Iekiel #0:1, which uses the phrase 9beginning of the year9(' %his is the civil new year, and the date on which the year number advances( 2ertain agricultural practices are also marked from this date(4;"5

In the 1st century, Josephus stated that while , 7oses(((appointed Cisan(((as the first month for the festivals(((the commencement of the year for everything relating to divine worship, but for selling and buying and other ordinary affairs he preserved the ancient order 4i( e( the year beginning with %ishrei5(94;$5 3dwin %hiele has concluded that the ancient northern Gingdom of Israel counted years using the ecclesiastical new year starting on 1 Aviv &Cisan', while the southern Gingdom of Judah counted years using the civil new year starting on 1 %ishrei(4!<5 %he practice of the Gingdom of Israel was also that of +abylon,4; 5 as well as other countries of the region(41<5 %he practice of Judah is still followed( In fact the Jewish calendar has a multiplicity of new years for different purposes( %he use of these dates has been in use for a long time( %he use of multiple starting dates for a year is comparable to different starting dates for civil 9calendar years9, 9ta/ or fiscal years9, 9academic years9, 9religious cycles9, etc( +y the time of the redaction of the Mishnah, Eosh :ashanah 1:1 &c( !00 23', -urists had identified four new,year dates: %he 1st of Cisan is the new year for kings and feasts? the 1st of 3lul is the new year for the tithe of cattle((( the 1st of %ishri is the new year for years, of the years of release and -ubilee years, for the planting and for vegetables? and the 1st of Ahevat is the new year for trees,so the school of Ahammai? and the school of :illel say: Fn the 16th thereof(4#05 %he month of 3lul is the new year for counting animal tithes &ma'aser behemah'( Tu ,ishvat &9the 16th of Ahevat9' marks the new year for trees &and agricultural tithes'( %he table below shows the dates of the Jewish Cew Dear( ,ear 6"<" 6"<$ 6"< 6""0 6""1 Date !; Aeptember !00< 1; Aeptember !00" ;0 Aeptember !00$ 1 Aeptember !00 Aeptember !010 Days ;66 ;$;Q ;6# ;66 ;$6Q ,ear 6"$" 6"$$ 6"$ 6" 0 6" 1 Date 1! Aeptember !0!< ! Fctober !0!" !1 Aeptember !0!$ 10 Aeptember !0! !$ Aeptember !0;0 Days ;$6Q ;66 ;6# ;$;Q ;66

6""! 6""; 5$$6 6""6 6""< 6""" 6""$ 6"" 6"$0 6"$1 6"$! 6"$; 6"$# 6"$6 6"$<

! Aeptember !011 1" Aeptember !01! 5 "eptember 7.#8 !6 Aeptember !01# 1# Aeptember !016 ; Fctober !01< !1 Aeptember !01" 10 Aeptember !01$ ;0 Aeptember !01 1 Aeptember !0!0 " Aeptember !0!1 !< Aeptember !0!! 1< Aeptember !0!; ; Fctober !0!# !; Aeptember !0!6

;6# ;6; 895: ;6# ;$6Q ;6; ;6# ;$6Q ;66 ;6; ;$#Q ;66 ;$;Q ;66 ;6#

6" ! 6" ; 6" # 6" 6 6" < 6" " 6" $ 6" 6$00 6$01 6$0! 6$0; 6$0# 6$06 6$0<

1$ Aeptember !0;1 < Aeptember !0;! !# Aeptember !0;; 1# Aeptember !0;# # Fctober !0;6 !! Aeptember !0;< 10 Aeptember !0;" ;0 Aeptember !0;$ 1 Aeptember !0; $ Aeptember !0#0 !< Aeptember !0#1 16 Aeptember !0#! 6 Fctober !0#; !! Aeptember !0## 1! Aeptember !0#6

;6# ;$;Q ;66 ;$6Q ;6# ;6; ;$6Q ;6# ;66 ;$;Q ;6# ;$6Q ;6; ;66 ;$#Q

Q @eap years of 1; months( 4eap years[edit]

%he Jewish calendar is based on the 7etonic cycle of 1 years, of which 1! are common &non, leap' years of 1! months and " are leap years of 1; months( %o determine whether a Jewish year is a leap year, one must find its position in the 1 ,year 7etonic cycle( %his position is calculated by dividing the Jewish year number by 1 and finding the remainder( For e/ample, the present Jewish year 6""# divided by 1 results in a remainder of 1", indicating that it is year 1" of the 7etonic cycle( Aince there is no year 0, a remainder of 0 indicates that the year is year 1 of the cycle(4#15 Dears ;, <, $, 11, 1#, 1", and 1 the 7etonic cycle are leap years( %o assist in remembering this seMuence, some people use the mnemonic :ebrew word *.2:ABfa% /'/!/, where the :ebrew letters imel/vav/het aleph/dalet/zayin/tet are used as :ebrew numerals eMuivalent to ;, <, $, 1, #, ", ( %he keviyah records whether the year is leap or common: h for p'shutah, meaning simple and indicating a common year, and i indicating a leap year(4#!5 Another memory aid notes that intervals of the ma-or scale follow the same pattern as do Jewish leap years, with do corresponding to year 1 &or 0': a whole step in the scale corresponds to two common years between consecutive leap years, and a half step to one common year between two leap years( %his connection with the ma-or scale is more remarkable4editorializin 5 in the conte/t of 1 eMual temperament( %o determine whether year n of the calendar is a leap year, find the remainder on dividing 4&" ^ n' = 15 by 1 ( If the remainder is < or less it is a leap year? if it is " or more it is not( For e/ample, the remainder on dividing 4&" ^ 6""#' = 15 by 1 is <, so the year 6""# is a leap year( %he remainder on dividing 4&" ^ 6""6' = 15 by 1 is 1;, so the year 6""6 is not a leap year(4citation
needed5

+osh Hashanah postponement[edit] %o calculate the day on which Eosh :ashanah falls, it is Day of week Number of days necessary to first calculate the molad &lunar con-unction or new 7onday ;6; ;66 ;$; ;$6 moon' of %ishrei, and then determine whether the start of the %uesday ;6# ;$# year must be postponed( %he molad can be calculated by %hursday ;6# ;66 ;$; ;$6 multiplying the mean length of a &synodic' lunar month &! Aaturday ;6; ;66 ;$; ;$6 days, 1! hours, and " ; parts' by the elapsed time since another molad whose weekday is known( &%here are 10$0 9parts9 in an hour, making one part eMual to ;1>; seconds(' %he molad tohu began ! days, 6 hours, and !0# parts after the beginning of the week( %he rules are complicated by the fact that the months sub-ect to ad-ustment, 7archeshvan and Gislev, are the eighth and ninth months of the ecclesiastical year while %ishrei is the seventh month( %his means that ad-ustments must be made in one year in anticipation of the day of the week on which Eosh :ashanah will fall in the ne/t year, which may itself be affected by the day on which it will fall in the third year, and so on( %he process is further complicated by the need to insert leap months in accordance with their own cycle(

Cevertheless, only four possible ad-ustments are needed( %hese are called the Eosh :ashanah postponement rules, or deiyyot:4#;5

If the molad occurs at or later than 1$ hours, Eosh :ashanah is postponed a day( %his is called de$iyyah molad zaken, meaning an 9old con-unction(9 If the molad occurs on a Aunday, Wednesday, or Friday, Eosh :ashanah is postponed a day( If de$iyyah molad Iaken places Eosh :ashanah on one of these days, it is postponed a second day( %his is called de$iyyah lo AD-0 an acronym meaning 9not one, four, or si/(9

%he first of these &de$iyyah molad Iaken' is thought to be a relic of when the calendar was established empirically &although there is some doubt'? the second &de$iyyah lo AB.' is applied for religious reasons(4##5 Another two rules are applied much less freMuently and e/ist to prevent illegal year lengths( %heir names are :ebrew acronyms for the way they are calculated:

If the molad in a common year falls on a %uesday after hours and !0# parts, Eosh :ashanah is postponed to %hursday( %his is de$iyyah 1aTa"aD0 an acronym meaning 9; &%uesday', , !0#(9 If the molad following a leap year falls on a 7onday after 16 hours and 6$ parts, Eosh :ashanah is postponed to %uesday( %his is de$iyyah ,eT-Te#a2oT0 and acronym for 9! &7onday', 16, 6$ (9

At the innovation of the rabbis, the mathematical calendar has been arranged to ensure that Dom Gippur does not fall on a Friday or Aunday, and :oshana Eabbah does not fall on Ahabbat(4#65 %hese rules have been instituted because Ahabbat restrictions also apply to Dom Gippur, so that if Dom Gippur were to fall on Friday, it would not be possible to make necessary preparations for Ahabbat &such as candle lighting'( Aimilarly, if Dom Gippur fell on a Aunday, it would not be possible to make preparations for Dom Gippur because the preceding day is Ahabbat(4#<5 Additionally, the laws of Ahabbat override those of :oshana Eabbah, so that if :oshana Eabbah were to fall on Ahabbat certain rituals that are a part of the :oshana Eabbah service &such as carrying willows, which is a form of work' could not be performed(4#"5 %o prevent Dom Gippur &10 %ishrei' from falling on a Friday or Aunday, Eosh :ashanah &1 %ishrei' cannot be a Wednesday or Friday( @ikewise, to prevent :oshana Eabbah &!1 %ishrei' from falling on a Aaturday, Eosh :ashanah cannot be a Aunday( %his leaves only four days on which Eosh :ashanah can fall: 7onday, %uesday, %hursday, and Aaturday, which are referred as the 9four gates(9 3ach day is associated with a number &its order in the week, starting with Aunday as 1', and these numbers are associated with :ebrew letters( %herefore the keviyah uses the letters b,j,_ and k &representing !, ;, 6, and ", for 7onday, %uesday, %hursday, and Aaturday' to denote the starting day of the year( Deficient; re1ular; and complete years[edit]

%he postponement of the year is compensated for by adding a day to the second month or removing one from the third month( A Jewish common year can only have ;6;, ;6#, or ;66 days( A leap year is always ;0 days longer, and so can have ;$;, ;$#, or ;$6 days(

A chaserah year &:ebrew for 9deficient9 or 9incomplete9' is ;6; or ;$; days long( +oth 7archeshvan and Gislev have ! days( %he :ebrew letter l 9het9 is used in the keviyah( A kesidrah year &9regular9 or 9in,order9' is ;6# or ;$# days long( 7archeshvan has ! days while Gislev has ;0 days( %he :ebrew letter m 9kaf9 is used in the keviyah( A shlemah year &9complete9 or 9perfect9' is ;66 or ;$6 days long( +oth 7archeshvan and Gislev have ;0 days( %he :ebrew letter n 9shin9 is used in the keviyah(

Whether a year is deficient, regular, or complete is determined by the time between two ad-acent Eosh :ashanah observances and the leap year( While the keviyah is sufficient to describe a year, a variant specifies the day of the week for the first day of )esach &)assover' in lieu of the year length( A 7etonic cycle eMuates to !;6 lunar months in each 1 ,year cycle( %his gives an average of < ; days, 1< hours, and 6 6 parts for each cycle( +ut due to the Eosh :ashanah postponement rules &preceding section' a cycle of 1 Jewish years can be either < ; , < #0, < #1, or < #! days in duration( Aince none of these values is evenly divisible by seven, the Jewish calendar repeats e/actly only following ;<,!$$ 7etonic cycles, or <$ ,#"! Jewish years( %here is a near, repetition every !#" years, e/cept for an e/cess of 60 minutes & 06 parts'(

History[edit]

A stone &!(#;^1 m' with :ebrew inscription 9%o the %rumpeting )lace9 is believed to be a part of the Aecond %emple(

/ishnaic period[edit]
%he %anakh contains several commandments related to the keeping of the calendar and the lunar cycle, and records changes that have taken place to the :ebrew calendar( It has been noted4#$5 that the procedures described in the 7ishnah and %osefta are all plausible procedures for regulating an empirical lunar calendar( Fire,signals, for e/ample, or smoke, signals, are known from the pre,e/ilic @achish ostraca(4# 5 Furthermore, the 7ishnah contains laws that reflect the uncertainties of an empirical calendar( 7ishnah Aanhedrin, for e/ample, holds that when one witness holds that an event took place on a certain day of the month, and another that the same event took place on the following day, their testimony can be held to agree,

since the length of the preceding month was uncertain(4605 Another 7ishnah takes it for granted that it cannot be known in advance whether a year8s lease is for twelve or thirteen months(4615 :ence it is a reasonable conclusion that the 7ishnaic calendar was actually used in the 7ishnaic period( %he accuracy of the 7ishnah8s claim that the 7ishnaic calendar was also used in the late Aecond %emple period is less certain( Fne scholar has noted46!5 that there are no laws from Aecond %emple period sources that indicate any doubts about the length of a month or of a year( %his led him to propose that the priests must have had some form of computed calendar or calendrical rules that allowed them to know in advance whether a month would have ;0 or ! days, and whether a year would have 1! or 1; months(

/odern calendar[edit]

%he Arch of %itus depicting the ob-ects from the %emple being carried through Eome( +etween "0 and 11"$ 23, the observation,based calendar was gradually replaced by a mathematically calculated one(46;5 3/cept for the epoch year number, the calendar rules reached their current form by the beginning of the th century, as described by the )ersian 7uslim astronomer al,GhwariImi &c( "$01$60 23' in $!;(46#54665 Fne notable difference between the calendar of that era and the modern form was the date of the epoch &the fi/ed reference point at the beginning of year 1', which at that time was one year later than the epoch of the modern calendar( 7ost of the present rules of the calendar were in place by $!;, according to a treatise by al, GhwariImi( Al,GhwariImi8s study of the Jewish calendar, Risla fi istikhrj tarkh al-yahd 93/traction of the Jewish 3ra9 describes the 1 ,year intercalation cycle, the rules for determining on what day of the week the first day of the month %ishrU shall fall, the interval between the Jewish era &creation of Adam' and the Aeleucid era, and the rules for determining the mean longitude of the sun and the moon using the Jewish calendar(46#54665 In !1, Aaron ben 7eor proposed changes to the calendar( %hough the proposals were re-ected, they indicate that all of the rules of the modern calendar &e/cept for the epoch' were in place before that date( In 1000, the 7uslim chronologist al,+iruni described all of the modern rules of the :ebrew calendar, e/cept that he specified three different epochs used by various Jewish communities being one, two, or three years later than the modern epoch(4;15

%here is a tradition, first mentioned by :ai *aon &died 10;$ 23', that :illel b( E( Dehuda 9in the year <"0 of the Aeleucid era9 &i(e(, ;6$1;6 23' was responsible for the new calculated calendar with a fi/ed intercalation cycle( @ater writers, such as Cachmanides, e/plained :ai *aon8s words to mean that the entire computed calendar was due to :illel b( Dehuda in response to persecution of Jews( 7aimonides, in the 1!th century, stated that the 7ishnaic calendar was used 9until the days of Abaye and Eava9, who flourished c( ;!01;60 23, and that the change came when 9the land of Israel was destroyed, and no permanent court was left(9 %aken together, these two traditions suggest that :illel b( Dehuda &whom they identify with the mid,#th,century Jewish patriarch Ioulos, attested in a letter of the 3mperor Julian,46<5 and the Jewish patriarch 3llel, mentioned by 3piphanius46"5' instituted the computed :ebrew 2alendar because of persecution( :( *raetI 46$5 linked the introduction of the computed calendar to a sharp repression following a failed Jewish insurrection that occurred during the rule of the 2hristian emperor 2onstantius and *allus( A later writer, A( @ieberman, argued46 5 instead that the introduction of the fi/ed calendar was due to measures taken by 2hristian Eoman authorities to prevent the Jewish patriarch from sending calendrical messengers( +oth the tradition that :illel b( Dehuda instituted the complete computed calendar, and the theory that the computed calendar was introduced due to repression or persecution, have been Muestioned(4<054<154<!5 Furthermore, two Jewish dates during post,%almudic times &specifically in 60< and ""<' are impossible under the rules of the modern calendar, indicating that its arithmetic rules were developed in +abylonia during the times of the *eonim &"th to $th centuries'(4<;5 %he +abylonian rules reMuired the delay of the first day of %ishrei when the new moon occurred after noon(4citation needed5 %he %almuds do, however, indicate at least the beginnings of a transition from a purely empirical to a computed calendar( According to a statement attributed to Dose, an Amora who lived during the second half of the ;rd century, the feast of )urim, 1# Adar, could not fall on a Aabbath nor a 7onday, lest 10 %ishrei &Dom Gippur' fall on a Friday or a Aunday( 4<#5 %his indicates that, by the time of the redaction of the Jerusalem %almud &c( #00 23', there were a fi/ed number of days in all months from Adar to 3lul, also implying that the e/tra month was already a second Adar added before the regular Adar( In another passage, a sage is reported to have counseled 9those who make the computations9 not to set the first day of %ishrei or the Bay of the Willow on the sabbath(4<65 %his indicates that there was a group who 9made computations9 and were in a position to control, to some e/tent, the day of the week on which Eosh :ashanah would fall(

<sa1e in contemporary 0srael[edit]

3arly fionist pioneers were impressed by the fact that the calendar preserved by Jews over many centuries in far,flung diasporas, as a matter of religious ritual, was geared to the climate of their original country: the Jewish Cew Dear marks the transition from the dry season to the rainy one, and ma-or Jewish holidays such as Aukkot, )assover, and Ahavuot correspond to ma-or points of the country8s agricultural year such as planting and harvest( Accordingly, in the early !0th century the :ebrew calendar was re,interpreted as an agricultural rather than religious calendar( %he GibbutI movement was especially inventive in creating new rituals fitting this interpretation(

After the creation of the Atate of Israel, the :ebrew calendar became one of the official calendars of Israel, along with the *regorian calendar( :olidays and commemorations not derived from previous Jewish tradition were to be fi/ed according to the :ebrew calendar date( For e/ample, the Israeli Independence Bay falls on 6 Iyar, Jerusalem Eeunification Bay on !$ Iyar, and the :olocaust 2ommemoration Bay on !" Cisan( Cevertheless, since the 1 60s usage of the :ebrew calendar has steadily declined, in favor of the *regorian calendar( At present, IsraelisRe/cept for a minority of the religiously observantR conduct their private and public life according to the *regorian calendar, although the :ebrew calendar is still widely acknowledged, appearing in public venues such as banks &where it is legal for use on cheMues and other documents, though only rarely do people make use of this option' and on the mastheads of newspapers( %he Jewish Cew Dear &Eosh :ashanah' is a two,day public holiday in Israel( :owever, since the 1 $0s an increasing number of secular Israelis celebrate the *regorian Cew Dear &usually known as 9Ailvester Cight9R9pqrbsar sas9' on the night between ;1 Becember and 1 January( )rominent Eabbis have on several occasions sharply denounced this practice, but with no noticeable effect on the secularist celebrants(4<<5 %he disparity between the two calendars is especially noticeable with regard to commemoration of the assassinated )rime 7inister DitIchak Eabin( %he official Bay of 2ommemoration, instituted by a special Gnesset law, is marked according to the :ebrew calendar , on 1! 7archeshvan( :owever, left,leaning Israelis, who revere Eabin as a martyr for the cause of peace and who are predominantly secular, hold their commemoration on # Covember( In some years the two competing Eabin 7emorial Bays are separated by as much as two weeks( Wall calendars commonly used in Israel are hybrids( 7ost are organised according to *regorian rather than Jewish months, but begin in Aeptember, when the Jewish Cew Dear usually falls, and provide the Jewish date in small characters(

3ther practices[edit]
Futside of Eabbinic Judaism, evidence shows a diversity of practice(

-araite calendar[edit]
Garaites use the lunar month and the solar year, but the Garaite calendar differs from the current Eabbinic calendar in a number of ways( %he Garaite calendar is identical to the Eabbinical calendar used before the Aanhedrin changed the Eabbinic calendar from the lunar, observation based calendar, to the current mathematically based calendar used in Eabbinic Judaism today( In the lunar Garaite calendar, the beginning of each month, the Eosh 2hodesh, can be calculated, but is confirmed by the observation in Israel of the first sightings of the new moon(4<"5 %his may result in an occasional variation of a ma/imum of one day, depending on the inability to observe the new moon( %he day is usually 9picked up9 in the ne/t month(

%he addition of the leap month &Adar II' is determined by observing in Israel the ripening of barley at a specific stage &defined by Garaite tradition' &called aviv',4<$5 rather than using the calculated and fi/ed calendar of Eabbinic Judaism( Fccasionally this results in Garaites being one month ahead of other Jews using the calculated Eabbinic calendar( %he 9lost9 month would be 9picked up9 in the ne/t cycle when Garaites would observe a leap month while other Jews would not( Furthermore, the seasonal drift of the Eabbinic calendar is avoided, resulting in the years affected by the drift starting one month earlier in the Garaite calendar( Also, the four rules of postponement of the Eabbinic calendar are not applied, since they are not mentioned in the %anakh( %his can affect the dates observed for all the Jewish holidays in a particular year by one day( In the 7iddle Ages many Garaite Jews outside Israel followed the calculated Eabbinic calendar, because it was not possible to retrieve accurate aviv barley data from the land of Israel( :owever, since the establishment of the Atate of Israel, and especially since the Ai/ Bay War, the Garaite Jews that have made aliyah can now again use the observational calendar(

%he =umran calendar[edit]

$ee also: +noch calendar 7any of the Bead Aea &Humran' Acrolls have references to a uniMue calendar, used by the people there, who are often assumed to be 3ssenes( %he year of this calendar used the ideal 7esopotamian calendar of twelve ;0,day months, to which were added # days at the eMuino/es and solstices &cardinal points', making a total of ;<# days( %here was some ambiguity as to whether the cardinal days were at the beginning of the months or at the end, but the clearest calendar attestations give a year of four seasons, each having three months of ;0, ;0, and ;1 days with the cardinal day the e/tra day at the end, for a total of 1 days, or e/actly 1; weeks( 3ach season started on the #th day of the week &Wednesday', every year( &+en,Bov, )ead of All !ears, p( 1<,1"' With only ;<# days, it is clear that the calendar would after a few years be very noticeably different from the actual seasons, but there is nothing to indicate what was done about this problem( Oarious suggestions have been made by scholars( Fne is that nothing was done and the calendar was allowed to change with respect to the seasons( Another suggestion is that changes were made irregularly, only when the seasonal anomaly was too great to be ignored any longer( &+en,Bov, )ead of All !ears, p( 1 ,!0' %he writings often discuss the moon, but the calendar was not based on the movement of the moon any more than indications of the phases of the moon on a modern western calendar indicate that that is a lunar calendar(

Persian civil calendar[edit]

2alendrical evidence for the poste/ilic )ersian period is found in papyri from the Jewish colony at 3lephantine, in 3gypt( %hese documents show that the Jewish community of 3lephantine used the 3gyptian and +abylonian calendars(4< 54"05 %he Aardica paschal table shows that the Jewish community of some eastern city, possibly Antioch, used a calendrical scheme that kept Cisan 1# within the limits of the Julian month of 7arch(4"15 Aome of the dates in the document are clearly corrupt, but they can be emended to make the si/teen years in the table consistent with a regular intercalation scheme( )eter, the bishop of Ale/andria &early #th century 23', mentions that the Jews of his city 9hold their )assover according to the course of the moon in the month of )hamenoth, or according to the intercalary month every third year in the month of )harmuthi9,4"!5 suggesting a fairly consistent intercalation scheme that kept Cisan 1# appro/imately between the )hamenoth 10 &7arch < in the #th century 23' and )harmuthi 10 &April 6'( Jewish funerary inscriptions from foar, south of the Bead Aea, dated from the ;rd to the 6th century, indicate that when years were intercalated, the intercalary month was at least sometimes a repeated month of Adar( +ut the inscriptions reveal no clear pattern of regular intercalations, nor do they indicate any consistent rule for determining the start of the lunar month(4";5 In 11"$, 7aimonides included all the rules for the calculated calendar and their scriptural basis, including the modern epochal year in his work, Mishneh Torah( %oday, the rules detailed in 7aimonides8 code are those generally used by Jewish communities throughout the world(

*stronomic calculations[edit]
"ynodic month > the molad interval[edit]
A 9new moon9 &astronomically called a lunar con-unction and in :ebrew called a molad' is the moment at which the sun and moon are aligned horiIontally with respect to a north,south line &technically, they have the same ecliptical longitude'( %he period between two new moons is a synodic month( %he actual length of a synodic month varies from about ! days < hours and ;0 minutes &! (!" days' to about ! days and !0 hours &! ($; days', a variation range of about 1; hours and ;0 minutes( Accordingly, for convenience, a long,term average length called the mean synodic month &also called the molad interval' is used( %he mean synodic month is days, 1 or ! days, 1! hours, and " ; parts &##= >1$ minutes' &i(e( ! (6;06 # days', and is the same value determined by the +abylonians in the Aystem + in about ;00 +234"5 and was adopted by the *reek astronomer :ipparchus in the !nd century +23 and by the Ale/andrian astronomer )tolemy in Alma est four centuries later &who cited :ipparchus as his source'( Its remarkable accuracy &less than one second from the true value' is thought to have been achieved using records of lunar eclipses from the $th to 6th centuries +23(4"#5 %his value is as close to the correct value of ! (6;06$ days as it is possible for a value to come that is rounded off to whole parts &1>1$ minute'( %he discrepancy makes the molad interval about 0(< seconds too long( )ut another way, if the molad is taken as the time of mean con-unction at

some reference meridian, then this reference meridian is drifting slowly eastward( If this drift of the reference meridian is traced back to the mid,#th century, the traditional date of the introduction of the fi/ed calendar, then it is found to correspond to a longitude midway between the Cile and the end of the 3uphrates( %he modern molad moments match the mean solar times of the lunar con-unction moments near the meridian of Gandahar, Afghanistan, more than ;0J east of Jerusalem( Furthermore, the discrepancy between the molad interval and the mean synodic month is accumulating at an accelerating rate, since the mean synodic month is progressively shortening due to gravitational tidal effects( 7easured on a strictly uniform time scale, such as that provided by an atomic clock, the mean synodic month is becoming gradually longer, but since the tides slow 3arth8s rotation rate even more, the mean synodic month is becoming gradually shorter in terms of mean solar time(

"easonal drift[edit]
%he mean year of the current mathematically,based :ebrew calendar is more than < minutes and !6 seconds more than the northern hemisphere spring eMuino/ year: the mean :ebrew year is ;<6 days 6 hours 66 minutes and !6=!6>6" seconds &;<6(!#<$ days' , computed as the molad>monthly interval of ! (6;06 # days ^ !;6 months in a 1 ,year metonic cycle t 1 years per cycle( %he present,era mean northward eMuinoctal year is ;<6 days 6 hours # minutes 1 second long &;<6(!#!# days', resulting in a 9seasonal drift9 of the :ebrew calendar in relation to the tropical year of about a day every !!# years( In relation to the *regorian calendar, the mean *regorian calendar year is ;<6 days 6 hours # minutes and 1! seconds &;<6(!#!6 days', and the drift of the :ebrew calendar in relation to it is about a day every !;1 years(

0mplications for Jewish ritual[edit]

%his figure, in a detail of a medieval :ebrew calendar, reminded Jews of the palm branch &@ulav', the myrtle twigs, the willow branches, and the citron &3trog' to be held in the hand and to be brought to the synagogue during the holiday of sukkot, near the end of the autumn holiday season(

Although the molad of %ishrei is the only molad moment that is not ritually announced, it is actually the only one that is relevant to the :ebrew calendar, for it determines the provisional date of Eosh :ashanah, sub-ect to the Eosh :ashanah postponement rules( %he other monthly molad moments are announced for mystical reasons( With the moladot on average almost 100 minutes late, this means that the molad of %ishrei lands one day later than it ought to in &100 minutes' t &1##0 minutes per day' N 6 of "! years or nearly "u of yearsg %herefore, the seemingly small drift of the moladot is already significant enough to affect the date of Eosh :ashanah, which then cascades to many other dates in the calendar year and sometimes, due to the Eosh :ashanah postponement rules, also interacts with the dates of the prior or ne/t year( %he molad drift could be corrected by using a progressively shorter molad interval that corresponds to the actual mean lunar con-unction interval at the original molad reference meridian( Furthermore, the molad interval determines the calendar mean year, so using a progressively shorter molad interval would help correct the e/cessive length of the :ebrew calendar mean year, as well as helping it to 9hold onto9 the northward eMuino/ for the ma/imum duration( When the 1 ,year intercalary cycle was finalised in the #th century, the earliest )assover &in year 1< of the cycle' coincided with the northward eMuino/, which means that )assover fell near the first full moon after the northward eMuino/, or that the northward eMuino/ landed within one lunation before 1< days after the molad of *isan( %his is still the case in about $0u of years, but in about !0u of years )assover is a month late by these criteria &as it was in A7 6"<6 and 6"<$, the $th and 11th years of the 1 ,year cycle N *regorian !006 and !00$ 23'( )resently this occurs after the 9premature9 insertion of a leap month in years $, 11, and 1 of each 1 ,year cycle, which causes the northward eMuino/ to land on e/ceptionally early :ebrew dates in such years( %his problem will get worse over time, and so beginning in A7 6$1" &!06" 23', year ; of each 1 ,year cycle will also be a month late( Furthermore, the drift will accelerate in the future as perihelion approaches and then passes the northward eMuino/, and if the calendar is not amended then )assover will start to land on or after the summer solstice around A7 1<<6! &1!$ ! 23'( &%he e/act year when this will begin to occur depends on uncertainties in the future tidal slowing of the 3arth rotation rate, and on the accuracy of predictions of precession and 3arth a/ial tilt(' %he seriousness of the spring eMuino/ drift is widely discounted on the grounds that )assover will remain in the spring season for many millennia, and the te/t of the %orah is generally not interpreted as having specified tight calendrical limits( Fn the other hand, the mean southward eMuinoctial year length is considerably shorter, so the :ebrew calendar has been drifting faster with respect to the autumn eMuino/, and at least part of the harvest festival of Aukkot is already more than a month after the eMuino/ in years 1, , and 1! of each 1 ,year cycle? beginning in A7 6$1$ &!06" 23', this will also be the case in year #( &%hese are the same year numbers as were mentioned for the spring season in the previous paragraph, e/cept that they get incremented at Eosh :ashanah(' %his progressively increases the probability that Aukkot will be cold and wet, making it uncomfortable or impractical to dwell in the traditional succah during Aukkot( %he first winter seasonal prayer for rain is not recited until $hemini Atzeret, after the end of Aukkot, yet it is becoming increasingly likely that the rainy season in Israel will start before the end of Aukkot(

Co eMuino/ or solstice will ever be more than a day or so away from its mean date according to the solar calendar, while nineteen Jewish years average < ; d 1<h ;;m 0;Ls compared to the < ; d 1#h !<m 16s of nineteen mean tropical years(4"65 %his discrepancy has mounted up to si/ days, which is why the earliest )assover currently falls on !< 7arch &as in A7 6""; > !01; 23'(

Worked e?ample[edit]
%his section uses abbreviations that may be confusin1 or ambi1uous@ Apecific concerns may be found on the %alk page( )lease improve this section if you can( 34uly
56&&7

*iven the length of the year, the length of each month is fi/ed as described above, so the real problem in determining the calendar for a year is determining the number of days in the year( In the modern calendar this is determined in the following manner(4"<5 %he day of Eosh :ashanah and the length of the year are determined by the time and the day of the week of the %ishrei molad, that is, the moment of the average con-unction( *iven the %ishrei molad of a certain year, the length of the year is determined as follows: First, one must determine whether each year is an ordinary or leap year by its position in the 1 , year 7etonic cycle( Dears ;, <, $, 11, 1#, 1", and 1 are leap years( Aecondly, one must determine the number of days between the starting %ishrei molad &%71' and the %ishrei molad of the ne/t year &%7!'( For calendar descriptions in general the day begins at < p(m(, but for the purpose of determining Eosh :ashanah, a molad occurring on or after noon is treated as belonging to the ne/t day &the second deiyyah'(4""5 All months are calculated as ! d, 1!h, ##m, ;Ls long &7on@en'( %herefore, in an ordinary year %7! occurs 1! ^ 7on@en days after %71( %his is usually ;6# calendar days after %71, but if %71 is on or after ;:11:!0 a(m( and before noon, it will be ;66 days( Aimilarly, in a leap year, %7! occurs 1; ^ 7on@en days after %71( %his is usually ;$# days after %71, but if %71 is on or after noon and before !:!":1<v p(m(, %7! will be only ;$; days after %71( In the same way, from %7! one calculates %7;( %hus the four natural year lengths are ;6#, ;66, ;$;, and ;$# days( :owever, because of the holiday rules, Eosh :ashanah cannot fall on a Aunday, Wednesday, or Friday, so if %7! is one of those days, Eosh :ashanah in year ! is postponed by adding one day to year 1 &the first deiyyah'( %o compensate, one day is subtracted from year !( It is to allow these ad-ustments that the system allows ;$6,day years &long leap' and ;6;,day years &short ordinary' besides the four natural year lengths( +ut how can year 1 be lengthened if it is already a long ordinary year of ;66 days or year ! be shortened if it is a short leap year of ;$; daysS %hat is why the third and fourth deiyyahs are needed( If year 1 is already a long ordinary year of ;66 days, there will be a problem if %71 is on a %uesday,4"$5 as that means %7! falls on a Aunday and will have to be postponed, creating a ;6<, day year( In this case, Eosh :ashanah in year 1 is postponed from %uesday &the third deiyyah'(

As it cannot be postponed to Wednesday, it is postponed to %hursday, and year 1 ends up with ;6# days( Fn the other hand, if year ! is already a short year of ;$; days there will be a problem if %7! is on a Wednesday(4" 5 because Eosh :ashanah in year ! will have to be postponed from Wednesday to %hursday and this will cause year ! to be only ;$! days long( In this case, year ! is e/tended by one day by postponing Eosh :ashanah in year ; from 7onday to %uesday &the fourth deiyyah ', and year ! will have ;$; days(

A+ectifyin1A the Hebrew calendar[edit]

It has been argued by some4(ho85 that, as the fi/ed arithmetic :ebrew calendar was established on the authority of :illel II, )resident of the Aanhedrin in A7 #11 &;6$ 23', only an eMual authority &the modern Aanhedrin' can either amend it or reinstate the observational :ebrew calendar(4citation needed5 %he attribution of the fi/ed arithmetic :ebrew calendar solely to :illel II has, however, been Muestioned by a few authors, such as Aasha Atern, who claim that the calendar rules developed gradually over several centuries(4#$5 *iven the importance in Jewish ritual of establishing the accurate timing of monthly and annual times, some futurist writers and researchers have considered whether a 9corrected9 system of establishing the :ebrew date is reMuired( %he mean year of the current mathematically,based :ebrew calendar is more than < minutes and !6 seconds in e/cess of the northern hemisphere spring eMuino/ year, and has 9drifted9 an average of "1$ days late relative to the eMuino/ relationship that it originally had( It is not possible, however, for any individual :ebrew date to be a week or more 9late9, because :ebrew months always begin within a day or two of the molad moment( What happens instead is that the traditional :ebrew calendar 9prematurely9 inserts a leap month one year before it 9should have been9 inserted, where 9prematurely9 means that the insertion causes the spring eMuino/ to land more than ;0 days before the latest acceptable moment, thus causing the calendar to run 9one month late9 until the time when the leap month 9should have been9 inserted prior to the following spring( %his presently happens in # years out of every 1 ,year cycle &years ;, $, 11, and 1 ', implying that the :ebrew calendar currently runs 9one month late9 more than !1u of the time( %o a minor degree the tardiness of the calendar is also due to not correcting for the progressively shorter mean astronomical lunation intervalR although presently this only accounts for a little over si/ seconds of the yearly eMuino/ drift, it more importantly accounts for nearly two hours of molad drift relative to actual mean lunar con-unctions, which is enough to cause "osh )a$hanah to start on the 9wrong9 date in an appreciable number of years( Br( Irv +romberg has proposed a ;6;,year cycle of #;<< months, which would include 1;0 leap months, along with use of a progressively shorter molad interval, which would keep an amended fi/ed arithmetic :ebrew calendar from drifting for more than seven millennia(4$05 It takes about ;1w! centuries for the spring eMuino/ to drift an average of 1w1 th of a molad interval earlier in the :ebrew calendar( %hat is a very important time unit, because it can be cancelled by simply truncating a 1 ,year cycle to 11 years, omitting $ years including three leap years from the seMuence( %hat is the essential feature of the ;6;,year leap cycle && ^ 1 ' = ## = & ^ 1 ' N ;6; years'(

Eeligious Muestions abound about how such a system might be implemented and administered throughout the diverse aspects of the world Jewish community( 4$15 In !00$, a calendar restoration research pro-ect by a 7essianic group, whose authors claim to have restored the original ancient :ebrew creation calendar, placed a portion of their research work on the Internet( %he website claims that :ebrew months and years are determined solely by the 2reator through the motions of the earth, sun and moon according to *enesis 1:1#, and not determined from arbitrary decisions made by men such as by calendar councils(