#Jewish calendar

[mostpeculiarmademoiselleetmsieur]

Hey all. Just wanted to give my non-Jewish followers who might be curious about our calendar a little note.

I had a friend ask about Passover this morning, because they thought it always overlapped with Good Friday and Easter.

So, here’s the thing: The Jewish/Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar. It doesn’t follow the Gregorian/English calendar, which follows the sun. Each of our months is 29 or 30 days long, following the lunar cycle, and the holidays fall on different says of the English calendar every year because of that. Also because of that difference, a leap year adds an entire month for us, rather than just a day, so that the seasons in which our holidays occur don’t change, since our holidays are mainly based around the seasons and not just the calendar dates.

So, because it’s a leap year—and, yes, it’s pretty much the same schedule with leap years in the Hebrew calendar as the English calendar—we’re currently towards the end of Adar 1, and Purim, the holiday we celebrate during Adar, will be celebrated during Adar 2. This also moves Passover out to late April this year.

This isn’t a very comprehensive explanation, but I thought it might be helpful or interesting to those of you who might be curious about the difference between our calendars.

[todaysjewishholiday]

15 Menachem Av 5784 (18-19 August 2024)

Tu b’Av Sameach! According to the Talmud the fifteenth of Av was the most joyful festival of ancient Israel (they say the only thing that matched it was Yom Kippur, when the entire community’s sins were carried off into the desert by the scapegoat). So what was celebrated on Tu b’Av? Love! Youth! Marriage! Romance!

Like Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, Tu b’Av did double duty as an agricultural festival (the start of the grape harvest) and a historical commemoration (which we discussed in yesterday’s post). Unlike the others, its purpose was not to focus on the covenant between the Jewish people and HaShem. Instead, it was a day for those who were single to show they were ready to mingle. It was a festival for flirting. It was a day for young people in the community to imagine that they’d find the kind of romance that would fill their lives with joy. You get the picture.

In ancient society courtship was often closely regulated, with marriages arranged by extended families to cement alliances with other families. But Tu b’Av was a day for young women to try to attract a husband of their own choosing. Traditionally, it was a day when young women would go dance in the vineyards in plain white dresses that disguised socioeconomic distinctions, singing traditional songs about what good wives they would make and teasing the community’s young men.

Since most of us don’t live near grape vineyards or practice the same type of limitations on courtship or know a wide range of communal dances any more, the celebration of Tu b’Av has changed considerably. It’s now used as the Jewish holiday for those in a long term romantic relationship to celebrate their partner, like the European Christian celebration of Valentine’s Day. So if you have somebody in your life who you love like that, wish them a joyful Tu b’Av— and then do your best to have one together.

[ricekrispyjoints]

today my boss asked me if they had "published the dates" for rosh hashanah and yom kippour this year so he could coordinate my time off

[babka-enjoyer]

I found this MAGNIFICENT circular depiction of the Jewish calendar by Claymil on Redbubble (link is in their ig bio) and bought it immediately. I love that it’s sandwiched between celestial elements and includes the agricultural cycle.

I’m going to put 6 sawtooth hangers around the frame so the current season is always oriented up-ish. It would be even cooler if I could attach it to something that mounts to the wall and spins but I haven’t seen anything that fits the bill yet.

Edit: Also I cut it into a circle. It definitely did not come like that.

[jewishpolls]

I was looking in Google Calendar and saw tishrei spelled tishri and assumed it was a typo, but apparently that's a thing??

[garlic-and-cloves]

I love that since I started paying more attention to the Jewish calendars and marking each Rosh Chodesh I always know what phase of the moon we're in

[extollingtheeveryday]

Marge Piercy // "New Year for the Trees"

[newtsoftheworldunite]

also also blood and fire (pillars of smoke)

Maccabean Revolt fic about how blood and fire and smoke is the life of a kohen and so if the Bayt haMikdash is desecrated then they’ll fill the land with blood and fire and smoke until it can be restored.

[hebrewbyinbal]

The last month in the Jewish / Hebrew calendar is /e-'lool/. It visits us in Aug-Sep, right before the holidays of /teesh-'rey/ marking the new Hebrew year.

[bubblefemmejewitchery]

jews & eclipses from @/gayyfilte.fish on instagram

[torais-life]

Happy Tu BiShvat and Mazal Tov to all the trees that H' gave us! 🤗❤️🌳🫒🍇

[todaysjewishholiday]

7 Menachem Av 5784 (10-11 August 2024)

Shabbat Chazon concluded with the havdalah ceremony and we’re now in the final countdown to Tisha B’Av. If you are fasting this week, remember to hydrate heavily across the next 48 hours. Get what rest you can, and stay out of the sun. If fasting would be dangerous to your health, please remember that Judaism is a religion of life, and that we are commanded to choose life and not to afflict ourselves in harmful ways. There are other ritual ways to remember the sadness brought about by the two burnings of the Beit haMikdash and the resulting periods of communal exile and spiritual turmoil that do not involve self-harm. Fasting is one specific form of mourning for those for whom it is medically safe.

The years of rebellion against the Roman Empire were long difficult years. Factional conflict within the Jewish community and rebel leadership did not make it easier. And as is often the case the most extreme factions were often just as willing to target their own people as they were to attack the enemy they claimed to be fighting.

The Qanai’im (Zealots) and Sicarii (Dagger Bearers) had been advocating the overthrow of Roman occupation long after Nero’s excesses persuaded the rest of Judaean society to join the cause. Deeply aware that their views remained unpopular with the majority of Jews, they sought to force the majority into alignment with them through campaigns of terror. The Sicarii were so known because of their campaign of assassination against Jewish collaborators with the Roman authorities. The Qanai’im had taken their own name from the biblical word for zeal (as in the pasuk “the zeal of your dwelling has consumed me”) but were called Biryonim (Hooligans) by the authors of the Talmud, who blamed them for the revolt’s failure and the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash.

According to tradition, the wealthiest men of Jerusalem had pledged stockpiles of food and fuel to help the residents of the city survive an extended Roman siege. The Qanai’im encouraged a more aggressive campaign of attack against the Roman army, but were rebuffed by the other factions, who were convinced that Jerusalem’s strong defensive position was one of the rebellion’s greatest assets, and that a direct onslaught against the larger and better armed Roman forces was doomed to failure. The story goes that on the 7th of Av 3829, the Zealots set fire to the stockpiles of food and fuel that prepared the city for a siege, convinced that if the residents of Jerusalem had no choice but to fight than the revolt would succeed. When the majority still balked at a direct attack on the Romans the Qanai’im then seized control of the city and took retribution against those who disagreed with them, plunging wartime Jerusalem into civil war. Within a year, the city was in ruins and the Beit HaMikdash destroyed. The zealots has barricaded themselves within the walls of the temple in the final days of the siege, and while the Romans may have destroyed it under any circumstances in their revenge upon the city, the Talmudic sages were certain that the presence of rebels in the sanctuary using it as a fortress was a Jewish desecration which preceded and helped bring about the foreign desecration of the holy place.

[numbersbythebook]

Pentecost & Marriage

written by Will Schumacher

God is said to have married Israel at Sinai. He entered a marriage covenant with them. This is said to have occurred on what we call Pentecost.

Pentecost is the 50th day. I did a couple posts awhile back on the number 50 and it seems tied to the covenant if you care to search for them.

Pentecost is also called the Feast of Weeks. Strong’s H7620 =”weeks” and literally means “seven” or a “period of seven”. It is from the counting of 7 periods of 7. You could literally call Pentecost the Feast of Sevens.

Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

Strong’s H7620 =”weeks” or “sevens” is used for the first time with a marriage covenant also:

Genesis 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

Genesis 29:27 is verse 823. 823 is the 144th prime. The number 144 is a completion number and is used in the book of Revelation referring to the completed bride- the 144,000 sealed, the 144,000 firstfruit virgins who have been redeemed, and the 144 cubit wall of New Jerusalem the bride.

Strong’s G823 is used one time with the resurrected bride:

1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Exodus 34:22 -the first mention of the feast of weeks or sevens - is verse 2519.

The first verse in the Bible with a gematria of 2519 is about a type of the Holy Spirit being sent forth to secure a bride for the father’s son:

Genesis 24:4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

Verse 2519 from the end of the Bible is about the communion cup of wine and bread. Communion comes from the Passover meal Jesus shared with His disciples before His death. The cup He drank after dinner with His disciples is the 3rd cup of Passover called the cup of redemption. When a jewish man wanted to marry a jewish woman, he came to her house with a contract that spelled out each of their responsibilities - the Bible in our case - and if she consented they drank a cup of wine to seal the marriage. This cup that Jesus drank with His disciples sealed the marriage and the cup we drink is a remembrance of that marriage covenant sealed:

1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

Another interesting tidbit, Exodus 34:22 and Exodus 23:16 - first mention of what we call Pentecost in the Bible - refer to Pentecost as the Feast of Firstfruits:

Exodus 23:16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Exodus 34:22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.

Strong’s H1061 = Firstfruits.

Strong’s G1061 = to give in marriage

Pretty incredible that God entered into a marriage covenant with Israel on Pentecost and many numbers associated with Pentecost point to marriage. It is an incredible testimony to the Bible that it was written over 1500+ years and then 1500+ years later it was broken up into chapter and verses and given universally accepted Strong’s numbers and God oversaw it all and placed His truth within those numbers. A testimony to the majesty of the Father.

One last item numerically on Pentecost. God created the universe and specifically the sun and moon mathematically. He gave the Jewish people a calendar of days based on the moon and sun. A typical calendar cycle is 19 years with 12 years of 354 days and 7 years of 384 days. A total of 6936 days then would be a standard cycle - (12 x 354) + (7 x 384) = 6936

It is thought that there are 7000 years based on the bible. Year 7001 is Eternity. If you were to use the God given calendar of days and change it over into a calendar of years, year 1 would be called Nisan 1 and year 355 would then be called Nisan 1 again so on and so forth.

Year 6937 would be called Nisan 1 again. 64 years later is year 7001 or what we think is Eternity. Year 7001 is the 65th year and the 65th day of each year beginning on Nisan 1 is Sivan 6, Pentecost. It is too perfect to not think God is keeping track of years just as He gave His people a calendar of days.

[garlic-and-cloves]

I really could not care less about the Gregorian calendar or it's new year. Today is the 20th of Tevet, in the year 5784 in the Hebrew calender my people have used for thousands of years

[qaraxuanzenith]

listen, it's perfectly simple.

it's the 8th day of the 7-day holiday of sukkot. it is not a part of sukkot.

it's a completely separate holiday from the weeklong holiday taking place on the immediately preceding 7 days consecutive to it.

it's when we stop celebrating that other holiday, to celebrate this holiday instead.

it's the culmination of hoshana rabba, which is a special part of the completely separate holiday before it that also happens to be the day before. it's the second day of hoshana rabba for the diaspora. it has nothing to do with hoshana rabba. it's when we pray for rain, not to be confused with hoshana rabba, when we pray for rain.

you're not allowed to sit in the sukkah on shemini atzeret. you have to sit in the sukkah on shemini atzeret. you're allowed to sit in the sukkah on shemini atzeret but you'll feel kind of awkward about it. you're not allowed to put the sukkah away until after shemini atzeret.

Gentile: What’s Shmini Atzeret?

Me, Jewish: That’s a great question!

Gentile:

Me:

Gentile: Are you planning to … answer it?

Me: Haha! No.

[hebrewbyinbal]

/av/ is the 11th month in the Civil Year on the Hebrew calendar. It visits us in the months of July-Aug, and is the month of the /teesh-‘ah be-‘av/ fasting day on the 9th day of the month of /av/.