Leaving Certificate Section C Part 2.3

Leaving Certificate Section C Part 2.3

Calendar

To find the Hebrew year, add 3,761 to the present date. However the Hebrew calendar year began, and begins, in September or early October.

Circa 360 BCEthe great Rabbi,Hillel the Second established the Hebrew calendar, according to which the year is divided into 13 months, alternately 30 and -29 days in length. To make the Hebrew calendar fit with the solar system, a monthis added every 3 years.This is called the Intercalary month.

The year starts on the first day of the month called Tishri the day the new moon appears, nearest to the autumnal equinox. This date, which is the first day of Rosh Hashanah, shifts from time to time, according to ancient regulations: e.g., New Year’s Day must not fall on a Friday or a Sunday, because that makes two consecutive days on which certain tasks may not be performed.This would create problems; for example, no Jew may be left unburied for two days and the toil of burying may not be done on the Sabbath; it may not fall on a Wednesday, either, because that might cause Yom Kippur to fall on a Friday.

Orthodox Jews date the year I as the time when God, according to the Bible, created the world - 3,760 years before the beginning of the Christian era. This calculationwas based on the reading of the Book of Genesis and calculating the date of Creation from that. But the faithful explain that the numbers used are not to be taken literally, they are symbols. Symbols and metaphor permit of variant interpretations.

The months, with their Gregorian calendar equivalents, are:

Tishri / September-October
Heshvan / October-November
Kislev / November-December
Tebet / December-January
Shebat / January-February
Adar / February-March
Veadar / Intercalary month
Nisan / March-April
Iyar / April-May
Sivan / May-June
Tammuz / June-July
Ab / July-August
Elul / August-September

The Sacred Year

Feast / First Day / Length of Feast in Days
Pesach / 14 Nisan / 1
Unleavened Bread / 15 Nisan / 7
Pentecost / 6 Sivan / 1
Rosh Hashanah / 1 Tishri / 1
Yom Kippur / 10 Tishri / 1
Succoth / 15 Tishri / 8
Hanukkah / 25 Chislev / 8
Purim / 14 Adar / 1

Research

Research what each Feast celebrates and when it will occur during this year according to the Gregorian calendar.