New and Different
This Shabbat we will read the Torah portion ‘Bo’ in the book of Exodus.
In this portion People of Israel receive the first commandment not as individuals, but as a nation.
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12, 2)
In this commandment G‑d instructed to establish a calendar that is predicated upon the lunar month—the 29.5-day cycle in which the moon completes its revolution around the earth.
Twelve such lunar months add up to a year of approximately 354 days, eleven days short of the 365.25-day solar cycle.
The complex Jewish calendar is based on lunar months, and compensates for the difference with the solar cycle by alternating between 12 and 13 lunar months in a year.
The extra month – Adar Bet (additional month of Adar) is added seven times in a nineteen-year cycle serving to align the lunar months with the solar cycle of seasons.
Thus, in a Hebrew leap year there are two months of Adar – Adar Alef and Adar Bet.
In wholly solar-based calendars (natural cycle of the earth revolution around the sun) the length of a month is wholly artificial, being merely the division of the solar year into twelve more-or-less equal segments.
These months bear no relation to the lunar cycle, or to any other natural phenomenon.
In contrast, in wholly lunar-based calendars (natural cycle of the moon revolution around the earth), where the solar cycle has no reference – the length of a year is artificial, made up of twelve lunar months.
With this calendar being always short of the solar cycle, without any compensation, over the years, same months may sometimes occur in the summer and sometimes in the winter.
The night on which the moon is first visible after its hiatus is the first one of the Jewish month (hence the Hebrew word for month חודש – khodesh, from the root khadash, “new”).
The month consists of 29 or 30 days, until the next new moon marks the onset of a new month. The first half of the Jewish month is thus marked by a nightly growing moon, which reaches its full luminescent potential on the night of the 15th; but on the 16th of the month the moon is already diminished, and it continues to shrink nightly until a new moon and month are born.
Kabbalah says that People of Israel mark time with the moon because they emulate the moon.
The story of the moon is the story of the nation of Israel.
Like the moon, the People of Israel dip and soar through history; temporary defeats are but preludes to yet another rebirth, yet another renewal.
In the Hebrew calendar we mentioned two anchors:
1. Monthly anchor – based on the lunar cycle.
2. Yearly anchor – based on the solar cycle.
As mentioned earlier, Hebrew word for ‘month‘ is KHODESH describing a renewal.
- Hebrew word for ‘moon’ is YAREAKH. This word is also sometimes used in Hebrew for ‘month’
- In Modern Hebrew the expression ירח דבש
YERAKH D’VASH is ‘honeymoon’.
- The word for ‘year‘ in Hebrew is שנה – SHANAH.
- Leap year in Hebrew is: שנה מעוברת
SHANAH ME’UBERET – literally meaning ‘a pregnant year’.
It is interesting to mention that in contrast with the ‘renewal’ meaning of the word KHODESH (month), the word SHANAH has the meaning of ‘steady repetition‘.
So, it seems that in the Hebrew calendar we always have a renewal within a repeating frame...
However, the word SHANAH has an additional meaning – ‘different’.
Thus, maybe the Hebrew calendar also insinuates that one has to strive for a renewal, to make a difference, yet remain loyal to his roots – his fundamental beliefs.
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