Temple Beth Sholom, NY - Newsletter Lamp

Have you ever wondered "why" Jewish holidays vary from year to year? Sure, it is because of the way that the Moon completes its cycle, but there are some other aspects to Jewish-calendar-keeping.

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Months

The third and most important element in the Jewish arrangement of time is the month.

The two Hebrew words for month are yéráh, and hodésh, whose primitive meanings, "moon," and "new moon", point to the dependence of the Jewish month on the phases of the moon.

As a matter of fact, the Hebrew months have always been lunar, and extended from one new moon to another. The beginning of the month with the appearance of the new moon was--as it is still--of great practical importance among the Hebrews, inasmuch as the first of every month was to be observed as New Moon's Day, and certain feasts were affixed to the 10th, 14th, or other days of the month.

The earliest appearance of the new moon was long ascertained by direct observation, and authoritatively settled by a commission of the Sanhedrin, and the intelligence then made known to the Jews at large, first by means of fire signals and, later on, through special messengers. In the present day, and for many centuries, this very primitive manner of fixing the beginning of the month has given way to a systematic calculation of the latter's duration, and the Jewish calendar is now constructed on the basis of a mean lunation of 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 30 seconds.

Besides being indicated by means of numerals, the first month, the second month, etc., the Hebrew months have been designated in the course of Jewish history by two sets of names. Of the former set--going back probably to Canaanite times--only four names have survived in the Hebrew Bible. These are: 'Abhîbh (A.V. Ex. 13:4, 23:15; Deut. 16:1), subsequently the first month; Zíw (III K. 6:1), subsequently the second month; 'Ethanîm (III K. 8:2), subsequently the seventh month; and Bûl (III K. 6:38), subsequently the eighth month. The latter set of names, certainly of Babylonian origin, began to be used after the Exile. Of its twelve names now found in the Jewish calendar only seven occur in the Hebrew text, but the whole twelve appear as the main divisions of the Megillath Ta'anith (Scroll of Fasting), which in its original form is referred to a date before the Christian Era. These twelve names are as follows:

Nîsan (Nehem. 2:1; Esth. 3:7)
'Iyyar (not named in Scripture)
Sîwan (Esth. 8:9; Baruch 1:8)
Támmûz (Cf. A.V. Ezek. 8:14)
'Abh (not named in Scripture)
'Elûl (Nehem. 6:15; I Mach. 14:27)
Tíshrî (not named in Scripture)
Márhéshwan, or simply Héshwan (not named in Scripture)
Kíslew (Zach. 7:1; Nehem. 1:1)
Tebeth (Esth. 2:16)
Shebhat (Zach. 1:7, I Mach. 16:14)
'Adar (I Esdras 6:15; Esth. 3:7, 8:12, etc.)

Days

From the remotest time to the present the Israelites have computed the day (yôm) from sunset to sunset, or rather from sunset to the appearance of the first three stars which marked the beginning of a new day [Cf. Lev. 23:32; II Esd. (Nehem.) 4:21; etc.]. Before the Babylonian Exile the time between sunrise and sunset was divided into "morning", "midday", and "evening" (Ps. 54:18; Heb. 55:17); but during the stay in Babylon, the Hebrews adopted the division into twelve hours (Cf. John 11:9), whose duration varied with the length of the day. On an average, the first hour corresponded to about 6 a.m.; the third hour to 9 a.m.; the end of the sixth to noon; while at the eleventh the day was near its close. Earlier than this division of the day by hours was that of the night into three watches: the first till midnight; the second or middle watch (cock-crow) till 3 a.m.; and the third or morning watch till about 6 a.m.

Weeks

Seven consecutive days form the week, or second element of the Jewish calendar. As in our ecclesiastical calendar, the days of the Jewish week are numbered, not named. They are called the first day, the second day, the third day, and so on to the seventh, which last is also called "sabbath" (shábbath) a name likewise used to designate the week itself. The sixth day, our Friday, is also known in the New Testament, in Josephus, and in Rabbinical writings as "the eve of the sabbath," or as "the day of the preparation," the paraskeué, a term still employed by the Latin Church in connection with Good Fridays (Cf. Mark 15:42; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVI, vi, 2; Talmud of Jerusalem, Treatise Pesahîm, chap. iv, I).

Years

The twelve months make up the ordinary year (shanah), the next important element in the Jewish calendar. As they were lunar months, they formed a mean year of 354 days, a year, consequently shorter than the solar year by ten or eleven days. This difference would have, in the course of time, completely disordered the months in relation to the seasons of the year.

Thus, the first month, or Nîsan, (corresponding to the end of March or the beginning of April), in the middle of which the first ripe barley was to be presented to Yahweh in connection with the paschal feast (Ex. 12:1 sqq., 13:3 sqq; Lev. 23:10-12), might have fallen in the middle of winter; and some other festivals depending likewise on the products of the seasons would also have been materially interfered with. Hence it was soon felt--how soon cannot now be ascertained--that the difference between the lunar and the solar years should be equalized by the intercalation of a month.

The year in which such an intercalation should be made was for a while determined by an authoritative decision of the Sanhedrin, and ultimately fixed in a permanent manner by astronomical calculation. In a cycle of nineteen years the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth are made leap-years with an average length of 384 days, by the addition of a month following the twelfth ('Adar), and usually called We-'Adar (Second Adar). It is plain, therefore, that the Jewish year has long been, and still is, a luni-solar year. The Hebrew year thus far described is one constituted in harmony with ritual requirements, and hence it is called the sacred Jewish year. Together with it, the Jews have had from time immemorial what may be called a common or civil year commencing in the month of Tíshrî (corresponding generally to part of September and part of October), on or immediately after the new moon following the autumnal equinox. The beginning of the Hebrew civil year practically coincides with that of seed time in Palestine, while the beginning of the sacred year corresponds to that of the harvest season in the same country.

Eras

There now remains to consider the era, or last element of the Jewish calendar. As might well be expected in connection with a people whose history has been so checkered, the Jewish people have adopted various points of time from which to reckon the succession of years. Our principal ancient eras have been:

the one which was dated from the deliverance from Egypt
the regnal era, or computation of time from the year of accession of the Jewish kings to the throne
the Seleucid era, introduced after the Babylonian Exile, beginning 312 B.C., and used by the Jews probably till the twelfth century

For centuries Jews have employed their present method of counting by anno mundi (A.M.).

According to the current Jewish reckoning, the calendar is dated from the Creation of the World, which is considered by some Christian sects to have taken place 3760 years and 3 months before the commencement of the Christian Era. To find the number of the Hebrew year, beginning in the autumn of a given year of the Common Era, we have to add 3761 to the number of the latter.

The Origins of Purim (a "godless" holiday)

As I was getting materials ready for the February Lamp, I looked for some information about the relatively "minor" holiday of Purim, which we will celebrate this month (March). From our youth, most will remember fondly making lots of noise with groggers; shouting down at mention of Haman; dressing up in holiday costumes; and re-telling the story of the Jews being saved form the evil Haman.

As I looked on the Web for information about holiday origins, I found more material on religious obligations for this holiday (and a special thank you to Gail Nalven for her review and constructive additions.). For example, did you know that some Jews practice giving two gifts, especially of food. Also, drinking alcohol is widely described as an important religious "duty." Drinking alcoholic beverages, even to excess (to the point where one cannot clearly pronounce Haman), seems to have been widely practiced over the past few hundred years in European Jewish communities. Maybe this was one of the few times our relatives could forget the incredible hardships of the shtetls. Clearly, this practice began before the creation of the automobile and would not continue today without a "designated driver."

And, of course, wearing costumes of ancient Persia and partying are part of the holiday. But, most of all, we are to make lots of noise, particularly when the name of Haman is spoken.

For the religious underpinnings of Purim, we know that Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of Adar to commemorate the saving of the Jews in Persia from death. The Talmudic basis of Purim is in the Book of Esther, a rather short and likely not well-known part of the Torah. Remember that the Torah consists of the first five books of Moses and the Pesach story is not there, but it is considered to be part of the Hebrew Bible. In the story, Esther, translated as Hadassah, hence the origin of this organization saves her people from the evil pursuit of the Persian Haman.

Haman was a Prime Minister of the Court and Chief Advisor to the Persian King Ahasuerus, who was probably Xerxes I, the ruler of Persia from 486 to 465 BCE.

In short, Ahasuerus got mad at his wife, Vashti, because she would not stand up in his presence. Some say that the standing up was a euphemism for dancing, perhaps nude in front of men and leading to who knows what (see, sexism lived long ago). Given her refusal to do what the King wanted, he simply got rid of her, leaving himself without a Queen. At the urging of Haman, the King organized a beauty contest to pick a new wife. Doesn't this begin to sound a bit like the familiar Cinderella tale?

Esther, a young Jewish woman, won the contest and became the King's wife. Upon their marriage, she dutifully rose in the King's presence, thereby giving him reason to be satisfied and happy (he had simple tastes; just rise up and bow, apparently). However, Esther had a cousin, Mordecai, who refused to bow to Haman, thereby causing Haman to get even madder than the King did when his wife would not bow down.

Haman constructed a plot to get even by killing not only Mordecai, but also Esther and all the Jews in the kingdom (the first historical record of an anti-Semitic pogrom). When Mordecai learned of the plot, he organized a banquet where Esther lamented to the King that she was going to be killed. The King, finally having a wife who bowed down to him, understandably got angry. He raged over the potential loss of such a good wife and then ruled that anyone who messed with his wife and marriage would be killed.

Esther then told the King that it was Haman who wished to do her harm. The King, who was normally preoccupied with how his subjects bowed down and rose up before him, gave the matter some thought. He quickly solved this problem by ordering Haman and his ten sons to the gallows. To replace the now-deceased Haman, he did not have the ministerial equivalent of a beauty contest, but simply appointed Mordecai to the now vacant post.

Now the ugly part of the Purim story. In addition to these eleven deaths, there is evidence that the associates of Haman were killed in a bloodbath massacre in which the Torah notes that more than seventy-five thousand Persians were slaughtered.

The triumph of Esther and Mordecai over the enemies of the Jews is now celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim. According to Rabbi Fass, about fifty to seventy-five years ago, and before Chanukah became such a "big holiday" in the United States, Purim was celebrated much more widely in Europe, almost approaching the status of a "major" holiday.

We believe that Purim more than likely rooted in an ancient agricultural festival celebrating the arrival of Spring falling exactly one month before Pesach. As we celebrate it, let us try to understand the underpinnings. One good way is to return to read the Book of Esther and try to do a Midrashic interpretation.

Now, then, why did I call this article a "godless" holiday? It is because this is one of only two books in the Torah where God is never mentioned (do you know the name of the other Book?). In addition, the Book of Esther contains few elements of most of the other parts of the Torah. There are no laws, miracles, prayers, or even a mention of Jerusalem. Given the blood bath done in revenge, one could reasonably conclude that it is not even a very moral story. It is probably rooted in some ancient tale of a poor girl uplifted to royal status, and thus, may even be the basis of the much more familiar Cinderella tale of the Grimm Brothers.

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