The Jewish Calendar.
The Jewish Calendar[47] reckons the day from evening to evening, in accordance with the order observed in [[361]]the verse, “And it was evening and it was morning, one day” (Gen. i. 5). The evening begins after sunset, at the moment when stars become visible under normal conditions of the atmosphere: at צאת הכוכבים “the coming forth of the stars,” scil., of at least three stars of middle size.
The day is divided into evening, morning, and afternoon. With each of these periods is connected an appropriate prayer or service, viz., Maarib or Evening-prayer, Shacharith or Morning-prayer, and Minchah or Afternoon-prayer.
Seven days form a week. The days of the week are described in the Bible and the Talmud simply as the first day, the second day, &c. Only the seventh day has a second name, Yom ha-shabbath or shabbath, “the day of rest,” or “the rest.” In post-Biblical literature the sixth day is called Erebh shabbath or Ma’ale shabbatha, “the eve of Sabbath,” or “the coming in of Sabbath.” The evening following Sabbath is named Motseë shabbath, “the departure of Sabbath.” Similarly the day preceding a Festival and the evening following it are called Erev yom-tobh and Motseë yom-tobh, “the eve of the Festival.” and “the departure of the Festival.”
Four weeks and one or two days make one month, חדש or ירח. The length of the month is determined by the duration of one revolution of the moon round the earth. Such revolution is completed in twenty-nine days and a half.[48] As, however, the calendar mouth [[362]]does not commence in the middle of the day, but at the beginning of the evening, it was necessary to add half a day to one month, and to take off half a day from the next. The months have therefore alternately twenty-nine and thirty days.
The months are named according to their order, the first month, the second, &c.; the first being the first month in the spring. Other names, implying agricultural and climatic relations, were likewise in use, and the following four of them have been preserved in the Bible: the first month is called Abib, “ears of corn;” the second Ziv, “beauty;” the seventh Ethanim, “hardy fruit;” and the eighth, Bul, “rain.”[49] Since the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile, names of foreign origin have been in use, viz., Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Abh, Elul, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tebheth, Shebhat and Adar.[50] Roughly speaking, these months correspond to April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, and March.
The year is either an ordinary year or a leap-year, the former consisting of twelve, the latter of thirteen months. The extra month is called Adar-sheni, “the second Adar,” and is added between Adar and Nisan. It serves to adjust from time to time the lunar to the [[363]]solar year;[51] for there is between the lunar year—that is, the time of twelve revolutions of the moon round the earth—and the solar year, or the time of one revolution of the earth round the sun, a difference of about eleven days, the one consisting of about 354⅓, the other of about 365¼ days. In nineteen years the difference amounts to about seven months. We have therefore seven leap-years in every cycle (מחזור) of nineteen years, viz., the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th.
Neither the ordinary years nor the leap-years have a uniform duration; the former fluctuate between 353, 354, and 355 days; the latter between 383, 384, and 385 days. The following is the cause of this variety: There are certain days in the week which are never made the beginning of the new year (the 1st of Tishri). Whenever the astronomical beginning of the year happens to be on one of these days, a day is added to one year, and taken from the next. The addition in the former case is made in the month of Cheshvan, and the curtailing in the latter case in the month of Kislev. The length of the months is therefore as follows:—Nisan, 30; Iyar, 29; Sivan, 30; Tammuz, 29; Abh, 30; Elul, 29; Tishri, 30; Cheshvan, 29 or 30; Kislev, 30 or 29; Tebheth, 29; Shebhat, 30; Adar, 29, in leap-year 30; Adar-sheni (in leap-year), 29 days.
The first day of the month is called New-moon-day [[364]]חדש[52] or ראש חדש, “beginning of the month.” In those months which have thirty days, the thirtieth day is likewise kept as Rosh-chodesh.
The beginning of the astronomical month is the moment of the conjunction of sun and moon,[53] when the moon is exactly between the earth and the sun. Nothing is then visible of the moon. Six hours at least later a very small portion of the moon can, under favourable conditions, be seen, and the day on which this takes place is the first of the calendar month.
At first, from the earliest days down to Hillel II. (about 360 C.E.), Rosh-chodesh was determined by direct observation. The highest court, the great Sanhedrin, examined the witnesses who had noticed the reappearance of the moon, and accordingly determined the first day of the month by the solemn declaration, Mekuddash, “sanctified;” that is, the day is to be kept as Rosh-chodesh. These proceedings took place on the thirtieth day of the month. If witnesses presented themselves who testified to the appearance of the new moon, and after due examination their statement was found to be correct, the same day was proclaimed as Rosh-chodesh, and the preceding month had twenty-nine days; if no witnesses presented themselves, or the witnesses could not sustain their evidence, the day was added to the expiring month, and the day following was the first of the next month. The decision of the Sanhedrin concerned only the thirtieth day of the month. As soon as their decision was arrived at, Jewish congregations located within a certain distance were informed by [[365]]signal or by trustworthy messengers which day had been fixed as the first of the new month. The decrees of the Sanhedrin, the highest religious council of the nation, were accepted by all Jewish congregations as law, and the Festivals were celebrated in accordance with the New Moon thus appointed. There were, however, Jewish congregations in distant parts that could not be reached by the messengers in due time, and these were in doubt concerning the day on which a Festival had to be celebrated. Being anxious not to miss the day kept as a Festival on the authority of the Sanhedrin by their brethren at the religious centre of the nation, the Jews abroad observed two days as Holy-days instead of one; only the Fast of the Day of Atonement had no additional day, because, being a fast-day, the majority of the people were unable to abstain from food for two consecutive days. New-year, on the other hand, was, as a rule, everywhere observed two days, even in places near the seat of the Sanhedrin, and sometimes even in the very place where the Sanhedrin met, on account of the uncertainty whether the 30th of Elul or the day following would be fixed by the Sanhedrin as Rosh ha-shanah. Though, with regard to the most holy Festival, the uncertainty of the day admitted of no remedy, this circumstance did not prevent our pious ancestors from applying a remedy where it could be done.
It was not ignorance that led Jews outside Palestine to observe two Holy-days instead of one. A rough calculation of the time in which the various phenomena of the moon are to be noticed is not difficult, and could be made by many Rabbis and laymen long before Hillel II. framed the permanent Calendar. Nevertheless, [[366]]two days were kept, because it was impossible to calculate or anticipate all the accidental circumstances that might cause the Sanhedrin to defer the fixing of Rosh-chodesh for the next day.
Nor was it a decree of the Sanhedrin, or of a Rabbinical assembly, that ordered the observance of יום טוב שני, “a second day of the Festival.” This was done by the voluntary act of the nation, and their resolution was confirmed by continued usage. It was the outcome of genuine piety, of the earnest desire to be at one with the central authority of the nation. The observance of יום טוב שני is so old that no trace of its actual introduction can be discovered in the Talmud; wherever mention is made of it, it is represented as an institution already in existence. It may already have existed in the days of the prophets, and traces of the celebration of a second day of Rosh-chodesh may be recognised in the first book of Samuel (i. xx. 27).
This practice, which sprang from true fear and love of God, was spontaneously adopted by all the Jews outside Palestine, continued by generation after generation for more than two thousand years, and has, as a minhag of long standing, become law. It is not a precept commanded in the Written Law, or decreed in the Oral Law; it is only a minhag “practice,” but a minhag that must be cherished and respected as a national institution. There may come a time when the institution of יום טוב שני will be abolished; this can, however, only be done by the national will, confirmed by a Sanhedrin which will be recognised by the whole nation as the only religious authority. Until then it is incumbent upon us to adhere firmly to the observance of the second days of the Festivals. [[367]]