the second-mentioned number of days being used, in each case, whenever the following or new Gregorian year is bissextile.
Hence, knowing which of the years are embolismic, from their ordinal position in the cycle, according to the rule before stated, the times of the commencement of successive years may be thus carried on indefinitely without any difficulty. But some slight adjustments will occasionally be needed for the reasons before assigned, viz. to avoid certain festivals falling on incompatible days of the week. Whenever the computed conjunction falls on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, the new year is in such case to be fixed on the day after. It will also be requisite to attend to the following conditions:—
If the computed new moon be after 18 hours, the following day is to be taken, and if that happen to be Sunday, Wednesday or Friday, it must be further postponed one day. If, for an ordinary year, the new moon falls on a Tuesday, as late as 9 hours 11 min. 20 sec., it is not to be observed thereon; and as it may not be held on a Wednesday, it is in such case to be postponed to Thursday. If, for a year immediately following an embolismic year, the computed new moon is on Monday, as late as 15 hours 30 min. 52 sec., the new year is to be fixed on Tuesday.
After the dates of commencement of the successive Hebrew years are finally adjusted, conformably with the foregoing directions, an estimation of the consecutive intervals, by taking the differences, will show the duration and character of the years that respectively intervene. According to the number of days thus found to be comprised in the different years, the days of the several months are distributed as in Table VI.
The signs + and - are respectively annexed to Hesvan and Kislev to indicate that the former of these months may sometimes require to have one day more, and the latter sometimes one day less, than the number of days shown in the table—the result, in every case, being at once determined by the total number of days that the year may happen to contain. An ordinary year may comprise 353, 354 or 355 days; and an embolismic year 383, 384 or 385 days. In these cases respectively the year is said to be imperfect, common or perfect. The intercalary month, Veadar, is introduced in embolismic years in order that Passover, the 15th day of Nisan, may be kept at its proper season, which is the full moon of the vernal equinox, or that which takes place after the sun has entered the sign Aries. It always precedes the following new year by 163 days, or 23 weeks and 2 days; and Pentecost always precedes the new year by 113 days, or 16 weeks and 1 day.
Table VI.—Hebrew Months.
| Hebrew Month. |
Ordinary Year. |
Embolismic Year. |
| Tisri | 30 | 30 |
| Hesvan | 29+ | 29+ |
| Kislev | 30- | 30- |
| Tebet | 29 | 29 |
| Sebat | 30 | 30 |
| Adar | 29 | 30 |
| (Veadar) | (...) | (29) |
| Nisan | 30 | 30 |
| Yiar | 29 | 29 |
| Sivan | 30 | 30 |
| Tamuz | 29 | 29 |
| Ab | 30 | 30 |
| Elul | 29 | 29 |
| Total | 354 | 384 |
The Gregorian epact being the age of the moon of Tebet at the beginning of the Gregorian year, it represents the day of Tebet which corresponds to January 1; and thus the approximate date of Tisri 1, the commencement of the Hebrew year, may be otherwise deduced by subtracting the epact from
| Sept. 24 Oct. 24 | after an | ordinary embolismic | Hebrew year. |