Dear Citizena,
A Very Long Introduction to the Jewish Calendar
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The Jewish calendar (or Hebrew) is based on a mixture of both lunar
months and years defined via a solar cycle (this kind of calendar is
called "lunisolar", see at Wikipedia,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar>). It has 12 months
in it and 354 days. In leap years, there is a thirteenth month ("Adar
Beth", the second Adar), which would "compensate" for the leap. The
months are not parallel to the Gregorian calendar (the one that we use
on daily basis):
(1) Tishrei - Autumn (usually between September and October, sometimes
even November), (30 days)
(2) Cheshvan (also spelled Heshvan or Marchesvan) (29 or 30 days) (Oct. - Nov)
(3) Kislev (30 or 29 days) (Nov. - Dec.)
(4) Tevet (29 days) (Jan-Feb)
(5) Shevat (30 days) (Feb-March)
(6) Adar (29 days) (March-April)* Here we might have "the second Adar"
that would extend the year, in addition to the first one *
(7) Nisan (30 days) (April- May)
(8) Iyar (29 days) (May-June)
(9) Sivan (30 days) (June-July)
(10) Tammuz (29 days) (July - August)
(11) Av (30 days) (August-September)
(12) Elul (29 days) (September - October)
The Jewish year begins therefore in Tishrei, in the autumn, with the
holiday of Rosh Hashanah ("head" of the year), on the first of
Tishrei. The other Jewish holidays also correspond with the agrarian
year: Hanukah (Kislev) comes in the darkest period of the year, and
could be easily portrayed as "the festival of light" (if you know the
Adam Sandler song); Passover (Pessach) comes in Nisan, with the
spring; and Shavuot (the Pentecost) is marked by the harvest, and the
beginning of the summer. You can see a list of Jewish holidays and
their Hebrew calendrical dates at:
Orthodox Union - Jewish Holidays
<http://www.ou.org/chagim/default.htm>
Judaism 101 has a nice anecdote regarding this:
"A few years ago, I was in a synagogue, and I overheard one man ask
another, "When is Chanukah this year?" The other man smiled slyly and
replied, "Same as always: the 25th of Kislev." This humorous comment
makes an important point: the date of Jewish holidays does not change
from year to year. Holidays are celebrated on the same day of the
Jewish calendar every year, but the Jewish year is not the same length
as a solar year on the Gregorian calendar used by most of the western
world, so the date shifts on the Gregorian calendar." (SOURCE: Judaism
101, Jewish Calendar, <http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm>).
The calendar dates the creation of the world at 3761 B.C., which
explains how the current year is . 3761 B.C. is the assumed creation
of the world. This might bring up the question, that we *know* today
(given scientific evidence, especially but not only, from evolution
theory) that the world is much older than 5,000 years. Modern Jewish
theologists have various explanations to that, from the fundamentalist
rejection of the evolution theory (which also exists in Christian or
Muslim theology), to explanations such as the distinction between
"Godly years" and "human years" (which also explains the gap between
the theory of evolution and the creation story in the Bible).
The non-theological explanation, of course, is that people in ancient
periods had very little knowledge of the type that we had today, and
"thousand" (not to mention "three thousand") years seemed awfully a
lot to them, enough to let God create the world, and to bring it to
their times.
And why 3761 B.C set as the year of creation? "3760 was calculated by
adding up the ages of people in the Bible back to the time of
creation. However, this does not necessarily mean that the universe
was created less than 6000 years ago as the definition of "years" has
not been a constant throughout history." (SOURCE: Lisa Katz, "Q. What
is the Hebrew Calendar?", About.com,
<http://judaism.about.com/cs/hebrew/f/calendar_lunar.htm>).
Wikipedia, in their very interesting article on the subject, add,
regarding the methods to set the dates that the "modernisation" of the
calendar, or in other words, a unified date for all Jews, was set in
the 12th century:
"Two major forms of the calendar have been used: an observational form
used before the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 and a
rule-based form first fully described by Maimonides in 1178. The
period between 70 and 1178 is a transition period between the two
forms, with the gradual adoption of more and more of the rules
characteristic of the modern form. Except for the modern year number,
the modern rules reached their final form before 820 or 921, with some
uncertainty regarding when (see below). The modern Hebrew calendar
cannot be used for Biblical dates because new moon dates may be in
error by up to four days and months may be in error by up to four
months. The latter accounts for irregular intercalation such as the
three successive years which were given extra months during the early
second century according to the Talmud." (SOURCE: Wikipedia, The
Hebrew Calendar, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar>). This
might be part of the answer to your last question, but we'll get to
that.
Between the year 70 (when the Jewish Temple was destroyed by the
Romans) and the year 1178 there were several controversies regarding
the calendar, as many Jews have been exiled by the Romans and did not
live in Palestine anymore. "The current definition of the Jewish
calendar is generally said to have been set down by the Sanhedrin
president Hillel II in approximately C.E. 359." (SOURCE: Calendars
through the Ages, <http://webexhibits.org/calendars/calendar-jewish.html>).
Does the calendar go for 6,000 years, and what is supposed to happen at the
"end"? (I believe it's in the 5700's now?).
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Today is 27th of Sivan, 5765. (see: http://www.hebcal.com/converter/ -
you can also find out what is your Hebrew birthday and other such neat
things).
Is the calendar, according to Judaism, going to end in 235 years?
The answer is no. There is no "expiry date" to the Hebrew calendar. In
general, and I'll refer to it in the "Messiah" part of this answer,
Judaism is much less of an apocalyptic/millenarian religion than
Christianity in the terms of having set dates for the coming of the
Messiah or for the "end of the world".
However, like every religion, Judaism has also its share of mystics
and apocalyptic predictions:
"In the words of the Babylonian Talmud: "The world as we know it
(earth) will exist solely for 6,000 years (beginning with Adam and
Eve). The first 2,000 years will be defined by chaos. The second 2,000
years will mark the years of Torah. The final 2,000 years will include
the Messianic Age." Mystics explain this cryptic passage as an
amazingly prescient script not only for the past but for the future as
well.
[...]
The first 2,000 years -- called simply chaos -- are the years before
monotheism made its appearance on earth. Abraham was 52-years-old when
he intuited that there had to be one God responsible for the creation
of a carefully designed and incredibly intricate world. The date on
the Hebrew calendar marking this great discovery, an insight that
would decidedly alter the history of civilization, was exactly 2,000."
(SOURCE: Benjamin Blech, "Y2K, Jewish Perspective", AISH,
<http://www.aish.com/societywork/society/Why_2K$.asp>).
"It is worth noting that the Talmud, in the tractate Avodah Zarah,
page 9A, states that this world as we know it will only exist for six
thousand years:
"...The Tanna Debey Eliyahu taught: The world is to exist six thousand
years; the first two thousand are to be "void" [of Torah], the next
two thousand are the period of the Torah [from Abraham until the
completion of the Mishna - the first part of the Talmud], and the
following [last] two thousand are the period of the Messiah [i.e., the
Messianic Age could commence during this time]; through our [the
Jews'] sins a number of these [times for the Messiah's coming] have
already passed [and the Messiah has not come yet]."" (SOURCE:
Wikipedia, End of the World,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_of_the_world_(religion)>).
However, there is another interesting phenomenon that might be related
to it, and might have influenced that myth. As you've seem from the
number of the days in the years, and the discrepancies between the
Hebrew and the Gregorian months, there is a gap between the two
calendars. And in very very slow term, this gap between those
calendars decreases: according to Remy Landau, in the year 22,203
(Gregorian), instead of adding 3761 to the Gregorian year in order to
know the Hebrew one, you'd have to add 3760). (SOURCE: Remy Landau,
"The 3761 Myth", in: Hebrew Calendar Science and Myths,
<http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1584/#24>).
How does this relate to their expectations of A Messiah and when is he
predicted to arrive?
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The "annoited king" (the literal meaning of the term "Melech
HaMashiah" in Hebrew), according to mainstream Jewish belief, would
come, reunite Israel and bring prosperity. The Messiah will be human
(although some understand that he'd have supernatural powers as well).
There is no prediction when the Messiah would come in mainstream
Judaism, the Messiah would come when the conditions would suit it:
Jewish Messiah
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah>
Chabad, Ikvot Meshicha: The Time Immediately Before Mashiach
<http://www.chabad.org/library/article.asp?AID=100900> (note: some
part of the Chabad movements have claimed that their leader is the
Messiah during the late 1990s).
Therefore, it would be wrong to assume that a certain year has
importance for mainstream Judaism.
An Important Note
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I've found the reference to the year 6,000 mostly in Christian
millenarian sites. Even if these phrases exist in Jewish mysticism,
they are not widely used in Jewish theology, in any case, not in the
sense that such things exist in Christian theology.
In fact, many of these sites are the type of sites that mixed the two
theories to claim that the world is going to end (or that the Second
Coming is due) in 2000, because 5760 (the Jewish year in 2000) + 240
(the error) = 6,000.
I haven't found it in any Jewish source. These are good examples,
because it contains most of the myths that you've referred to: a 240
years error (which has been allegedly done to reject Jesus as the
Messiah), the year 6,000, etc.:
What Everyone Should Know about Roman and Hebrew CALENDARS!
<http://www.dccsa.com/greatjoy/roman.htm>
Torah Voice "Millennium Fever Catching As Year 6000 Approaches"
<http://www.torahvoice.org/6000.htm> (despite the Jewish name, and
terminology in the article, it is a Messianic site, not a
representative of any stream of Jewish thought).
We Are In the Millennium Now! Here?s proof!
<http://jacksonsnyder.com/arc/2001%20-%202/Millennium%20Now.htm>
Do all Jews follow this calendar?
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Yes, all observant Jews do, in terms of holidays, the weekly Parasha
(section from the Bible that is to be read), etc. However, most Jews
use the Gregorian calendar in everyday life (as you could have seen
from the anecdote before, about "when is Hanukah this year").
Eliezer Shulman and the Calendar
--------------------------------
Shulman did not engage directly in the study of the calendar. He did
it as part of a wider study on the "Sequence of Events in the Old
Testament". The type of gaps that he might have found are all related
to those possible problems that might have existed also between the
year 70 and 1178. Shulman's main claim is regarding Jubilee calendars
and the fact that the Jewish observance of the Jubilee during the era
before the destruction of the Temple, would have caused a difference
in calculating the years.
However, it is not a controversy in the sense that there are Jews who
would not accept Maimonides' calendar. It is, if any, a scientific
controversy, which is not theologically discussed. It should be
mentioned, though, that "Karaites use the lunar month and the solar
year, but determine when to add a leap month by observing the ripening
of barley in Israel, rather than a fixed calendar. This occasionally
puts them a month out of sync with the rest of the Jews. (For several
centuries, most Karaites, especially outside Israel, have kept in step
with other Jews for the sake of simplicity. However, in recent years
many Karaites have reverted to their traditional practice.)"
(Wikipedia, Hebrew calendar,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar>). This, as part of
their general rejection of mainstream rabbinical Judaism.
I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer, before you rate it. |
