LIFE page 115
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days and festivals vary from
year to year in relation to the so-
lar calendar.
Starting at sundown
Shabbat and Jewish holidays,
of course, always begin at sun-
down. This isa function of mea-
suring time by the lunar
calendar. It also relates to the
biblical creation story where it
says, "... and there was evening
and there was morning ..." Our
tradition uses this phrase as a
proof text for measuring Jewish
time according to the cycles of
the moon. Two of the major Jew-
ish festivals mentioned in the
Torah, Sukkot and Pesach, oc-
My grandmother's
birthday was two
days before Yom
Kippur. We never
knew what that day
was on the secular
calendar.
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1 16
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cur at the time of the full moon
— Sukkot on the 15th of Tishri
and Pesach on the 15th of
Nisan. As a matter of fact, in the
Torah, Nisan, the month of Pe-
sach, is the first month of the
Jewish year. This may be the
reason we add a month at Adar,
since it is the month immedi-
ately preceding Nisan.
As you can see, developing a
consciousness about Jewish
time is relatively easy. You can
begin by moon watching. To
help, there are special blessings
for the new moon in our liturgy.
Each month on the Shabbat pre-
ceding the new month, we read
the blessings for the new moon
in synagogue. And if you do not
regularly go to synagogue you
can tell when the new lunar
month will begin by looking at
the sky.
There are many ways to in-
tegrate Jewish time into your
lives. Begin by identifying your
Jewish birthday. You can da
this by looking it up in the In-
dex Volume of the Encyclopedia
Judaica, or in a 100-year calen-
dar which is in every synagogue
in our city. Once you know your
Jewish birthday, you can have
a double celebration, your sec-
ular birthday and your special
Jewish day. When you develop
the skill of looking up Jewish
days, you will be able to recog-
nize significant events in your
life and the life of your family
according to the Jewish calen-
dar. Perhaps the term "Jewish
time" will take on new meaning
for you as you progress through
the year cycle and the important
moments of your lives. LI