We with our family and friends a
very healthy, happy andprosperous New Year.
R.S.V.P. BY MARSHA
MARSHA, DAVID, AARON, MATT FRIEDMAN
A Very Happy and
Healthy New Year
to All Our
Friends and Family.
MORREY'S SPRINKLER SERVICE
MARC & NANCY AMHOWITZ
JODI, CARU & BLAKE
(Bell withei kr. a
happy, healthy,
%list Wear.
REVA MALAMUD
Belt astilhet to, a
happy., healthy
Weill Wear.
SONIA & ARNOLD SMITH
& FAMILY
(Belt wallet for a
happy, luialthy
rileast (Yea".
MANNY, RAE, EVELYN SCHANE
AND HOLZMANS OF MARYLAND
11111.1 Mtn
co ail.
ow.-
cifientiv
and/v/6110m
SOL & GRANNIE ZEILER
& FAMILY
12.11'11 111115 fliw'?
to- aff
offlyztieriac,
and oehwioeN,
KEN, RONNA, ROBYN
AND AARON KING
LORRIE & JEFF TRAUBEN
MICHAEL, JUSTIN & SAMANTHA
IAy
May +he cot/nit/Is
ye.aw be filled
with kealtlf■ artcl
kappilless fop.
all kvxy
avAcl
ThE NEW YEAR BRiNg
To ALL OUR FRiENdS
ANd Fmk, — H WA ?
Joy, PROSPERITY
S
AN
vERyThiNg
d IN LIFE.
9/25
1998
R. &IBS. NICK GONTE
MICHAEL & LORI GONTE & FAMILY
DEBBIE GOLANIE & FAMILY
ANN MILLER
44 Detroit Jewish News
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5759
Rosh Hashanah:
Never On Sunday
SHARON KANON
Special to The Jewish News
1593 work on calendars, he
wrote, "The Jewish calculation
(for inserting a day or month)
lire all know the
is the oldest, the most skillful
rhyme, "Thirty
and the most elegant."
days hath
Elegant, but not easy. You
September,
don't have to be a computer
April, June and November ..."
scientist to figure out how the
and that a year has 365 days,
Hebrew calendar works, but it
except during a leap year.
helps. In a recent review, dur-
The Hebrew calendar, how-
ing a sabbatical in Israel, calen-
ever, has no such simple, neat
dar maven Professor Reingold
rhyme because the Hebrew cal-
explained some of the intrica-
endar year can have 353-355
cies and idiosyncracies of the
days, or 383-385 days and 12
Hebrew calendar.
or 13 months with 29 or 30
The scheme for counting
days. If I were to make a ditty
the years from the seventh
for the Hebrew calendar, it
month and the months from
would probably go something
Nissan was divinely decreed.
like this: "Thirty days hath
Referring to Nissan, "This
Nissan, Sivan, Av, Tishrei,
month shall be unto you the
Shevat and Aciar, and all the
beginning of months; it shall
rest have 20, except when
be the first month of the year
Heshvan and Kislev also have
..." (Exodus 12:2). The reason,
30 days and then there is Adar
according to the oral law, is-
II, which has 29 days in a leap
that God wanted to emphasize
year."
the exodus from Egypt, an
The Hebrew day also varies
epoch-making event, in which
because it is not locked into a
the Jewish people emerged as a
rigid hour scheme. As the
nation.
length of daylight and night
In the Bible, the Hebrew
time vary with the seasons, the
months are referred to primari-
length of daytime and night
ly by numbers. Babylonian
time hours also vary with the
names for the months were
season. The Hebrew calendar
introduced during the exile
divides the temporal hours
and retained as a reminder of
into 1,080 parts of 3 1/2 sec-
the redemption (Ramban).
onds each and each part is
The Babylonian word
divided into 76 moments.
"Tishrei" apparently derives
Getting a date right is of
from the root "seru," which
major importance in Judaism.
means "to begin." It marks the
A mistake, said Rabbi
beginning of the autumn har-
Hezekiah de Silo, a 17th cen-
vest and commercial year.
tury scholar, "can cause the
Rosh Hashanah is never on
holy and awesome fast to be
a Sunday, Wednesday or
nullified, leaven to be eaten on
Friday. If it falls on these days
Passover and the holidays to be
it is always postponed until the
desecrated."
next day. Excluding
Anyone who has had to
Wednesday and Friday pre-
order a wedding or bar mitz-
vents Yom Kippur from falling
vah invitation or say Kaddish
on a Friday or Sunday. There
knows that the Hebrew date is
are four different reasons why
a variable based on the capri-
Rosh Hashanah may be post-
cious setting of the sun. In
poned, which, believe it or
London, sunrise occurs any-
not, occurs 60 percent of the
where from 3:42 a.m. to 8:06
time, making the exception the
a.m. and sunset varies from
rule.
3:51 p.m. to 8:21 p.m.
.'During the times of the
Despite its apparent irregu-
Sanhedrin, the calendar, which
larities, the Hebrew calendar
was lunisolar, was adjusted to •
was praised by the esteemed
fit the seasons. The lawmakers
physician and scholar Joseph
would send out scouts to
Julius Scaliger. In his classic
check on the budding of the
trees. If there were none, the
Sharon Kanon writes for the
committee would postpone
World Zionist Press Service.
Pesach by adding a second
‘t.