An Introduction to the Jewish Calendar
The Jewish calendar is a lunar-solar
calendar. It follows the cycle of the moon. The day begins at sunset and ends
with the sighting of three stars. "Vayehi erev, vayehi boker, yom echad -
and it was evening, and it was morning, one day." (Bereshit 1:5).
The twelve months of the lunar calendar have either 29 or 30 days. The Jewish calendar adjusts with leap years. A leap year adds an extra month, Adar 1, to the calendar year. This occurs seven times in a nineteen year cycle so that the holidays fall in the correct seasons. Ah! Now we understand why holidays occur at different times during the solar calendar.
Why must the Jewish calendar adjust in this way when others who use a lunar calendar do not do so? In ancient times, we were an agrarian people, deeply connected to the land of Israel. The major holidays Pesach (Passover), Shavuot and Sukkot, also known as Shelosh Regalim, were three agricultural holidays, With the solar and lunar calendars being off by approximately eleven days per year, after nine years, they would be off more than three months. How could we celebrate a harvest holiday if we have not yet planted? We can't. So, we adjust with Adar I allowing the holidays to fall in the correct seasons. (Yes, that is the important phrase to remember which is why it is repeated.)
Why do we celebrate holidays of planting when it may still be winter where we live? Because the holidays are based on the seasons as they occur in the land of Israel.
The twelve months of the lunar calendar have either 29 or 30 days. The Jewish calendar adjusts with leap years. A leap year adds an extra month, Adar 1, to the calendar year. This occurs seven times in a nineteen year cycle so that the holidays fall in the correct seasons. Ah! Now we understand why holidays occur at different times during the solar calendar.
Why must the Jewish calendar adjust in this way when others who use a lunar calendar do not do so? In ancient times, we were an agrarian people, deeply connected to the land of Israel. The major holidays Pesach (Passover), Shavuot and Sukkot, also known as Shelosh Regalim, were three agricultural holidays, With the solar and lunar calendars being off by approximately eleven days per year, after nine years, they would be off more than three months. How could we celebrate a harvest holiday if we have not yet planted? We can't. So, we adjust with Adar I allowing the holidays to fall in the correct seasons. (Yes, that is the important phrase to remember which is why it is repeated.)
Why do we celebrate holidays of planting when it may still be winter where we live? Because the holidays are based on the seasons as they occur in the land of Israel.
If you know the arrangement of piano black and white keys, half steps are two years apart, whole steps are three years apart.
That means that the leap year is the last year in the dyad or triad of numbers.