The Hebrew Calendar, Part 1

The Hebrew Calendar (Part 1)

The Gregorian calendar is the method of reckoning dates used by most of the world. It was sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII n 1582 as a corrected version of the Julian calendar. It is a solar-based calendar in which dates represent the position of the earth in its revolution around the sun.

The Hebrew/Jewish calendar is quite unlike the Gregorian or the Julian calendar. It is a modified lunar-based calendar—that is, based on cycles of the moon phase. It is also adjusted by adding intercalary months (that is, a thirteenth month in certain years) to bring the lunar cycles into synchronization with the solar year.

Trying to understand the Holy Day dates on the Gregorian calendar can be quite challenging. For example, the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) falls on the Hebrew calendar date of Tishri 1. One may wonder why in some years Tishri 1 may fall early in September, while in others it may be as late as October. Having a basic understanding of the modified lunar calendar used by the Jewish people provides us with the answers. In this chapter, I will demonstrate how to reconcile the disparities between the numbers of days in the Jewish and Gregorian calendars.

The calculations used may appear to be a little bit intimidating, with long decimal places and many steps, but they are really very straightforward and simple. Gaining knowledge into the Jewish calendar will greatly assist in understanding why the Holy Days do not occur at the same time on our calendar every year. In addition, learning a completely different way to reckon months and years can be quite interesting.

The major points to note are that the lunar calendar has 29.53 days in a month. Twelve months are equal to approximately 354 days, 11 or 12 days less than twelve months in the Gregorian calendar. To make up for this difference, the Jewish calendar adds a thirteenth month in seven years out of every nineteen, so that the “modified lunar” (lunisolar) calendar and the Gregorian calendar come into almost exact alignment every nineteen years. The table below demonstrates the number of months in a year for the two calendars, representing the current nineteen-year cycle.

Hebrew                       Gregorian
Year   # of Months      # of Months    Year
5758           12                  12             1997
5759           12                  12             1998
5760           13                  12             1999
5761           12                  12             2000
5762           12                  12             2001

5763           13                  12             2002

5764           12                  12             2003

5765           13                  12             2004
5766           12                  12             2005
5767           12                  12             2006

5768           13                  12             2007

5769           12                  12             2008

5770           12                  12             2009

5771           13                  12             2010

5772           12                  12             2011

5773           12                  12             2012

5774           13                  12             2013

5775           12                  12             2014

5776           13                  12             2015

In part II in this series we will determine how well the days between two common calendars can be reconciled.

A Fun Feast of Tabernacles Activity

A Fun Feast of Tabernacles Activity

This past year (2010) my wife Amy and I had a group of people over for a dinner and celebration during the Feast of Tabernacles. The dinnertime conversation often remains upbeat as everyone is happy to be eating, that is as long as the food is good. Amy being an excellent cook, I don't have to worry about that. Unfortunately, many times when a large group like this is gathered, the after dinner conversation can turn into a gripe session about all of the problems in the world.

This being the Feast of Tabernacles is the great celebration of joy.  The time when Jesus announced his purpose to mankind (John 7:37-39).  The feast that looks forward to Jesus reign on earth and a wonderful time for celebration! I did not want to have our  conversation dig into the mud regardless of what crazy things were happening on that day. As my wife and I were brainstorming a method to keep that from happening we thought up a game that we would play after dinner.

The rules to this game are simple. I ask a question and whoever wants can answer. The less the leaders of the gathering do and say the better. The objective is to get everybody talking and telling stories. There are no prizes to this game other than the good feelings that everybody left with.

The game goes like this. Either my wife or I ask one of several questions and let the people answer. These questions are designed to bring laughter, joy, happiness and inspiration. It worked extremely well at our house and I feel it can do the same for others. Here are some of the questions that we asked.

1. Did any of you have a unique experience in meting your spouse?
2. Were there any unique experiences during the birth of any of your children?
3. What was one of your most fun vacation experiences and why?
4. What was one of your most rewarding experiences on the job?
5. Discuss one of the most beneficial and inspiring sermon messages you have ever heard.
6. Has anyone had a unique restaurant experience?
7. What was one of the most rewarding and inspiring movies that you have watched?
8. Can you describe the most beautiful spot you have ever visited?
9. What is the greatest vacation you have never had – whatis your dream vacation?
10. Is there a place in the United States (or your home state, or outside of the United States) that you would recommend people visit and why?
11. Is there a unique experience you had growing up that you would like to share?
12. Was there a time of God's intervention in your life or a "guardian angel" experience that you can tell us about?
13. Is there a class you would recommend that everyone take?
14. The expression "a picture tells 1,000 words" is very true. Is there a picture that you've seen and admired that holds true to this expression??

Some of the responses we got to this one were hilarious, some were touching. Many showed the hand of God at work. In answering question two, one father ended up delivering his first daughter and his second daughter was born in his car! What a wild story he had to tell as he got up out of his seat, was using wild gestures and really getting into it. Everyone was laughing and thankful that both of his daughters are absolutely fine, over twenty years later.

We didn't even get to ask all of the questions. As one person would answer a second or third or fourth person would excitedly chime in. You may want to try something like this at your next "get-together". You can probably even think up better questions. These were just thrown together in about thirty minutes without a great amount of thought. Our goal was accomplished. We kept the conversation on the positive side. We kept a happy, cheerful and praiseworthy attitude; and we had a lot of fun.

For more information about our magnificent appointments with God take a look at The Wonder and Majesty of God's Festivals and Holy Days:  The Master Plan Revealed.


Thomas Thorne

Do we Really Know How Many Days per Year there are in the Gregorian Calendar?

The method of reckoning time used by most of the world today is known as the Gregorian calendar. It was sponsored by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 as a corrected version of the Julian calendar. It is a solar based calendar in which dates represent the position of the earth in its revolution around the sun.

The title to this article seems to pose a pretty palpable question; but let's see if we really do know how many days, on average, there are in a year. In the Gregorian calendar there are 365 days in a normal year. Leap years, years with 366 days occur in years that are exactly divisible by four with the following exception: centurial years that are exactly divisible by 100 and not by 400 are not leap years.

To help us understand, let's look at some examples. The year 2000 was a leap year, as was 2004 and 2008. 2012 will also be a leap year. They are four years apart. Now let's examine the time span from 1600 to 1999, which encompassed four hundred years. And let's focus on the centurial years (1600, 1700, 1800 and 1900). The year 1600 was a leap year because it is exactly divisible by one hundred and four hundred. Although the years 1700, 1800 and 1900 are centurial years exactly divisible by one hundred, they are not divisible by four hundred. Therefore, they were not leap years.

If leap years occurred every four years without exception, we would expect to see twenty-five leap years over one hundred years and one hundred leap years over four hundred years. But, over a four hundred year period, three of the years that would appear to be leap years are not. Even though they are exactly divisible by four they are centurial years not divisible by four hundred. Therefore, there are actually only ninety-seven leap years in a four hundred year cycle.  Now we can calculate the average number of days in a year when using the Gregorian calendar as follows.

• There are 303 "normal" years in a four hundred year period and 365 days in a "normal" year. 303 (years) x 365 (days per year) = 110,595 days
• There are 97 "leap" years in a four hundred year period and 366 days in a "leap" year. 97 (years) x 366 (days per year) = 35,502 days
• The total number of days over a four hundred year cycle is 110,595 + 35,502 = 146,097
• The average number of days in a year on the Gregorian calendar is 146,097 (days) / 400 (years) = 365.2425 days/year.

In the Gregorian calendar which is used by most of the world, there is an average of 365.2425 days in a year.

For a comparison on the Gregorian of the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars check out www.feelingoustanding.com/wm.html.