JEWISH CALENDAR

Jewish calendar is a combination of lunar and solar way of time counting. After a long period of time counting based on witnesses (seeing young Moon, end of rainy season, ripe barley etc.) there was necessity for more precise way of counting when exactly holidays are coming. In the mid 4th century Hilel 2nd made pretty accurate calendar that was accepted by Sanhedrin of that time. From that time Jewish calendar has twelve months with 353, 354 or 355 days in non-leap years and 383, 384 and 385 days in leap years. Months have 30 or 29 days. Every third, eight, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth year one additional full 30-day month is added.

Before the Babylon slavery period there were no permanent names for months, or they are not known, except for a few names in Tanah. They were also named by ordinal numbers. During the Babylon slavery period Babylon names for months were adopted.

Mo.
#

Jewish
Calendar

No. of
days
Gregorian
equivalent

Theme of Month
(Babylonian & Biblical)

1

Nisan

30

March-April Redemption, Miracles

2

Iyyar

20

April-May Introspection, Self improvement

3

Sivan

30

May-June Giving of Torah

4

Tammuz

29

June-July Sin of the Golden Calf, guarding of the eyes

5

Av

30

July-August Av the Comforter

6

Elul

29

August-September Repentance

7

Tishri

30

September-October Month of the Strong or Month of the Ancients

8

Kheshvan

29/30

October-November The Flood (of Noach)

9

Kislev

29/30

November-December (Restful) Sleep

10

Tevet

29

December-January Divine Grace

11

Shevat

30

January-February Tree of Life

12

Adar

29/30

February-March Good Fortune

Adar II

29

March-April

In leap years the first Adar has 30 days and Veadar has 29. The monhts are counted starting from Nissan respectively as shown above and the year is counting from Tishri. Days are still called after ordinal numbers:

Secular Weekday Name

Hebrew "Name"

Hebrew Meaning

Sunday Yom Reeshone First day
Monday Yom Shaynee Second day
Tuesday Yom Shlee´shee Third day
Wednesday Yom Revee´ee Fourth day
Thursday Yom Khah´mee´shee Fifth day
Friday Yom Ha´shee´shee Sixth day
Saturday Shabbat Rest

Tradition of word of mouth says that Jewish counting of years starts from 3760 B.C. i.e. from the beginning of world. For example year 2005, till Rosh Hashanah, the first Tishri, in our calendar is the year of 5765.E.

Werber: Introduction to Jewish Religion

Learn more abut Jewish calendar - Hebcal Interactive Jewish Calendar
http://www.hebcal.com/hebcal