WHY DO HEBREW - JEWISH - CALENDARS NEED PERIODIC ADJUSTMENT?

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Frequently Asked Questions

#7 - Why Does The Hebrew Calendar Need Periodic Adjustment ?

The Hebrew's calendar is a lunar-based calendar, and each new Hebrew month always begins with the first sighting of the next waxing moon following a new moon.
When the very first tiny sliver of the next waxing moon appears, the first day of a new month is officially declared.

However, the problem which generates the requirement for adjusting the calendar is the astronomical fact that lunar cycles are out of sync with solar cycles. The calendar is adjusted because a solar year is 365 days long while a lunar year of 12 months is usually 354 days, 11 days shorter. In order to remain aligned with the solar year an extra month is added in certain years, this is a Hebrew leap year. (SEE: Table, at right.)

Every 19 years there are seven Hebrew leap years (the third, sixth, eighth, eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth and nineteenth years). The 12th (last) Hebrew month is called Adar, but in a Hebrew leap year a 13th month is added called Adar Sheni (the second Adar).

The problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar loses about 11 days every year and a 13-month lunar calendar gains about 19 days every year. The months on such a calendar "drift" relative to the solar year. On a 12 lunar month calendar, the month of Nisan, which is supposed to occur in the Spring, would occur 11 days earlier each year, eventually occurring in the Winter, the Fall, the Summer, and then the Spring again after about 33 years. To compensate for this drift, an extra month is occasionally added. The month of Nisan occurs 11 days earlier each year for two or three years, and then an extra month is added so that Nisan jumps backward 29 or 30 days on the calendar, balancing out the drift.

The current cycle of Hebrew / Jewish Leap-Years began in Jewish year 5758, the year that began on 1 Tishri, Rosh ha Shanah, October 2, 1997.

2000 --thru-- 2050:

Years CE	Year # In Cycle	Hebrew Year
2000	3rd	5760
2003	6th	5763
2005	8th	5765
2008	11th	5768
2011	14th	5771
2014	17th	5774
2016	19th	5776
2019	3rd	5779
2022	6th	5782
2024	8th	5784
2027	11th	5787
2030	14th	5790
2033	17th	5793
2035	19th	5795
2038	3rd	5798
2041	6th	5801
2043	8th	5803
2046	11th	5806
2049	14th	5809

Click Here - View The Hebrew Calendar For The Jewish Year 5769
(Sep. 2008 - Sep. 2009)

The Hebrew / Jewish calendar has the following months:

Hebrew In English Month
Number Length
(Days) Gregorian Equivalent

Nisan 1 30 Mar/Apr

Iyar 2 29 Apr/May

Sivan 3 30 May/Jun

Tammuz 4 29 Jun/Jul

Av 5 30 Jul/Aug

Elul 6 29 Aug/Sep

Tishri 7 30 Sep/Oct

Cheshvan 8 29/30 Oct/Nov

Kislev 9 29/30 Nov/Dec

Tevet 10 29 Dec/Jan

Shevat 11 30 Jan/Feb

Adar I (Leap years only) 12 (In a leap year) 30 Feb/Mar (In leap year)

Adar (Called Adar II in leap years) 12 (#13 in a leap year) 29 Feb/Mar
(Mar/Apr in leap year)

The names of the months of the Jewish calendar were adopted during the time of Ezra, after the return from the Babylonian exile. The names are actually Babylonian month names, brought back to Israel by the returning exiles. Note that the Bible refers to months by number almost all of the time, not by name.

In ancient times, this extra month was also added by direct observation: the Sanhedrin observed the conditions of the weather, the crops and the livestock, and if these were not sufficiently advanced to be considered "spring," then the Sanhedrin inserted an additional month into the calendar to make sure that Pesach (The Passover) would occur very early in the spring (The Passover is referred-to in Torah as "Chag ha-Aviv," the Festival of Spring!).

And this is what forces observant Hebrews to periodically adjust their calendar in order to remain in sync with the annual, solar-based, agricultural seasons. And, remaining in sync with the annual seasons is of utmost importance to observant Hebrews because their religious-based Feasts, Festivals, High Holy Days and Annual High Sabbaths are all determined, throughout the year, by exactly when the FIRST day of the FIRST month begins.

Click Here - View The Hebrew Calendar For The Jewish Year 5769
(Sep. 2008 - Sep. 2009)

One may observe the exact opposite effect by noting that Islam does not make any annual adjustments to its lunar-based religious calendar.
The month of Ramadan (which is determined by the observation of a combination of both lunar and celestial signs) actually moves backward eleven or twelve days annually on the calendar.
So that after any 31 year -or- 32 year period, Islam's holy month of Ramadan will have rotated completely around the entire calendar and will be back to the month where it was 31 years before.
In 2003, Islam's holy month of Ramadan began on October 27 - in 2004, it begins on October 15. And the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (The Hajj) began on January 30, 2004 - but begins on January 18, 2005. Also, by the year 2020, Ramadan will begin in April, while the Hajj will be in July.
The Hebrew's calendar is adjusted to prevent that same effect (which Islam tolerates) because THE God of Abraham is the author of the Hebrew's form of worship.
Since one of the Hebrew's earliest annual feasts has strict agricultural requirements dictating its seasonal occurrence, it is essential that the Hebrew's first month ALWAYS begin very early in spring.
The Hebrew's Holy Days cannot be allowed to rotate around the calendar, as Islam's do, because of seasonal requirements connected to certain agricultural harvests which are religiously and spiritually connected to the God-ordained form of worship practiced by observant Hebrews.

In the Hebrew's first month, called Nisan (and also called Abib), falls
the Feast of Passover, at the beginning of the 14th day at sundown.

It is followed by the 7-day-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, beginning with a High Holy Day which is an Annual High Sabbath, on the 15th day at sundown.
The 7-day-long feast runs through the 21st day (aka: The Week of Unleavened Bread).
And during the 7-day-long Feast of Unleavened Bread there is always a Sunday which is a special festival, with special religious devotional and sacrificial practices, the centerpiece of which is directly connected with the annual harvest of early spring wheat (barley).
On THAT Sunday (The Sunday following Passover), within the seven-day-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, occurs the Feast of Firstfruits. THAT Sunday is when a Hebrew High Priest takes a sheath of freshly harvested, RIPE, spring wheat (barley) and waves it before God as an offering in thanksgiving for a spring wheat (barley) harvest which is about to begin.

The spring wheat (barley) used in the offering MUST be ripe, not green and immature.

The High Priest will actually inspect the wheat (barley) while it is still in the fields
to insure that ONLY when the wheat (barley) is ripe, mature (Abib) and ready for harvest
is it gathered in small amounts for the God-ordained ceremony connected with the
religious feast / festival of Firstfruits.

This ceremonial, symbolic offering is
called the "Wave-Sheath Offering".

And, for those who are interested...

Since Easter is capricious and occasionally occurs BEFORE The Passover...

No matter WHEN Easter is celebrated, The Sunday FOLLOWING Passover is the
same Sunday when one counts 50 days in order to determine the Sunday for Pentecost.

Christ Jesus was crucified on Passover; resurrected from the dead on the Feast of
Firstfruits (the Sunday AFTER Passover); and the Holy Spirit descended upon the
apostles, 50 days from THAT Sunday, on the Hebrew High Holy Day of Pentecost.

Click Here - View A Chart Of Easter, Passover and Pentecost Dates For Years 2000 -thru- 2050
Click Here - View The Hebrew Calendar For The Jewish Year 5769 (Sep. 2008 - Sep. 2009)

It is for this very important religious, ceremonial reason that the Hebrew's first month absolutely has to begin soon AFTER spring begins, for it is only THEN that the early spring wheat (barley) will be ripe and mature, making it ceremonially acceptable to God.
This means that, occasionally, whenever the Hebrew's 12th month ends far too early in the year for the 14th day of the next month to have ripe and mature wheat (barley) available, an extra month must be added.
And this extra added month brings the calendar back into sync with the agricultural season that will yield ripe and mature wheat (barley) during the middle of what (later) becomes the first month of the year.
It is for this specific, religious, ceremonial purpose that the High Priest ventures forth into the wheat (barley) fields to inspect the condition of the crop, determining whether the wheat (barley) is "ABIB" - ripe and mature.
If the wheat (barley) is not Abib, not ripe and not mature, then the first month is, likewise, not ready to begin.
The maturation of the early spring wheat (barley), as it becomes ready for harvest, is what is the final determinator of just when the first month is permitted to be declared as having officially begun.
If there is no ripe, mature, Abib wheat (barley) there can be no wave-sheath for an offering to God. There can be none of the feasts or festivals, none of the High Holy Days and none of the Annual High Sabbaths proscribed by THE God of Abraham until the following month, when the wheat (barley) is finally Abib - ripe and mature.
And that seasonal requirement, combining religious, ceremonial practices with agricultural realities, is why the Hebrew's first month (officially named Nisan) is also referred to as the month of Abib. Abib (Aviv) means "RIPE". Abib is the "RIPE" month!
No month can be declared the 1^st month unless the wheat (barley) is Abib enough - ripe and mature enough - to satisfy the God-ordained requirements for an acceptable and efficacious offering that THE God of Abraham is willing to accept as righteous and sanctifying - on the Hebrew's part - and consider HOLY unto Himself.

The wheat (barley) must be ABIB to be HOLY !
The Hebrew's calendar has to be periodically adjusted to accommodate
those specific requirements applicable to this situation.
In this case:
God's requirements!

More Information About:

Rosh haShanah ||| Yom Kippur ||| Sukk'ot ||| Shemini Atzeret ||| Simchat Torah ||| Hanukkah ||| Purim ||| Pesach

Prayers can be found in The Transliterated Siddur, a complete Shabbat liturgy
available online in English and transliterated Hebrew

The significance of Rosh Chodesh

Read The Talmud

Click Here - View A Chart Of Easter, Passover and Pentecost Dates
For Years 2000 -thru- 2050

Click Here - View The Hebrew Calendar For The Jewish Year 5769
(Sep. 2008 - Sep. 2009)

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Pentecost 2008 Easter Versus Passover

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