The Jewish Calendar

The Jewish Calendar

The Jews have a Civil and a Sacred Calendar. The Civil Calendar is the Official Calendar for kings, childbirth and contracts. The Sacred Calendar is used for computing the dates of religious feasts and festivals. Very similar to the Chinese system of dates.

It is based on the lunar cycle, not the solar cycle used in the Gregorian or modern calendar. Psalm 104:19 says "He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knows its going down."

Since the Jewish Calendar is based on the moon cycle, the arrival of the new moon is a crucial event. In ancient times, three witnesses were needed to confirm when the first sliver of the moon was visible.

At that time a fire was lit on the Mount of Olives to signal others watching to light fires on the surrounding hills until the message was spread throughout Israel that a new month had begun.

Month and moon are the same word in Hebrew: chodesh. Thus the first day of a new month is called Rosh Chodesh - head of the month. It is noted as a special day (Numbers 28:11-14). The New Month is Rosh Chodesh. It is noted as a special day (Numbers 28:11-14). The Full Month is two weeks later which is the 15^th of the Month. Note that there are 2 days of Rosh Chodesh in the months of 29 days.

The Jewish Calendar has only 354 days. Every three years, there is an additional month of Nisan to ensure that the times and seasons remained accurate. There will be two Nisan months on this year with 13 months.

Month	Civil Calendar Before Exodus 12	Sacred Calendar After Exodus 12	Number Of days	Rosh Chodesh (2003-2004) 1st day of the Month
Tishri	1^st Month	7^th Month	30	Sep 27
Cheshvan (Bul)	2^nd Month	8^th Month	29 or 30	Oct 26-27
Kislev	3^rd Month	9^th Month	29 or 30	Nov 25-26
Tevet	4^th Month	10^th Month	29	Dec 25-26
Sh’vat	5^th Month	11^th Month	30	Jan 24
Adar	6^th Month	12^th Month	29 or 30	Feb 22-23
Aviv (Nisan)	7^th Month	1^st Month	30	Mar 23
Iyyar	8^th Month	2^nd Month	29	Apr 21-22
Sivan	9^th Month	3^rd Month	30	May 21
Tamuz	10^th Month	4^th Month	29	Jun 19-20
Av	11^th Month	5^th Month	30	Jul 19
Elul	12^th Month	6^th Month	29	Aug 17-18

A comparison of a same date Aviv 17 by both calendars:

Civil Calendar	Sacred Calendar
Aviv 17	Aviv 17
Before Exodus 12	After Exodus 12
Noah’s Flood in Genesis 7-8	Hezekiah in 2 Chr. 29:2-20
Rain began 17th of the second month Chesvan (Genesis 7:11), and by 150 days (5 months) later, the Ark landed at the Mount Ararat on 17th day of 7th month (Genesis 8:4)	Offered first sacrifice after cleansing the Temple (2 Chr 29:18-20) on the day after the 16th day of the 1st month.

All holidays begin at sundown on the day before the date listed.

Year (5764)	2003-2004
Rosh Hashanah New Year/ Feast of Trumpets 1-2 Tishri	Sept 27-28 Sat-Sun
Yom Kippur Day of Atonement 10 Tishri	Oct 6 Mon
Sukkot Feast of Tabernacles 15-21 Tishri	Oct 11-17 Sat-Fri
Shemini Atzeret Feast of Gatherings 22 Tishri	Oct 18 Sat
Simchat Torah Rejoicing in the Torah 23 Tishri	Oct 19 Sun
Chanukah Feast of Lights 25 Kislev - 2 Tevet	Dec 20-27 Sat-Sat
Purim Feast of Lots 14 Adar	Mar 7 Sun
Pesach Passover 14-21 Nisan	April 6-13 Tue-Tue
Feast of Unleavened Bread 15 Nisan	April 7 Wed
Feast of Firstfruits 17 Nisan	April 9 Fri
Shavuot Pentecost/Latter First Fruits 6 Sivan	May 26-27 Wed-Thu