UTC2711

HeavenlyMathematicsandCulturalAstronomy
Semester4,AY2015/2016

GroupProject:
ACulturalandMathematicalAnalysisof
TheJewishCalendarOverTime

BruceLim(A0141125X)
LeeJiaMin(A0144929U)
WongJiaWen,Marilyn(A0143583A)

ProfessorHelmerAslaksen

Submittedon27thJuly2016

TableofContents

1. Judaism
a. Introduction
b. Majorholidays
c. HistoryoftheJewishCommunityinSingapore
2. JewishCalendar
a. EarlyJewishCalendar
b. Introduction
c. GeneralRules
d. Calculations
3. ComparingJewishCalendarandMuslimCalendar
4. ComparingJewishCalendarandChristianCalendarPassoverandEaster
5. References

Judaism

1. Introduction
Originating in the Middle East over 3500 years ago, Judaism is one of the threeAbrahamic
faiths, which can trace their common origin to the tribal patriarch Abraham, along with
Christianity and Islam. According to AmericanIsraeli Cooperative Enterprise (2016), the
jewish population has been steadily increasing since 1880 and in 2014, there are 13.9
millionJewswhomainlyresideatIsrael(42.9%)andtheUnitedStates(40.1%).

A Jew is someone who is the child of a Jewish mother (BBC, 2016). It is possible for
someone who is not born a Jew to convert toJudaism,butit isnot easytodoso. Theplace
of worship for Jewish people is called a synagogue, and is often used as a place to study
and community centre as well. The oldest synagogue in the world is the Delos Synagogue
located on the island of Delos (cite). Traditionally, Synagogues are built to face west,
towards Jerusalem. The jewish spiritual leaders are known as Rabbi, who lead the
synagogue services. The most important religious document in Judaism isthe Torah,which
isthefirstpartoftheJewishbible.

Jews believe that every Jew can have a personal relationship with God. The Jewish
relationship with Godisacovenantrelationship,ie.inexchangefor thegood deedsthatGod
has done for the Jewish people, they keep Gods lawsandseektobringholinessintoevery
aspect of their lives. In other words, Judaism means living the faith. Almost everything a
Jewishpersondoescanbecomeanactofworship.

Judaism isalsoafaithofacommunityandverymuchafamily faith.Forinstance,theJewish

prayer books use we andourinsteadofIandmine. MostJewishreligiousliferevolves
around home and family activities. For example, during Sabbathmeal,familiesjointogether
towelcomeinthespecialday.

2. Majorholidays
a. RoshHashanah
Rosh Hashanah is known asthewakeupcallorJewishnewyear,lastingfor oneor
two days depending on the branch of Judaism. It falls on the first or second day of
the seventh Hebrew month ofTishri.Jewswillgotothesynagogueonthis dayandit
isahappy,festiveholiday.

b. YomKippur
Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement and seen as one of the most important
jewish holidays of the year. Jews will fast for one day and confess to God for the
mistakesthey hadmadeinthepreviousyear.It occursonthetenthdayoftheJewish
monthTishri,whichistheninthdayafterthefirstdayofRoshHashanah.

c. Passover
Passover, which must happen during spring, is celebrated as a commemoration of
Jews liberation by God from slavery in Egypt,duringthe15thto22ndoftheHebrew
month of Nisan. Depending on the branch of Judaism, Passover lasts for seven or
eight days. It is usually celebrated on the 15th day of Nisan. Strictlyobservant Jews
donotworkforthefirsttwoandlasttwodaysofPassover.

d. Hanukkah
Hanukkah is the festival of lights, which beginsonthe25thdayoftheHebrewmonth
of Kislev (November orDecemberinGregorianCalendar).Contrarytopopularbelief,
Hanukkah is not the Jewish Christmas and it is actually a minor holiday. Hanukkah,
means rededication, commemorating the recapturing of the Temple in Jerusalem
after a successful revolt against the Seleucid Greeks. Durin Hanukkah, Jewish
families in Singapore and all over the world light a candle on a menorah for eachof
the eight days oil lasted. Children look forward to Hanukkah as parents traditionally
present them with small gifts or prepare sweet Sephardic doughnuts during the
holiday. All Jews light candles with their families for at least some nights of the
holiday.

3. HistoryoftheJewishcommunityinSingapore
The very first Jews in Singapore were from the Bagdhadi Trade Diaspora. The Baghdadi
Trade Diaspora involved the economic migration of Jews from Baghdad, Iraq, in the 18th
and 19th centuries, as they fled the rule of Ottoman governor Daud Pasha who persecuted
the Jews during his 15year term. At that time, the British East India Company were
expanding their reach to the Middle and Far East, and at the same time also outreachedto
India, Burma and the Straits Settlement. As such, many of these Jewish traders moved to
India. The termBaghdadiismisleadingasitincludedArabicspeakingJewsfromSyriaand
from other parts of the Ottoman empire, also encompassing non Arabicspeaking Jewish
traders from Aden and Yemen, or even Persia and Afghanistan. After Sir Stamford Raffles
first established Singapore as a trading post in 1819, these Jews followedthemovingtrade
andarrivedinSingapore.

ThesetraderswereOrthodoxJewswhocame toconsiderthemselves
Sephardim,

Sephard

means Spain in Hebrew. Baghdadi Jews who had travelled to Spain used the term
previously to refer to Spanish Jews, however after time and culture shifts, the term

Sephardic
came to distinguish between Jews of the multicultural Ottoman world and

Ashkenazi
Jews, thelatterofwhichwereofEuropeanOrigin.BaghdadiJews usedHebrew
prayer books of the Sephardim, possessing thesameliturgyandreligioustraditionsofthose
whocalledthemselves
Sephardim.

Orthodox Judaism requires a place of prayer and a place for burial, serving the needs of
both the living and thedeceased,thuson4June1841,sixBaghdadiJewishmerchantssent
an official letter to the Governor of the Straits Settlements to petition for two plots of land,
one for a Synagogue and one for a cemetery. This letter written in 1841 was the first
physical record of any Jewish presence in Singapore, and the official beginning of the
Jewish community in Singapore. This was recorded in the Jewish Synagogue Act, which
entails the renting out of a piece of land for the building of a small synagogue in 1841.The
street it was built on is stillcalledSynagogueStreetto thisday.Inthe1870s,asthejewish
community grew, a larger synagogue was built to accommodate thecommunity,resultingin
the construction of the Maghain Aboth (which means Shield of Our Fathers) Synagogue,
whichisthelargestsynagogueinEastAsia.

World War I didnothaveagreateffectondailylife inSingapore,however,theoccupation of

Singapore by the Japanese in 1942 during World War II immensely changed the nature of

the Jewish community in Singapore. By the time the Japanese had entered Singapore,
about half the Jewish population (1,500 in 1939) had fled to Bombay or Calcutta as
refugees. The Jewish community was considered neutral and told to continue withnormal
life, which was difficult considering the wartorn state of the country at the time. However,
this caused the Jewish community to come closer and used theMaghainAbothSynagogue
as a sanctuary. Fortunately, the Japanese did not destroy the synagogue and left it
untouched. After the war, Singapore was in a dire state of poverty and destruction, and the
Jewish population declined steadily as many left the country. However, key figures in the
jewishcommunitysuch asDavidMarshall,thefirstChiefministerofSingaporeslabourfront,
and Jacob Ballas who headed the Jewish Welfare Board, helped to rally the Jewish
community in Singapore. Despite the turmoil created by the Japanese Occupation,
Singapore continued to serve as a safe place for many Jews, as Jacob Ballas said in an
interview: We had no antiSemitism, we grew up in a community with Chinese and Malays
and Indians and the English, and we had no real problems. Today, there are about 2000
Jews living in Singapore. The Jewish community in Singapore follow the international
community in celebration of the major holidays as mentioned above, however they also
include some traditions from their Baghdadi heritage. The Shabbat or day of rest begins
typically after sunset, as Jewish days start after sunset, and ends as soon as at leastthree
stars can be seen in the sky. After services, a Shabbat lunch is held, with a distinctively
Baghdadi menu of dishes brought to Singapore from India and Iraq, one of the few links to
theiroriginalBaghdaditraditions.

JewishCalendar

1. EarlyJewishcalendars
Early Rabbinic Calendars were found in early rabbinic literature and were based on
inaccurate representations of astronomical phenomena. Determining the time of the
tequfot
(equinoxes and solstices) was an important part of these rabbinic calendars. As in other
lunisolar calendars, this was necessary in order to determine when to add a leap month in
the calendar, which depended on the occurrence of equinoxes. This was done based on a
calculation that involves an average year length and a reference point known as an epoch.
Thereweretwotraditionalwaysofdeterminingthesolsticesandequinoxes.

The first method was credited to Samuel in the Babylonian Talmud, and takes thelengthof
the mean tropical year as 365.25 days similar to the Julian Calendar. The
tequfot Shemuel
follow a cycle of 28 years beginning withthe
tequfatNisan(Marchequinox).After thiscycle,
any tequfat Shemuel
willrecuronthesamedayoftheweekatthesametime.Thesetimings
were simply rabbinic inventions, as the exact time of equinoxes and solstices are not
calculated in Julian calendars. It was believed that the time of the worlds creation, was at
March equinox. The occurrence of subsequent tequfaharethen calculated withreferenceto
the time of the creation of the sun. This reference point was notbasedonanyastronomical
observations, but rather to allow easier calculations of
tequfot
and religiously, toemphasize
the perfection of Gods creation such that the Sun was created at the firstpossiblemoment
on the fourth day of creation, zero hours (Tuesday evening). (tequfot is plural, tequfat is
singular)

The second is credited to R. Ada, and takes the length of a yearthatisslightlyshorterthan

365.25 days, 365 days, 5 hours, 997 halaqim, 48 regaim (1 heleq = 1/1080 hour, 1 rega =
1/76 heleq) notclearlyderivedfromastronomicalobservationbutthroughcalculationsusing
a 19year lunisolar cycle. The reference point for this calculation takes
tequfot
R. Ada
as
spring equinox of year 1, which isalsomadetocoincidewiththefourthdayofcreation,zero
hours. Additionally,
tequfot R. Ada is also the first day of thelunarmonthof Nisan,thusthis
implies that the sun and the moon were at the beginning of their cycles on the day of their
creation. Interestingly,
tequfat R. Ada was never meant to be used for calendars, and was
developed when a 19year cycle was being used, when the calculation ofleapyearssimply
depended on this cycle rather than calculating equinoxes. The
tequfat R. ada
was simply
used to show that a fixed calendar would still be able to keep therulethatPassovershould

not occurbeforeequinox,howeveraccordingto
tequfatShemuel
inmanyyearsthisrulewas
actuallybroken.

From a modernperspective,boththesemethodswouldhaveresultedinayearlengthlonger
than the actual mean tropical year, and thus result in inaccurate calculations of the
tequfat
asshownbelow:

Actualmeantropicalyear:365days,5hours,48min,46s
TequfatShemuel:365days,6hours(Extraonedayevery128years)
TequfatR.ada:365days,5hours,55minutes,25.5s(Extraoneday216years)

2. Introduction
The Jewish calendar isalunisolarcalendarthatisbasedonthreeastronomicalphenomena:
the Earths rotation about its axis (a day), the moons revolution about the Earth (a month)
andtheEarthsrevolutionaboutthesun(ayear).

The epoch of the Jewish calendar (Tishri 1) is defined as Monday, September 7, 3760 on
the Gregorian Calendar. A normal Jewish year is 353 355 days, while a leapyearis383
d h m
s
385 days. Every Jewish month of 29
12
44
103
starts on the new moon, while a week

starts on Sunday and a Jewish day starts at sunset. A Hebrew dayisdividedinto24hours,

andeachhourisdividedinto1080parts(
halaqim)
.
Month

Number

Length

CivilEquivalent

Nisan

30days

MarchApril

Iyar

29days

AprilMay

Sivan

30days

MayJune

Tammuz

29days

JuneJuly

Av

30days

JulyAugust

Elul

29days

AugustSeptember

Tishri

30days

SeptemberOctober

Cheshvan

29/30days

OctoberNovember

Kislev

29/30days

NovemberDecember

Tevet

10

29days

DecemberJanuary

Shevat

11

30days

JanuaryFebruary

AdarI(leapyearsonly)

12

30days

FebruaryMarch

Adar (called Adar Beit in 12 (13 in leap 29days

leapyears)
years)

FebruaryMarch

Table

1:

Jewish

months

and

their

civil

equivalent.

(
http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm
)
Notice that Cheshvan and Kislev have varying number of days at different year. If a yearis
long ie. has 355 or 385 days, Cheshvan will have 30 days if a year has 353 or 383 days,
Kislevwillhaveonly29days.

3. GeneralRules
a. A year consists of 365.2422 days, while the lunar cycle consists of 29.53059
days.
b. Amonthcanonlyhaveeither29or30days.
c. LeapYear
For every 19year metonic cycle of the Jewish calendar, there will be 7 leap years
duringyear3,6,8,11,14,17and19.GivenaJewishyeary,itisonlyaleapyearif

7y + 1 < 7(mod19)

Thisinequalityisderivedasfollows:
AccordingtoDershowitz&M.Reingold(2008),for
l
leapyearsinacycleof
c
years,
ayear
y
isaleapyearwhen

yl < l(modc)
Sincethereare7leapyearsinthe19yearmetoniccycleoftheJewishcalendar,

l = 7 and c = 19 .Therefore,aJewishyearyisaleapyearwhen
7y < 7(mod19)
ThecalculationsusingtheinequalityaboveisshowninTable2.
However, from therealJewishcalendar,weknowthat year3,6,8,11,14,17and19
in the 19year cycle are leap years, and the distance from one leap year to thenext
leapyearare3,3,2,3,3,3,2.
ThiscontradictsthedatainTable2.

f(y)=7y(mod19)

0
(L)

14

2
(L)

16

4
(L)

11

18

6
(L)

10

13

11

1
(L)

12

13

15

14

3
(L)

15

10

16

17

17

5
(L)

18

12

Distancetothenextleapyear

Table2:yandf(y)=7y(mod19).(L)indicatesthattheyearisaleapyear.

ToensurethattheinequalityactuallycorrespondstothedataoftherealJewish
calendar,weneedtostartatyear11insteadofyear0.

f (y + 11) = 7y + 77 7y + 1(mod19)
Therefore,aJewishyear
y
willbealeapyearif

7y + 1 < 7(mod19)

d. HebrewNewYear(RoshHashanah)
The beginning of Hebrew New Year is determined by the occurrence of the mean
newmoon(Molad)oftheseventhmonth(Tishri).Therulesobservedareasfollows:
According to the rule
loiddorosh
,TheNewYearmustnotfallonSunday,

i.

WednesdayorFriday.
ii.

If the time of Molad is past midday, then the New Yearisdelayedby one
day.

iii.

In somecases,someadditionaldelayingfactormaybeneededinorderto
keepthelengthoftheyearinacceptablerange.Forinstance,

Considering year A, if Molad happens before midday on Tuesday, the

NewYearforyearAwillfallonaTuesday.

Therefore,forthefollowingyearA+1,theMoladwillbeonSaturday,since

354 4(mod7)

If the said Molad happens after midday, then both rule i and ii apply,
delaying the New Year to Monday and this will cause an unacceptable
rangeofyearlengthof356days.

Instead, the New Year of year A will be delayed until Thursday and
Wednesday will be skipped in order to ensure that the number ofdaysof
yearA+1staysintheacceptablerange.

Similarly, Rosh Hashanah on Mondayafteraleapyearcanposeasimilar

problem. In this case, the New Year is postponed from Monday to
Tuesday,extendingtheleapyearto383days.

hebrew year length correction(foryeary)

2ifny2 ny1 = 356
1ifny1 ny0 = 382
0otherwise

Where ny0 =timeelapsedfromepochtoyeary1

ny1 =timeelapsedfromepochtoyeary
ny2 =timeelapsedfromepochtoyeary+1

4. Calculations
a. Year
For a given Gregorian year g, for days that are after Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New
Year),

H ebrewY ear = g + 3761

Forotherdays,

H ebrewY ear = g + 3760

b. Month&Day
i. TodetermineRoshHashanah,
Step 1: Start with a known Molad, for example, Tishri 15732,2d7h743p,which
correspondstoSeptember201971.
Step 2: Determine number of months between the known Molad and the Rosh
Hashanahoftheyearyouintendtocalculate.
Step3:Determinethenumberofdaysby

N umberofdays = numberofmonth * lengthofMolad

WherelengthofMolad=29d12h793p
Step4:AddthenumberofdaystothestartingMolad.
Step5:Considertheresultsandapplydelayrules,asspecifiedin2(d)above.
Step6:AddthenumberofelapseddaystotheGregorianstartingdate.

ii. ToconvertaJewishdatetoGregoriandate,
Step1:DeterminetheGregoriandateofRoshHashanahoftheyear(Tishri1).
Step 2: Calculate the number of days between Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish
date.
Step3:AddthenumberofdaystotheGregoriandate.

iii. ToconvertaGregoriandatetoJewishdate,
Step1:StartwiththeknownGregoriandateofRoshHashanahoftheyear.
Step 2: Calculate the number of days between Rosh Hashanah and the
Gregoriandate.
Step 3: Add the number of dates to the Jewish date ofRoshHashanah,whichis
Tishri1.

c. Examples
i. GregoriandateofRoshHashanahin2016
Gregorianyear2016correspondstoJewishyear5777.
Using Tishri 5732, 2d 7h 743p (September 20 1971) as the starting Molad, to
determine the number of months between Tishri 5732 and Tishri 5777, weknow
thatforevery19Jewishyears,thereare7leapyears.
Hence,

numberofmonthsfor19Jewishyears = 19 * 12 + 7 = 235months
Thereare45yearsbetweenyear5732and5777.
Since 45 7(mod19) ,consideringthe7yearsbefore5777,
Year

Leapyear?
(determinedusing 7y + 1 < 7(mod19) )

Numberofmonths

5770

No

12

5771

Yes

13

5772

No

12

5773

No

12

5774

Yes

13

5775

No

12

5776

Yes

13

Table3:Thenumberofmonthsfromyear5770toyear5776.

Therefore,

T otalnumberofmonths = 2 * 235 + 12 + 13 + 12 + 12 + 13 + 12 + 13 = 557months

N umberofdays = T otalnumberofmonths * lengthofMolad
= 557 * 29d12h793p
= 16153d6684h441701p
Roundingup,

441701p 1080pperhour = 408hours1061p

(6684 + 408)hours 24hoursperday = 295days12hours
16153 + 295 = 16, 448days

Thus,

N umberofelapseddays = 16448d12h1061p

Adding the number of elapsed days to the starting Molad (Tishri 5732, 2d 7h
743p(September201971)),

743p + 1061p = 1804p

Roundingup,

1804p/1080pperhour = 1h724p
7h + 12h + 1h = 20h
16448d + 2d = 16450d
Convertingthenumberofdaystoweek,

16450 7daysperweek = 2350weeksremainder0

The remainder corresponds to the day of the week that Molad happens, and
remainder0isequivalentto7,since

7 0(mod7)
Therefore,theresultingMoladis7d20h724p.

To add the total number of days to the Gregorian date of the starting Molad
(September201971),
Between 1.1.1972 and 1.1.2016, the leap years are: 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984,
1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2008,2012.

N umberofdaysfrom1.1.1972(inclusive)and1.1.2016(inclusive) = 365 * 44 + 11 + 1 = 16072days

N umberofdaysfrom20.9.1971(inclusive)to1.1.1972 = 11 + 31 + 30 + 31 = 103days
Therefore,

N umberofdaysfrom20.9.1971(inclusive)to1.1.2016(inclusive) = 16, 175days

16450 16175 = 275days
Adding275daysto1stJanuary2016,wearriveat1stOctober2016.
Considering the delay rule, since the Molad happens after midday of Shabbat
(day 6) and Rosh Hashanah cannot fall on a Sunday, Rosh Hashanah of year
2016hastobedelayedfor2days.
Therefore,RoshHashanahof2016ison
3rdOctober2016
.

ii. GregoriandateofHanukkahin2016
HanukkahfallsonTislev25intheJewishcalendar.
SinceTishri1correspondsto3rdOctober2016,

N umberofdaysfromT ishri1(inclusive)toT islev25(inclusive) = 30 + 29 + 25 = 84days

Adding 84 days to 3rd October 2016 (inclusive), we arrive at
25th December
2016
.

iii. Jewishdateof8thAugust2017
Jewishyear5777isacommonyear.
SinceTishri1correspondsto3rdOctober2016,

N umberofdaysfrom3rdOctober2016(inclusive)to9thAugust2017(inclusive) = 311days
Adding311daysto1Tishri,5777(inclusive),wearriveat
17Av,5777
.

Thedatesareverifiedon
http://www.cgsf.org/dbeattie/calendar/
.

ComparingJewishCalendarandMuslimCalendar

The Islamic calendar (or Hijri calendar) isapurelylunarcalendar.Itcontains12monthsthat

are based on the motion of the moon, and because 12 synodic months is only 12 x
29.53=354.36 days, the Islamic calendar is consistently shorter than a tropical year, and
therefore it shiftswithrespectto theChristiancalendar.WeknowthattheJewishcalendaris
lunisolar that takes into account three astronomical phenomenonratherthanjustone(inthe
Muslim calendar), namely
Earths rotationaboutitsaxis(aday),themoonsrevolution about
theEarth(amonth)andtheEarthsrevolutionaboutthesun(ayear).

Each month in the Muslim calendar starts when the lunarcrescentisfirstseen(byahuman

observers eye) after a new moon which depends on factors such as weather, the optical
properties of the atmosphere, and the location of the observer.Itisthereforeverydifficultto
giveaccurateinformationinadvanceaboutwhenanewmonthwillstart.

It seemsthattheJewishandMuslimcalendararelargelysimilar.BeforetheJewishcalendar
underwenttwochanges,namelydiscontinuedintercalculationandfrozencommutation,there
aremanysimilarpublicholidaydates.Thetablebelowshowsthecomparisonbetweensome
ofthepublicholidaysbetweenthetwocalendars.

.MuharramalHaraam

Tishrei

(meanssacred,c.f.Cherem)

SACREDMONTH

1RasasSana(HijriNewYear)

1RoshHashanah

1TheProphetIdrisliftedtoheaven

1Adamwascreated

3Josephsavedfromwell

2RoshHashanah(2ndDay)

5MosescrossedtheRedsea

3FastofGedaliah

7RevelationtoMosesonmountain

9Yonahcamefromwhale

9Moses,JohnandMarywereborn

9ErevYomKippur(ritualbath)

10RozeAshura(FastoftheTenth)

10YomKippur

Adamwascreated

FutureDayofJudgment

NoahsarkrestedonMountArarat

Thefirebecamecoolandsafefor

Abraham,

Jesusascendedtotheheaven

ImamHusainA.Sandfamilywaskilled

ThisisthedayonwhichtheQiyaamah

(doomsday)willtakeplace.

Whoevertakesbathinthedayof'Ashura'

willnevergetill.

1521Succoth(FeastofTabernacles)

17NoahsarkrestedonMountArarat

15CaptureofKhaibar(or24Rajab),7A.H.
16Qiblahdirectionfacedinprayers
changedfromJerusalemtotheHoly
Kaabah(or15Rajab,or15Shabaan)
17Punishmentononthepeopleof
Elephant(soldiersofAbraha)
ShabaanalMuazzam

Nisan

(meansbranch)

1DeathsofNadabandAbihu

8StartingOfGhaibatESugra

10DeathofMiriamthesisterof

14ShabeBaraat

Moses

LailatalBaraat(NightofEmancipation)

[15Qiblahdirectionfacedinprayers

14FastofFirstborns

changedfromJerusalemtotheHoly

Kaabah(or16Muharram,or15Rajab)]

1521Pesach(Passover)

16SefiratHaomer

19BattleofBanilMustalaqbetweenthe
HolyProphet(PBUH)andKhuza'a

RamadhaanalMubarak

Iyyar

(meansheat)

1StartofMonthLongFast

1StartofSefirahMourning

Period

6TheTorahwassentdowntoMoses

10Meccawasconquered

13TheEvangelwassentdowntoJesus

17NightJourney(or16RabialAwal,or7

Rajab)

17AngledescendedontheHolyProphet

(PBUH)atcaveofHiraa.

17NuzulAlQur'anBattleofBadr,2A.H.

18ThePsalmswassentdowntoDavid

18LagBaomer

RevelationOfZohar

21Jesuswaslifteduptothesky

21Mosesdiedonthisdate

21Joshuadiedonthisdate

26Nisan,DeathofJoshua

23LailatelQadr/ShabeQadr

(Qur'anbegantoberevealed,oneofthe
qadernights,inlasttendaysof
ramadhaan)
Table 4: Comparisons between Jewish Calendar and Muslim Calendar. (Legend:
Bold
represents a major holiday,
underlined represents a minor holiday and normal font
representsatraditionalevent.)

It can be seen that for almost every major holiday there isintheJewishcalendar,thereisa
correspondence in the Muslim calendar. Take for example the Lailat al Baraat (Night of
Emancipation) in the Muslim calendar and the Pesach (Passover) event in the Jewish
calendar. In the Jewish calendar, the Sefirah mourning period consists of 49 days from
Pesach to Shavuot (Pentecost). Many Jews observeheightenedmourningduringthemonth
of Iyyar which corresponds to the month of Ramadhan in the Muslim calendar. There is a
similarity even in the Sefirah custom of counting the 49 days of the Omer. In Jewish
tradition each day must be counted distinctly and individually. Similar to thismostofIslamic
jurists think that the intention "I will fast for this approaching month of Ramadan" is not
legally enough, since the intention to fast must be formulated each night for the following
day, i.e. "I will fast for Ramadan during this day". The 18th of Iyyar is noteworthy because

until now we have assumed that the Jewish holidaysweretransformedintoIslamicholidays

because of the historical record attesting to the observance of these holidays hundreds of
years prior the advent of Islam. But Lag BeOmer (the Revelation of the Zohar), if it
correspondstoLailatelQadr(RevelationoftheQuran)wouldindicatethereverse.

There were three calendars originally in Mecca: Strictly lunar, Jewish lunarsolar (19 year),
and Quraish's lunarsolar (3 year) innovation. The calendar in use by the Quraish originally
was strictly lunar. Around 412 CE, the Quraish appointed their first Nasi, Sarir, who in
approximation oftheJewsinterjectedofamonthatthecloseofeverythirdyearNasa.Itwas
intended to make the season of pilgrimage correspondwiththe autumn,when avast supply
of food was available. But this intention would be defeated by the slight imperfection of the
calculation. A solaryearwasstillshorterbyonedayandafractionthanthislunarsolaryear,
and intime thepilgrimage beganto driftslightlyforwardeachyear.Aftertwocenturies,when
the Prophet Muhammad prohibited intercalation (approx. 631 CE), the days of pilgrimage
hadmovedfromOctobergraduallybackwardtoMarch.

There have been several attempts to trace the roots of Jewish aspects of the Islamic
Calendar. The Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam says: "The startingpoint for a comparison
between the Islamic and the Jewish Calendar is the optional fastday Ashura, thetenthday
of Muharram, which is an Islamic continuation of the Day of Atonement.6 G. Widengren
says: If Muharram is comparablewithTishri,thenthemonthofRamadhaniscomparableto
the Jewish month of Sivan, the month of the Jewish Feast of Weeks. Islamic tradition lays
down that that it was on the nights of Ramadhan, Lailat AlKadr that Muhammed
received the revelation of the Koran. there is a clear parallel between the circumstances
inwhichMosesreceivedtheTorahandthoseinwhichMuhammedreceivedtheKoran.

ComparingJewishCalendarandChristianCalendar:PassoverandEaster

Easter (or
Pascha
, in Greek and Latin literature) is the earliest annual festival of the
Christian Church whose roots are in the Jewish Passover,butcametobethecelebrationof
the resurrection of Christ. The original Christian Easter wasinitiallycelebrated ontheeveof
14/15 Nisan, regardless of the weekday, but came to tie the termination of the paschal fast
with the first Sunday after Passover. Passover is traditionally celebrated on the 15th day of
Nisan. The emphasis on Sunday ensured the resurrection as the feasts main theme, while
the previous celebration on 14/15NisanwouldplacemorefocusontheLastSupperandthe
crucifixion.

The dependence of Passover and hence of Easter on the Jewish calendar created
difficulties for many of the Roman empire who used the Julian calendar mainly, especially
those who did not live near to the Jewish community, andthusthiscreateddifficultyonhow
to determine the correct date for the celebration.Thisproblemwasovercomebydistributing
lunar months over years in the Julian calendar such that the age of the moon on acertain
date would repeat in a cycle over a specificnumber ofyears.Anapproximationof235lunar
months over 19 solar years would be reached from the Julian year (365.25 days) and the
synodicmonth(29.53059days).The19yearcycleoriginatedinBabyloniainthefifthcentury
B.C.EasanaccuratelunisolarperiodusedinAntiquity.

The Alexandrian Church adopted the 19year cycle which also had an important condition,
known as rule of the equinox, whichstatedthatthepaschal fullmoonwhichEasterSunday
depended on, could not fall earlier than 21march,thesupposeddate ofthemarchEquinox.
The structure of this cycle and the epact, which shows the age of themoon,on22March
oranyequivalentdateareshowninTable5.

Year

Epact

Easterfull
Moon

Year

Epact

EasterFull
Moon

5April

11

20

15April

11

25March

12

4April

22

13April

13

12

24March

2April

14

23

12April

14

22March

15

1April

25

10April

16

15

21March

30March

17

26

9April

17

18April

18

29March

28

7April

19

18

17April

10

27March

Table5:Thestructureofthe19yearcycleandepacton22Marchoranyequivalentdate.

The yearly change of the epact showsthedifferencebetweensolarandlunaryearlylengths

(365 days vs. 354 days), causing the lunar age to increase by 11 every common year. In
intercalary years, an additional lunarmonthof30daysisadded,whichreducestheepactby
19.Thisresultsinadiscrepancybetweenthe19solaryearsandthe235lunarmonths.

Using 354 days for lunar years, 30daysforaleapmonthand4.75daysforJulianleapdays

thatinterveneinthe19years,calculationforlengthofthe235lunarmonths:

19(lunaryears) * 354 + 7 * 30 + 4.75 = 6940.75days

19(solaryears) * 365.25 = 6939.75days

Hence, the 235 lunar months would be one day in excess ofthe19 solaryear,andthusthe
Alexandrian19yearcyclereducesoneofthefullmonthsinthefinalyearto29days.Thisis
known as the
saltus lunae (leap of the moon), which shows why the epact drops by18and
not19betweenthefinalandfirstyearofthiscycle.

The ecclesiastical calendar was developed out of this Alexandrian 19year cycle untilitwas
made redundant by the Gregorian reform of the calendar. Easter is now determined to be
the first sunday after the Paschal full moon, on or after the day of the March equinox,
therebyalsoavoidingaclashofdateswiththeJewishPassover.

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