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Rosh HashanahFrom: Mike Freedman [mfreedman@portables1.ngfl.gov.uk] Shalom my little pomegranates, We are now well into the month of Elul. Elul is the month which immediately precedes the Jewish New Year (which begins next Friday evening). Like the Muslim calendar, the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles, each month beginning with the new moon. There are 12 months in the year but as we know 12 months, especially lunar months, do not make a whole year.Faced with this problem Islam chose to allow the months to slip back a little each year (hence the reason why Ramadan can sometimes be in spring, sometimes winter, autumn or summer). Unlike Islam though, Jews long ago opted to maintain a correspondence between the lunar months and the orbit of the Earth around the Sun and thus to keep each festival at its own time of year. Since several of the festivals are linked to planting or harvesting of particular crops, this makes obvious sense. The correspondence is maintained is by introducing a "leap month" every so often to allow the months to catch up with the Sun. Strange but true: Elul is the 6th month of the Jewish year, and the New Year starts with the seventh month, Tishri (often spelled Tishrei). If you would like to find out more about the Jewish calendar you could do worse than visit the Judaism 101 page on the Calendar. This is a real 5 Star site for finding out about Judaism. Written by Tracey Rich, whose original aim in producing the site was to inform those who knew little about Judaism. It is well structured, full of a wide range of clearly explained information and unlike many sites devoted to Judaism is accessible to Jews and non-Jews alike. The home page for Judaism 101 is at www.jewfaq.org and if you are an RE teacher is well worth bookmarking. The month of Elul is an important one during which we prepare for the New Year period, often referred to as The High Holy Days. Next time (tomorrow, I hope) - more about Elul.
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