The Jewish Calendar

     We hear much from modern day Israel about how sacred the Jew holds certain spaces, like the Temple Mount, or Jerusalem itself.  But possibly even more sacred than space for the Jewish people is time.  Every aspect of the accounting of time has a scriptural basis for the Jew.  The day begins at sundown because that is how the first day was measured in Genesis 1. The ordering of a Jew’s hours, days, months, and years all have spiritual meaning and scriptural basis.  Time was created by God.  Time is sacred.

     With the creation of time, God brought order out of chaos. In our western way of thinking, the opposite of created order is nothingness, but to the ancient Near East, the undifferentiated void described in Genesis 1:1 was an unsavory confusion, worse than nothing.  The highest praise was due anything able to subdue chaos. Time, as measured in days and weeks and seasons, was seen by God’s people as a cyclical, prophetic, repeating and ascending celebration and fulfillment of all things spiritual.  It is the framework that an infinitely timeless God met in relationship with His people, and pictured for them things to come.

     So the Jewish life is lived in this sacred rhythm of work, rest, and celebration. As John J. Parsons expresses it, there is the idea of “timeless patterns within time.”  Every aspect of the day, week, month, year and season has meaning and direction, spiraling toward the Day in which we will be with God to enjoy His Presence forever. (Parsons 7)

For a study of the Jewish Calendar:

5 Jewish calendar.pdf (1,5 MB)