D'var Torah
Iyyar 5764
Refrigerator Judaism: AT BASH and Calendar Codes
One
of the great delights of the Hebrew calendar year is the intricacy
with which it is drawn. Once determined by direct testimony brought
by witnesses who had observed the appearance of the new moon, over
time, a regularized calendar came into being - a fixed but variable
nineteen year cycle, assuring that the holidays who neither late nor
early, but always on time. One of the additional mysteries of
the calendar is that it coincides with one of the oldest Hebrew cipher
systems, at bash – replacing the first letter of the alphabet
with the last letter of the alphabet, where aleph becomes tav and bet becomes shin,
and so on. Keeping this in mind, for future reference for the
days on which our holidays will be observed, post the following on
your rerigerator:
Taking the first day
of Passover, the day on which it falls will be the same day of the week
on which Tisha b’Av
falls. This year Passover began on a Monday night; Tisha b’Av
will begin to be observed on Monday, July 26. Aleph stands
for the first day of Pesah; Tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
stands for Tisha b’Av.
The second day of Pesah
in indicated by the Hebrew Letter Bet, and the next to last letter
is Shin,
standing for Shavuot. The second day of Passover began on a Tuesday
night; the first day of Shavuot will begin on Tuesday, May 25.
The third day, Gimmel
shel Pesah is
on the same day as Rosh Hashanah will fall. Rosh [Resh] Hashanah
5765 will begin to be observed on Wednesday night, September 15.
The fourth day of Passover, daled
shel Pesah, falls on the same day (in Diaspora) as Simhat Torah [Kriat
Ha-Torah begins with a kuf]
The fifth day of Pesah, hey
shel Pesah, will fall on the same day as Tzom [tzadi],
the fast, Yom Kippur.
The sixth day of Passover
will always fall on the same day of the week as Purim.
The seventh day of Pesah
coincides with the day of the week on which Yom Ha-atzma’ut is observed.
Copyright © 2004, Barry A. Kenter