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What Year On Jewish Calendar?
The Jewish Calendar is an ancient and intricate system of organizing time which dates back to the period of the first centuries BCE. Every year of the Jewish Calendar is based on a “lunar-solar cycle” in which each month of the Jewish Calendar corresponds to a “lunar month”, a “solar month”, or some combination thereof. The cycle of the Jewish Calendar is therefore one of perpetual leap-years, in which an extra month of “Adar” is added every two or three years, in order to keep the Jewish Calendar in line with the phases of the moon and the seasons of the year.
In order to determine what year it is on the Jewish Calendar, one must first know the day on which the month of Nisan begins—this is known as the “Rosh Chodesh” of the month of Nisan. On this day, the year of the Jewish Calendar is considered to have begun and is known as the “Rosh Hashanah” or “New Year”. From there, the Jewish Calendar is divided into two sets of months, each with a distinct sequence of months, known as the “Shevatim” (“Seasons”) and the “Nissanim” (“Years”).
The first set of months, the “Shevatim”, includes the months of Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tamuz, Av, Elul and Tishrei, while the second set of months, the “Nissanim”, includes the months of Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, Adar and Adar II (or Ve-Adar). Each month begins with a new moon and ends with a full moon, and precisely how many days there are in each month depends upon the type of year it is, as determined by the Rosh Chodesh of Nisan.
In a regular, non-leap year, the months of the “Shevatim” are composed of 29 days each, while the months of the “Nissanim” are composed of 30 days each. In addition, the month of Adar has only 29 days, as it is the leap month and is “skipped” in a regular, non-leap year. In a leap year, however, the month of Adar is given a “doubling”, in which it is composed of 30 days and is known as the “Adar Rishon” (“First Adar”) and the month of “Ve-Adar” (“Second Adar”) is added, which is always composed of 29 days.
By counting backwards from the Rosh Chodesh of Nisan, one may determine with great accuracy the year in which it is on the Jewish Calendar. For example, if the Rosh Chodesh of Nisan is on Tuesday, March 3rd, then the year in which it is on the Jewish Calendar would be 5780, as Nisan begins on the first day of the year 5780 on the Jewish Calendar. As a general rule, the Jewish Calendar is one year “ahead” of the secular calendar, so in this example, the year of 5780 on the Jewish Calendar would correspond to the year 2020 on the secular calendar.
In conclusion, determining what year it is on the Jewish Calendar is a fairly straightforward and simple process that is based upon the lunar-solar cycle and the Rosh Chodesh of Nisan. By counting backwards from the Rosh Chodesh of Nisan, one can easily determine the year in which it is on the Jewish Calendar, as well as its corresponding year in the secular calendar.
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