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What is a Jewish Birthday?
Discuss (6)Establishing a "Jewish calendar" was the first mitzvah (commandment) the Jewish nation received from G‑d. This unique calendar is based on the lunar month, but is occasionally adjusted so that it remains synchronized with the solar year and its seasons. (Click here for more about the Jewish calendar system.)
Thus from year to year, a date on the Jewish calendar will fluctuate with respect to other calendar systems, but will always remain in close proximity to its corresponding date on the commonly used Gregorian (solar-based) calendar. For example, if your civil birthday is on June 15th, your Jewish birthday will always be within a few weeks of that date. Click here to determine when your Jewish birthday will fall on any given year.
As individuals we celebrate those dates that have personal significanceYour Jewish birthday has dual significance: a) According to Jewish tradition, your mazal (good fortune) is dominant on your birthday. b) As a nation we celebrate those dates when special events that affected our destiny occurred, a.k.a. holidays. As individuals we celebrate those dates that have personal significance—and what is more significant than your birth? It is when the Creator said, "Here, I am giving you a body, a soul, and a divine mission. I have absolute trust in your ability to pull through for Me."
In 1988, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, inaugurated a "Jewish Birthday Campaign." He asked that we all utilize this most special day of our lives to its utmost. A day to recommit to the mission that G‑d entrusted to us—bettering and sanctifying ourselves and the world around us.
Click here for tips on celebrating your birthday Jewishly.
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If so, then the only possible date where such a soul could "become" Jewish is when it came to earth, during its allocation to a physical body, as a newborn baby - the same as any other Jewish soul. In G-dly terms, the soul was created Jewish - and who knows when?
One could suppose that the moral of the story is that a convert does not make for a different kind of Jew, nor a different kind of Jewish soul.
Cape Town, South Africa
CT, RSA
The entire week is a buildup toward Shabbat. So in effect, when you were born, we were preparing to internalize the messages contained in ‘your’ Torah portion.
The Baal Shem Tov taught us that everything which we see or hear serves as a lesson on how to serve G-d better. All the more so concerning the Torah lesson of that week.
Take a minute to read that portion with some of its commentaries and you will be surpried to see how you can connect it to yourself.
I've just calcualted my Jewish birthday and been informed that the Torah portion asociated with it is Tetzaveh.
Is the Torah portion associated with a birth date supposed to have some particular or special relevance for the person?
Thanks
York, UK
St. Pete, FL