Calendar, The Jewish

The "taamim" (cantillation notes) used for reading the Ten Commandments differ when read alone than when read communally in the synagogue. What is the meaning of this special version of musical notes?

The most comprehensive and advanced Jewish calendar online. Features a brief summary of key events in Jewish history, laws and customs, Shabbat times and more.

Since Biblical times the months and years of the Jewish calendar have been established by the cycles of the moon and the sun. Torah law prescribes that the months follow closely the course of the moon, from its birth each month to the next New Moon.

The confluence of solar and lunar time in the 19-year Jewish calendar cycle

It was an eerie feeling as the orbit of the planets suddenly swung into reverse. The moon was no longer receiving and reflecting light; as though sucked inwards, radiance flowed from the moon to the sun...

If you are not relating to the words of the Megillah, then you are experiencing a backwards Purim.

The calendar is more than a measure of time; it is a cycle that charts our inner life and our relationship with our Creator.

A parable by the Chassidic sage Rabbi Yechezkel Panet illuminates the geography of the Jewish calendar

On the essence of lunar time

Nissan is the first month, but it comes six months after the beginning of the year; Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the year, but it falls in the seventh month. Makes sense? It does, if you’re a Jew.