Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

As long as we're on the subject of the Jewish calendar, I thought I would 
share what is known as the "ATBASH" principle of calculating which holiday 
falls on what day. I'm sure that some of you are familiar with it, but it's 
cute enough to be worth repeating (and please excuse the cross-posting).

"ATBASH" means arranging something in such a way, so that the first letter of 
the alphabet, Aleph, corresponds to the last, Tav, then Bet to Shin and so 
on. Many of the Medieval Hebrew poets used it.

Now in the fixed Jewish calendar, which has been in use since the 5th century 
or so, it ALWAYS works out that the first day of Passover ("Aleph") is on the 
same day of the week as the following Tish'ah BeAv ("Tav") - the Ta'anit 
(fast - also with a Tav) of the 9th of Av on which the destruction of both 
Temples is mourned (though in practice, if the 9th of Av is on a Sabbath, the 
fast is held on Sunday).
The second day of Passover ("Bet") is always on the same day of the week as 
Shavu'ot (Shin) - the festival of Weeks (Pentecost), on the 6th of Sivan, 
exactly seven weeks and a day after the "Sabbath" of the first day of 
Passover (not necessarily the actual Sabbath - we've already discussed that).
The third day ("Gimel") is on the same day of the week as the following Rosh 
Hashanah (Resh), the New Year on the first of Tishri. The first day of 
Sukkot, on the 15th of Tishri, and the "Eight Day of Assembly" (Shemini 
Atseret) are also on the same day of the week.
Day "Dalet" corresponds to Qeri'ah (Qoph), "reading", the day on which 
"Simhat Torah" (a late rabbinic holiday on which the annual Torah-reading 
cycle is completed and started again) is observed outside of Israel (within 
the Land it is observed together with Shemini Atseret).
Day "He" matches Tsom (Sade), the fast par excellence of Yom Kippur.
Day "Vav" always falls on the same day as did the previous Purim.
And Day "Zayin", the last day of Passover, is always on the same day of the 
week as will be the following Yom ha'Atsmaut ('Ayin) - modern Israel's 
Independence Day, on the 5th of Iyyar (although, once again, if the actual 
date is on a Friday or Sabbath, the holiday is celebrated on the preceding 
Thursday).

So how's that?

Yigal Levin


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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