Happy New Year!

[sauronnaise]

I didn't count, but I know there are a few Jewish people following my blog, and vice-and-versa, so Shanah Tovah to you guys!

(I'm one day late, am I not? <_<)

Comments

[independence1776]

Thank you!

(Echoes the "not late". Rosh Hashanah is ritualistically a two-day holiday, but that has to do with historically making sure we got the day right when modern communication did not exist. Whether or not it's a two-day holiday now depends on which movement you're a part of and where you live.)

[sauronnaise]

It makes sense. I took it that New Year was on a specific day but the celebrations themselves could last longer. Sundown marking the end and beginning of a new day according to the Jewish calendar makes a difference with our midnight to midnight calendars

[independence1776]

That definitely does make a difference; even my iPhone doesn't sync properly the Hebrew date with the sundown times. I really do think that tech is capable of keeping up with the change but somehow...

So. The history of the holiday is this: Jewish months begin with the sighting of the new moon. (We have a lunisolar calendar that means we have a leap month every couple of years to keep the holidays in their proper seasons.) In old-old days, the new moon sighting in Jerusalem was spread with signal fires. This quickly became unworkable in the diaspora. So the rabbis went, "Rosh Hashanah is a Very Important Day. To ensure we celebrate on the correct date, we will celebrate two days in a row in one ritually long 'day.'" As time went by and communication got improved, etc. we know very obviously know what day the new moon is on. But a couple thousand years worth of tradition is valuable, so the Conservative/Masorti movement and all varieties of Orthodoxy in the diaspora celebrate Rosh Hashanah as a two-day holiday. Those in the Reform movement and those in Israel celebrate it as a one-day holiday.

[sauronnaise]

I really do think that tech is capable of keeping up with the change but somehow...
Me too. Not a programmer but I'm sure it's possible to enter code and functions to synchronise the two calendars. It doesn't look undoable.

Ohh, that explains why Google said it was two days. Does it also change country per country? E.g. Ethiopian Jews vs Indian Jews, or the country of origin isn't so much an influence as the branches/movements are?

[independence1776]

Nope! It entirely depends on whether you're in the diaspora (aka outside of the land of Israel) or not, with the exception of the Reform movement which even in diaspora celebrates as a single day. I'm sure there are exceptions, but that is the general rule.