Biblical Year
364 Days Starting at the Time of the Spring Equinox
Overview
The Biblical year starts on the 4th Day of the week (Wednesday on a Gregorian calendar) at the time of the Spring Equinox, when the “aviv” (fresh, young barley ears) are seen in the fields.
The Biblical year continues for 12 months, consisting of 52 weeks, for a total of 364 days.
Torah Requirements
General commandments:
- Each year males are to appear in Jerusalem to sacrifice the Passover (Pesach) at the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Chag HaMatzot)
- Each year males are to sacrifice and eat the unblemished firstlings of their flock in Jerusalem during the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot)
- Each year males are to tithe (give 1/10) all the increase of their field in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot)
Torah Scriptures
Genesis 1:14 And Elohim said, Let light sources be in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night. And let them be for signs and for (Holy day) seasons, and for days and years.
Genesis 1:15 And let them be for light sources in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth. And it was so.
Genesis 1:16 And Elohim made the two great light sources the great light to rule the day, and the small light and the stars to rule the night.
Genesis 1:17 And Elohim set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light on the earth,
Genesis 1:18 and to rule over the day and over the night; and to divide between the light and the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:19 And there was evening, and there was morning, day four.
Exodus 12:1 And YAHWEH said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exodus 12:2 This month shall be the head of months for you. It shall be the first of the months of the year for you.
Exodus 23:14 Three times in the year you shall make a feast to Me.
Exodus 23:15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the set time of the month of Aviv. For in it you came out from Egypt, and they shall not appear before Me empty.
Exodus 23:16 Also the Feast of Harvest, the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. Also the Feast of Ingathering, at the going out of the year, at your gathering your work from the field.
Exodus 23:17 Three times in the year every one of your males shall appear before the Adon YAHWEH.
Exodus 23:18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven. And the fat of My feast shall not pass the night until morning.
Exodus 23:19 The first, the first-fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
Exodus 34:22 And you shall observe a Feast of Weeks for yourself, the first-fruits of the harvest of wheat; also the Feast of Ingathering after the turn of the year.
Deuteronomy 11:8 And you shall keep all the commandments which I am commanding you today, so that you shall be strong, and shall go in and possess the land to which you are crossing over, to possess it;
Deuteronomy 11:9 and so that you may prolong your days in the land which YAHWEH has sworn to your fathers, to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Deuteronomy 11:10 For the land to which you are going, to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, as a garden of herbs.
Deuteronomy 11:11 But the land which you are entering to possess it is a land of hills and valleys, drinking water from the rain of the heavens;
Deuteronomy 11:12 a land which YAHWEH your Elohim cares for; the eyes of YAHWEH your Elohim are always on it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
Deuteronomy 14:22 Tithing you shall tithe all the increase of your seed that the field yields year by year.
Deuteronomy 14:23 And you shall eat before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose to cause His name to dwell there (Jerusalem), the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the first-lings of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear YAHWEH your Elohim all your days.
Deuteronomy 14:24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you cannot carry it, because the place is too far from you which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose to set His name there, when YAHWEH your Elohim shall bless you;
Deuteronomy 14:25 Then you shall give it for silver, and bind up the silver in your hand. And you shall go to the place which YAHWEH your Elohim shall choose (Jerusalem).
Deuteronomy 14:26 And you shall pay the silver for whatever your soul rightly desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for fermented drink, or for whatever your soul desires. And you shall eat there before YAHWEH your Elohim, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Deuteronomy 14:27 And you shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
Deuteronomy 14:28 At the end of three years, even the same year, you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase, and shall lay it up within your gates.
Deuteronomy 14:29 And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the alien, and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied; so that YAHWEH your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
Deuteronomy 15:19 The firstling males that are born of your herd and of your flock, you shall sanctify to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall do no work with the firstling of your ox, nor shear the firstling of your flock.
Deuteronomy 15:20 You shall eat it before YAHWEH your Elohim year by year in the place which YAHWEH shall choose, you and your household.
Deuteronomy 15:21 And if there is any blemish in it, lameness, or blindness, or any evil blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to YAHWEH your Elohim.
Deuteronomy 15:22 You shall eat it inside your gates; the unclean one and the clean one alike, as the gazelle and as the hart.
Deuteronomy 15:23 Only, you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.
Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before YAHWEH your Elohim in the place which He shall choose (Jerusalem): In the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before YAHWEH empty,
Deuteronomy 16:17 but each with his gift of his hand, according to the blessing of YAHWEH your Elohim, which He has given you.
Jewish Traditions
NOTE: Some of the Jewish traditions associated with the Biblical Calendar are steeped in Kabbalah beliefs. More information on the Kabbalah aspects of the Biblical Calendar can be found here at Chabad.org.
The Jewish Lunar Calendar Year
The Jewish people adopted the Hillel II calendar in the 4th century, replacing the solar oriented calendar originally ordained by YHVH. The Hillel II calendar uses lunar months to determine the start of the year and the appointed times (mo’edim) throughout the year.
Length of the Jewish Year
A lunar month lasts about 29.5 days. So, to account for the extra “1/2 day” each month, the Jewish people have created a system whereby 6 of the months will generally have 29 days and the other 6 months will generally have 30 days, for a total of 354 days in the standard Biblical year.
However, due to variations in determining which months have 29 days and which have 30 days, a Jewish year can sometimes have a total of 353 days or 355 days, instead of 354 days.
In addition, due to 12 lunar months not entirely lining up with a single solar cycle (cycle of the sun), some years on the Jewish calendar will have 13 months instead of 12 months (see Jewish Leap Year below).
Names of the Months
According to the Torah, the months of the year do not have names, but rather, are simply numbered. The only exception to this was the 1st month of the year which was also referred to as the month of “Aviv”, which means “fresh barley ears”. This was not the name of the month, but rather, a description given to that month due to it being the month when the fresh ears of barley would sprout and be seen. This description helped the Hebrew people to know when the year was starting.
After their exile to Babylon, the Jewish people adopted Babylonian names for the months of the year.
- 1st Month – Nisan (generally occurring during March and April on a Gregorian calendar)
- 2nd Month – Iyar (generally occurring during April and May on a Gregorian calendar)
- 3rd Month – Sivan (generally occurring during May and June on a Gregorian calendar)
- 4th Month – Tammuz (generally occurring during June and July on a Gregorian calendar)
- 5th Month – Menachem Av (generally occurring during July and August on a Gregorian calendar)
- 6th Month – Elul (generally occurring during August and September on a Gregorian calendar)
- 7th Month – Tishrei (generally occurring during September and October on a Gregorian calendar)
- 8th Month – Mar Cheshvan (generally occurring during October and November on a Gregorian calendar)
- 9th Month – Kislev (generally occurring during November and December on a Gregorian calendar)
- 10th Month – Tevet (generally occurring during December and January on a Gregorian calendar)
- 11th Month – Shevat (generally occurring during January and February on a Gregorian calendar)
- 12th Month – Adar (generally occurring during February and March on a Gregorian calendar)
Jewish Leap Year
12 lunar months add up to a total of 354 days, which is slightly more than 11 days short of a solar cycle which lasts 365.25 days. To help keep the lunar-based Jewish year in alignment with the solar cycle and seasons, the Jewish “Leap Year” was established.
This Jewish Leap Year occurs 7 times during each 19-year cycle. The Leap Year has 13 months instead of 12 months. During the Jewish Leap Year, the 12th month becomes Adar I and the 13th month becomes Adar II.
The Hillel II Calendar
In the 4th century, the Sanhedrin was disbanded and the Jewish sage Hillel II and his rabbinical court established the perpetual calendar used by the Jewish people today.
The perpetual calendar was purposely set up to ensure that Yom Teruah (Day of Trumpets, otherwise known as Rosh Hashanah, the “Jewish New Year”) would never take place on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday.
To do this, the following calendar was put into play:
- 1st Month – Nisan – 30 Days
- 2nd Month – Iyar – 29 Days
- 3rd Month – Sivan – 30 Days
- 4th Month – Tammuz – 29 Days
- 5th Month – Menachem Av – 30 Days
- 6th Month – Elul – 29 Days
- 7th Month – Tishrei – 30 Days
- 8th Month – Mar Cheshvan – 29 or 30 Days
- 9th Month – Kislev – 29 or 30 Days
- 10th Month – Tevet – 29 Days
- 11th Month – Shevat – 30 Days
- 12th Month – Adar – 29 Days (during leap years, Adar I has 30 Days and Adar II has 29 Days)
Hillel II also established rules to determine the number of days for the 8th and 9th months each year. These rules would allow for 1 of 3 options…
- Both months can have 29 days, making the year “chaser” (lacking)
- Both months can have 30 days, making the year “malei” (whole)
- The 8th month is 29 days and the 9th month is 30 days, making the year “k’sidran” (regular)
The calendar established by Hillel II is considered “sanctified” by the Jewish people.
More details on the Jewish traditions surrounding the Biblical Year can be found here at Chabad.org.