Today is Nisan the first on the Hebrew Calendar–the biblical New Year in the Spring based on Exodus 12:1. Nice time–in the Northern Hemisphere at least, for resolutions and New Beginnings as Spring begins.
I recorded this video in late March 2025 when I was in Jerusalem on Nisan 1st–the first lunar months of the year. See Exodus 12:1. Unlike our New Year, or even that later civil Jewish New Year popularly called Rosh Hashannah, it began in the Spring–as Winter passed and life returned in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a short but tightly summarized summary of how the ancient Hebrew Solar/Lunar “observed” calendar worked in late 2nd Temple times–tied to the agricultural cycle of the seasons. This was not the only calendar but it predominated in the Herodian Temple in the time of Jesus–even though the Sadducees and Pharisees differed on how to determine Shavuot–or Pentecost. In contrast, the so-called Essene or “Jubilees” calendar, used by the Dead Sea Scroll community was a solar calendar that was was geared to a 360 day year (12 x 30) with four 31 day months added each quarter. We are not sure if they ignored the missing 1.25 days to get their total to 365.24. Our Gregorian calendar handles that with our February Leap Years . The lunar months were not part of their calculations.
For a fuller explanation of how both of these calendars worked, with an illustrative chart, see my blog post with video lecture link here: https://jamestabor.com/understanding-the-essene-dead-sea-scroll-calendar-and-alternatives/
Enjoy the New Year–any resolutions anyone? And Shabbat Shalom to all!
James
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