What special about next year (5779)

What special about our next year? 

1. Next year is ה’תשע״ט . This is 5779 years from Creation. In most calendars is will be written without the letter ה״א just תשע״ט

It is a leap year. (note #1), The first day of Rosh HaShana is on Monday, the month of Cheshvan and the month of Kislev are 30 days each, 

and the first day of Pesach will be on Shabbat. Therefore this year has 385 days, and it is the longest possible year.

The reason I described the new year by the day of the week that Rosh HaShana starts, Pesach starts, and the length of Cheshvan and Kislev,

is because that’s the way to describe a year by “type”. The Jewish calendar has 14 “types” of years (note #2). This year תשע״ט is described as:

בש״ז מעוברת. It means, this year is a leap year, and it siman is בש״ז.

The letter “Beit” is to tell us that the first day of Rosh HaShana will be on Monday (Yom Beith, the second day of the week). The letter “Shin” indicates that this shana is Shelema (“full”), i.e. both the month of Cheshvan and the month of Kislev are 30 days month (note #3). 

The letter “Zayin” indicates that the first day of Pesach will be on Saturday. (The seventh day of the week).

As a rule, in the Jewish calendar the first day of Rosh HaShana starts on the same day of the molad.  There are some exceptions to this rule, that will be discussed later.

On תשע״ט the Molad will be on Monday, and therefore Rosh HaShana will be on Monday as well.  As mentioned, there are some exceptions to the rule. One exception is, the Jewish calendar was planned as such that the first day of Rosh HaShana will never start on Sunday, not on Wednesday, and not on Friday, if the Molad occur on any of those days, than Rosh HaShana will be postponed by one or two days. ( see note #4). 

This called postponement.  דחיה. The siman of this postponement is LO ADU ROSH (note #4).

The other exception is, if the Molad is after 12:00 noon, than Rosh HaShana will be postponed by a day or two. This דחיה is called MOLDAD ZAKEN (note #5).

The Molad of Tishrei next year will be on Monday, at 8:17 AM and 10 chalakim. (a chelek is 1/1080 of the hour). So we don't have an issue here of Molad Zaken, as it is before noon.

There are two more exceptions, or two more דחיות ( postponements) that will be described in note #5. One is in cases when the Molad is on Tuesday in a “Simple Year” (not a leap year). This will not affect us, 

as next year the Molad is on Monday, and the other exception or postponement, is if the Molad is on Monday, but the previous year was a leap year. This also will not affect us, because this year, תשע״ח is a “simple year”, and not a leap year.

Usually, when we speak about a rule and exception to the rule, the impression is that most cases will behave as the rule, and not as the exception. In the case of the Jewish Calendar, only 39% of the years behave by the rule, i.e.

Rosh HaShana is the day of Molad Kislev. The other 61% cases will behave like the exception. For example, I mention the דחיה of LO ADU ROSH. This means that Rosh HaShana cannot occur on Sunday, not on Wednesday, and not on Friday. 3 days out of the 7 days of the week. This is 3/7 which is almost 43% of the cases!  Let’s check another one. MOLAD ZAKEN. As mentioned, if the Molad is after noon time, i.e., between 12:00 noon to 6:00 PM, then Rosh HaShana will not be on the same day of the Molad, but will be postponed by a day or two. This is a quarter of a day (of 24 hours day)  out of 7 days. 0.25 / 7 = 3.57%.  As for the other two דחיות one is 10.7% of the cases, and the last one is very rare ,about 0.54% of the cases, altogether all the exceptions due to the postponements are about 61% of the cases.

The same “type” of year, siman בש״ז occurred 3 years ago, year תשע״ו. א. The next time for the same type of year בש״ז will be 24 years later. Year תת״ג.

2. As this year is a leap year, the minhag when we daven musafei Rosh Chodesh is to add the line ולכפרת פשע (see note #6)

3. This year will be two cases of when we take three Sifrei Torah for leining. Simchat Torah, Shabbat Chanukah, and Shabbat Chodesh. 

Simchat Torah: Sefer Rishon - 5 Aliyoth “Vezot HaBeracha”. Sefer Sheni: 6th Aliya “Bereshith”. Sefer Shelishi - Maftir from Parashat “Pinchas”.

Shabbat Chanukah: Sefer Rishon - 6 Aliyit “Miketz”. Sefer Sheni: 7th Aliya from Parashat “Pinchas”. Sefer Shelishi Maftir from Parashat “Naso” (Uvauom HaShishi)

Shabbat Chodesh: Sefer Rishon - 6 Aliyit Parashat “Tazria”. Sefer Sheni: 7th Aliya from Parashat “Pinchas"  . Sefer Shelishi - Maftir from “Parashat Bo” (Hachodesh Haze).

4. One who travels to Eretz Yisrael between 7th of Cheshvan to 16 of Cheshvan will daven the 8 tefilot of consecutive Tuesdays, all different from each other:  

Here is how it will work: 

On Tuesday, 24 of Elul - Morid HaTal and Ten Beracha.

the following week, Tuesday 2nd of Tishrei - Tefilat Rosh HaShana 

Tuesday, 9th of Tishrei, tefilat Shomone Esre has the additions of Aseret Yemei Teshuva

Tuesday, 16th of Tishrei, tefilat Shemone Esre of Sukkot

Tuesday, 23rd of Tishrei, tefilat Shemone Esre of Chol (Eretz Yisrael) Morid HaGeshem , Veten Beracha

Tuesday, 30th of Tishrei, tefilat Shemone Esre plus Ya’ale Ve’yavo (Rosh Chodesh)

Tuesday 7th of Cheshvan (still in Eretz Yisrael)  in Shemone Esre Morid HaGeshem and Veten Tal Umatar Livracha.

5. This year the Tefilat Musaf of 5 consecutive Shabatot will be different from each other:

Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Nisan, Shabbat HaGadol, Shabbat first day of Pesach, Shabbat Acharon shel pesach (8th day of Pesach), and the Shabbat of 28th of Nisan (regular Shabbat).

6. This year there are six consecutive Shabbatot where we do not have the Haftara of the Parashat HaShavua, but instead Haftara “MEINYANA DEYOMA:

Shabbat Para, Shabbat HaChodesh, Shabbat HaGadol, Shabbat first day of Pesach, Shabbat Acharon Shel Peach, Shabbat Eirev Rosh Chodesh.

7. Shabbat Mevarchim of Iyar.  The Molad will occur on that Shabbat, 29 of Nisan at 3:10 PM (0 chalakim). In Shacharit the Gabai will announce that the Molad WILL BE today, Shabbat at 3:10 pm and 0 Chalakim.

This is in Israel.  However, here the time of announcing the molad will be at about 10:00 AM or 11:00 AM (just before Tefilat Musaf). At that time the time in Israel is 17:00 PM or 18:00 PM. This is a few hours after the Molad occurred already. So, the Gabai cannot say “WILL OCCUR”, but “OCCUR” (the Molad IS at 3:10 PM and 0 chalakim. (see note #7).

Notes:

Note #1: The Gregorian calendar is a solar calendar. The muslim calendar is Lunar calendar. The Jewish calendar is a Lunar-Solar calendar. 

To match the lunar year 12 x lunar months, to the solar year, there are 7 leap year every 19 years. The added month is Adar Alef. Adar Alef is always 30 days.

The leap years in a 19 year cycle are the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 19th. Siman גו״ח אדז״ט.

Some mistakingly think that the Jewish calendar has a cycle of 19 years. i.e., it will repeat itself every 19 years. This is not correct.

Until recently it was known that you need 13 cycles of 19 years . Ie every 13 x 19 = 247 we will see the same type of luach. But recently it was proof to be incorrect.

A perfect repetition of the Hebrew calendar is every 36,288 years (!).

Note #2: Why there are 14 types of years? It was mentioned that the first day of Rosh HaShana will never be on Sunday, not on Wednesday, and not on Friday. This leave us only

fours days for Rosh HaShana. So, just be this, we can have four “types” of a year. One year where Rosh HaShana is on Monday, the other type is Tuesday, and then Thursday, and Shabbat.

We also said that we have two types of years. A simple year, of 12 months, and a leap year of 13 months. On each of them R”H has 4 days where R”H can start. this make 2 x 4 possibilities, or types of years.

The year can be Shelema, i.e. Cheshvan and Kislev both are 30 days month, or Kasidra - Cheshvan is 29 days and Kislev is 30 days, or Chasera - both are 29 days.  This makes 2 x 4 x 3 possibilities, which is 24 types of years. 

However, due to the exceptions mentioned above, the exceptions that are due to the 4 dechiyot (postponements), there are 10 options of years that will never happen. This leaves us with 14 types of year.

Each “type” of year has a Siman. This siman tells us the day of the first day ot Rosh HaShana - This of course, will be either Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Shabbat, and will be marked by the letter Beith for Monday (Yom Beith) ,

the letter Gimel for Tueday, He for Thursday, and the letter Zayin for the seventh day, Shabbat.

The second letter of the Siman will tell us if the Shana is Shelema (“full”), i.e, Cheshvan and Kislev are 30 days each, Kasidra (“regular”) - Cheshvan (“short”) is 29 and Kislev is 30, or Chasera - both 29 days.

The second letter will be Shin for Shana Shelema, Kaf - for Shana Kasidra, and Cheit - for Shana Chasera.

The third letter will tell us what day the first day of Pesach will occur.  Now, because the first day of Rosh HaShana can occur only on one of four days of the week, as result, the first day of Pesach can occur only on four days of the week (not necessary the same days).  Rosh HaShana cannot start on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday (LO ADU ROSH - לא אד״ו ראש) therefore, the first day of Pesach cannot occur on Monday, or Wednesday, or Friday (LO BADU PESACH - לא בד״ו פסח)

For example, this year is siman בש״ז. This means that the first day of Rosh HaShana is Monday, the year is Shelema, i.e. the month of Cheshvan and the month of Kislev are 30 days each, and the first day of Pesach will be on Shabbat. In addition to it, we need to mention of the year is a Simple Year - Shana Peshuta (12 months year), or Leap Year - Shana Meuberet (13 months year).

So now, the Siman of this year will be בש״ז מעוברת. The siman for the current year, תשע״ח is הכ״ז shana peshuta. This means that this year the first day of Rosh HaShana was on Thursday (YOM HEI), the year was KASIDRA, i.e., Cheshvan was 29 days and Kislev was 30 days, the first day of Pesach was on Shabbat. On Shana Kasidra the length of the months will be as follows:

Tishrei 30; Cheshvan 29; Kislev 30; Tevet 29; Shevat 30; Adar 29; Nisan 30; Iyar 29; Sivan 30; Tamuz 29; Av 30; Elul 29.

It happened to be that each of the 30 day month has a Chag (holiday) or Moed. 

Note #3:  The average length of a lunar year is 354 days. Why? The time between one Molad to the other is 29 days 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 1/3 of a second.  This is little bit more than 29.5 days.

It makes sense then, that the months of the year will be 30 and 29 days alternate.  If we do that, 6 month will be of 30 days, and 6 months will be of 29 days each, this is an average of 29.5 days per month.

6 X 30 + 6 X 29 is 354, and indeed a Shana Kasidra (“Regular” year) is 354 days.  This is for Simple year (Shana Peshuta, i.e. not a leap year). For a leap year we need to add 30 days. The reason is, the added month is Adar Alef, and Adar Alef is always 30 days. This will make a regular Leap Year 385 days (354 + 30).

In reality there are two reasons of why not every year is 354 / 385 days. The first one is, we mentioned that the average time between one molad to the other is little more than 12.5 days, than obviously some years must have 7 x 30 days, and 5 x 29 days. The second reason is because of the postponements.  The 4 postponement will result also 353 / 383 days.

Note #4: I mentioned that the rule is that the first day of Rosh HaShana is the day of the Molad, but there are four exceptions, DECHIYOT, or postponements.

The first one is LO ADU Rosh לא אדו ראש. This means that the luach was planned as such that the first day of R”H will never occur on Sunday, or on Wednesday, or on Friday. This siman LO ADU ROSH was take from the pasuk:

וָאֲצַוֶּה אוֹתָם עַל אִדּוֹ הָרֹאשׁ בְּכָסִפְיָא (Ezra 8:17). (In Hebrew we really need to write the Alef with Chirik as in the pasuk, אִדּוֹ, however, in English if we write IDO, we will not see the link to the Alef. Therefore we write ADU).

The reason for this DECHIYA is, to eliminate possibilities of having Shabbat and Yom Kippur in two consecutive days, and to eliminate the possibility that Hoshana Rabba will occur on Shabbat.

If the first day of R”H, is on Sunday, then Hoshana Rabba will be on Shabbat, and we will not be able to fulfill the Mitzva of Chibut Aravot. To avoid this, the Chachamim eliminate the possibility of having the first day of R”H on Sunday, so we can do chibut Aravot every year. 

If the first day of R”H is on Wednesday, then YOM KIPURIM will be on Friday. If the first day of R”H is on Friday, then Yom Kippur will be on Sunday. To avoid this situations, the luach was designed as such that R”H will never start on Wednesday nor or Friday. So, if the Molad is either on Sunday or Wednesday, or Friday, R”H will be postponed by a day or two.

Note #5: The second Dechiya is MOLAD ZAKEN. This means that if the molad is after 12 noon (the 18th hour of the day) , then Rosh HaShana will be postponed by one or two days.  There is more than one opinion of why we have this DECHIYA. One of them is this: The real molad is a conjunction of sun and moon. Therefore it is impossible to see Molad. According to Chachamim, One cannot see the molad prior to 6 hours from its occurrence. This means that if the real molad is at 12:01 PM, we will not be able to see it before 6:01 PM. 6:01 PM is considered to be the next day already. (For the purpose of the Luach a day start at 6:00 PM every day of the year).

In reality, it is difficult to use this reason only. First, it takes more than 6 hours. It is about 18 hours after the Molad that you can start seeing the moon.

The other reason is, when we talk about Molad, this is not the REAL molad, but a calculated Molad. It means that the AVERAGE time between one molad to the other is 29 days, 12 hours , 44 minutes and 3 1/3 seconds.

If we know when the first Molad started, by knowing the average time between each molad to the next, we can calculate all the MOLADOT. So, when we say “Molad” it is not the REAL molad, but a calculated molad.

For example, we mentioned that the Molad of Tishrei 5779 will be on Monday, at 8:17 AM and 10 chalakim. This is a calculated Molad. The real molad of Sun and Moon conjunction will be earlier. It will be on Sunday Leil Rosh Hashna (September 9th) at 9:01 PM.

The third Dechiya is called Gat Rad ג’ ט' ר”ד. It means that if the Molad of Tishrei in a Simple year (not leap) is on Tueday, after 3 AM (9th hour of the day that starts at 6:00 PM) and RAD ר״ד CHALAKIM (208/1080 of the hour) then R”H will be postponed to Thursday. This is to eliminate a possibility of 356 day year.

The forth Dechiya is BATU TAKPAT ב' ט״ו תקפ״ט. This means that if the molad of Tishreu which comes after a leap year  is on Monday, after 9:00 AM (the 15th hour of the day that starts on 6:00 PM) and תקפ״ט chalakim (589/1080 of the hour) then R”H will be postponed to Tuesday. This is to eliminate possibility of a leape year of 382 days.

As mentioned previously, the simple year can be 353, 354 or 355 days, and the leap year 383, 384, and 385 days. The last two DECHIYOT are to eliminates possibilities of years longer or shorter than those.

Some people are under the impression that the two exceptions are only “LO ADU ROSH” and “LO BADU PESACH”, but as mentioned earlier, the fact that Pesach cannot occur on Monday, nor on Wednesday ot Friday, is a result of the fact that R”H will not be on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. The days between Pesach of one year to R”H of the next year are fixed. There is no added month, and the length of each month is the same every year. Therefore if LO ADU ROSH, then LO BADU PESACH.

Note #6: On musaf Rosh Codesh we say the following: 

חדש עלינו את החודש הזה לטובה ולברכה, לששון ולשמחה, לישועה ולנחמה, לפרנסה ולכלכלה, לחיים טובים ולשלום, למחילת חטא ולסליחת עוון”

This is keneged the 12 months of the year, however, in a leap year, as we have 13 months, we add one more: “ולכפרת פשע

You may see here  https://orot.ac.il/ולכפרת-פשע  for other reasons of why we add this words.

Note #7: On Shabbat Mevarchim the Gabai announces the time of the Molad. As discussed earlier, this is not the REAL molad, but the average Molad (מולד אמצעי). 

The molad, is the conjunction sun and moon, therefore the molad is same time in any place in the world. However, when the Gabai announces the Molad, he relates to the time in Yerushalaim.

When he says that the Molad is at 3:10 PM, it means 3:10 PM according to Jerusalem time.  This means that the Molad occurred at 3:10 PM Jerusalem time, 5:10 AM, EST. When the Gabai announce the Molad, if the Molad it is already evening in Israel, and in the case described above, it is after the Molad moment was over.