A Solar-Lunar CalendarThe Jewish calendar is both lunar and solar. It is also complex. Each month begins very near new moon, when the crescent is first visible. A common year contains 12 months, a leap year 13. The 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of each 19-year cycle are leap years. The year 5769 began 30 Sept 2008. 5769 ÷ 19 = 303 with a remainder of 12. Therefore 5769 is the 12th year of the 304th complete cycle “since Creation.” It is not a leap year, so there will not be an extra month this spring. 12 years of 12 months plus 7 years of 13 months totals 235 months, very close to 19 years of the seasons. It is an excellent lunar calendar and a fairly good solar one. If you know that an event occurred Tishri 7, . . . In the Christian calendar Easter and the days tied to it (Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, etc.) still follow the lunar calendar. Western Christians observe Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the March equinox. Eastern Orthodox Christians stay with the Julian Calendar.
| |||||||||