From: faigin@aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Using vacation days for the Jewish Holidays
Date: 30 Sep 92 07:28:47
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
	<FAIGIN.92Sep24112921@soldan.aero.org>
	<1992Sep30.121954.20321@cbnewsl.cb.att.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: soldan.aero.org
In-reply-to: saal@cbnewsl.cb.att.com's message of Wed, 30 Sep 1992 12:19:54 GMT

On Wed, 30 Sep 1992 12:19:54 GMT, saal@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (samuel.saal) said:

> I point this out because of one of the most misleading things that Reform
> has done to Jewish holiday observance.  

I'm glad to see that Sam has decided to start the new year off in an
atmosphere of brotherhood and unity amongst the Jewish people.

> In their quest for whaterver it is their questing, they've eliminated the
> addtional days of our holidays for those outside Israel.  There are good
> reasons for them, but that's for a different post.  They claim that they cut
> the extra days because they aren't celebrated in Israel so there's no need
> to do so outside of Israel.

Quoting from "Gates of the Seasons":

  The greatest change which the Rabbis made in the festival calendar was the
  addition of a day to each of the holidays ordained in the Torah, except Yom
  Kippur. This was done in the early Talmudic period (i.e., first century).
  Compelling circumstances at that time forced the Rabbis to make this change.

  Not only was the confirmation and sanctification of the new moon--and
  therefore the new month--the duty of the Palestinian authorities, but theirs
  was also that task of communicating the dates of the new moons to every
  Jewish community. This was a task of vital importance, as the new moon
  determines the dates of the festivals. At an earlier time, the new moon
  (i.e., the first of the month) was communicated to all the Jews in Palestine
  and the Diaspora by kindling flares on hilltops. However, after the
  Samaritans kindled flares at the wrong time to confuse the Jews, the news
  about the New Moon had to be communicated by messengers. The change was
  introduced by Judah Hanasi (c.  135-200 C.E.).

  Since it often happened that the messengers did not arrive in time at the
  places of their detination outside of Palestine because of road hazards,
  wars, or political upheavals, a second day was added to the holidays for the
  Jews in the Diaspora. This assured that one of the two days on which they
  celebrated the festival was indeed the proper holy day. In Palestine the
  addition of these "second days" to the festivals was not necessary because
  the news about the sighting of the new moon, proclaimed in Palestine,
  reached every part of that land in due time, i.e., prior to the dates of the
  festivaals. The exception was Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the first day of
  the month in Tishri, making timely communication about this New Moon, even
  in Palestine, impossible.

  During the Talmudic period a stable, scientifically determined calendar was
  adopted, and so the pragmatic need for "second days" disappeared. But the
  Paletinian authorities did not abolish these extra days of aboservance for
  Diaspora Jews (nor the second day of Rosh Hashanah for Palestinian Jews)
  because of the Rabbinic principle that we "may not change the custom of
  [our] forefathers."

  Reform Judaism, from its very inception, abolished the "second day" of the
  festivals and returned to the observance of seven one-day festivals as
  ordained in the Torah--i.e., the first day of Passover (Leviticus 23:7 and
  elsewhere), the seventh day of Passover (Lev. 23:8), Shavuot (Lev. 23:21),
  Rosh Hashanah (Lev. 23:24), Yom Kippur (Lev. 23:27), the first day of Sukkot
  (Lev. 23:35) and Shemini Atseret (Lev. 23:36). However, except for the
  "second days," Reform Judaism has always celebrated the festivals according
  to the traditional calendar. In effect, this means that Reform Jews today
  celebrate the festivals according to the religious calendary observed in
  Israel, with the one exception of the second day of Rosh Hashana (which is
  observed by a minority of Reform congregations).

Daniel
--
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   "You can't be a rationalist in an irrational world. It isn't rational!"
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