From: rothberg@bimacs.BITNET (Danny Rothenberg)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Using vacation days for the Jewish Holidays
Date: 1 Oct 92 19:28:01 GMT
Organization: Math department, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, ISRAEL

In article <FAIGIN.92Sep30072847@soldan.aero.org> faigin@aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin) writes:
>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).
>

The only problem about the above excerpt is that it is all fine and
dandy *WHEN ONE HAS A CALENDAR*.  During the Shoah those that were in
the camps and wanted to keep the holidays, ie the 'Orthodox' (although
I do know that many of the not so observant also kept the holidays in
the camps in order to defy the Germans and their collaborators), did
NOT have their calendars handy and had to judge the new month by the
time honoured way of observation.  To be sure they were correct it was
obviously necessary to keep two days FOR EXACTLY THE SAME REASON THE
ADDITIONAL DAY WAS INSTIGATED.

>Daniel
>--
>[W]:The Aerospace Corp. M1/055 * POB 92957 * LA, CA 90009-2957 * 310/336-8228
>[Email]:faigin@aerospace.aero.org              [Vmail]:310/336-5454 Box#13149
>   "You can't be a rationalist in an irrational world. It isn't rational!"
>              Dr. Rance, in Joe Orton's "What the Butler Saw"

Be'ahavat chinam
--
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Danny Rothenberg            |    ^     I forgive everybody.  Unconditionally.
Bitnet:                     | \-/-\-/   "Repent now!
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Internet:                   | /-\-/-\      -Nero (aka Harry Blacker)
rothberg@imacs.cs.biu.ac.il |    V      Gemar VeChatimah Tovah-Shanah Tovah
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