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This Rosh Hashanah I switched to the Jewish calendar full-time. I know this may sound impractical (it is) but it has always felt like an important issue to me a

This Rosh Hashanah I switched to the Jewish calendar full-time. I know this may sound impractical (it is) but it has always felt like an important issue to me as a mostly secular Jewish American. In my opinion the Gregorian calendar offers very little advantage (perhaps even disadvantage) over lunar-solar alternatives. Its popularity has been deeply tied to Christian imperialism and its adoption has often been forced. The Gregorian calendar is technically more accurate as it is off by 27 sec/year (1 day in 3236 years) compared to the Jewish calendar which is off by 7 min/year (1 day in 216 years). This, however, has always felt to me like comparing apples to oranges. The accuracy of the Gregorian calendar comes at the expense of functionality (lunar calculations) which I find to be incredibly useful. With the Jewish calendar you always know what phase the moon is in as the start of each month is a new moon and the middle is a full moon. Not only does this have real-world application in terms of tides, agricultural conditions, night light, animal behaviors, and etc but I have found myself feeling more mindful of nature as a result. It still trips me out that I can go outside and know exactly what the moon is going to look like without googling it! Furthermore, days ending at sundown makes so much more sense to me! There is a certain satisfaction that comes with watching the sunset and it marking the end of your day compared to the day ending in the middle of the night while you are asleep. Lastly, I have felt myself feeling far more connected to my culture as I am more aware of holidays and other traditions that were lost when the Gregorian calendar took over. Some resources for those who are interested: libhdate (Jewish date + cal alternative for Linux) https://sourceforge.net/p/libhdate/wiki/Home/ https://sourceforge.net/p/libhdate/wiki/Home/ hebcal (RSS, CSV, Google/Apple/etc calendar integration) https://www.hebcal.com/ https://www.hebcal.com/ On my android phone I used KLCK and KWGT with the hebcal RSS feed above to create a lockscreen and homescreen Jewish calendar widget. On my laptop I run Sway+Waybar and created a custom waybar module with libhdate. It's not perfect but it's working for now!

willhinsa 4y ago
I’m not Jewish, but that sounds really appealing to me!
js2 4y ago
You might find this book a hoot. I did: https://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/ https://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/
- connorgutman 4y ago
  Just downloaded a copy, thank you!
nvr219 4y ago
Hebcal is one of the few websites I have used consistently for as long as I've had a computer with Internet. In fact it might be the only one!
Isamu 4y ago
>Its popularity has been deeply tied to Christian imperialism Well, Roman Imperialism. The sheer reach of the Roman Empire is the reason why it became a de facto standard, difficult to displace. The month names are still Roman, and the days of the week are pagan gods.
- state_less 4y ago
  I like learning about these historical time reckoning methods. Using the solar system as a clock is a nice way to be more in touch with the cosmos. I’m still fond of our new gps time though. A simple number line that doesn’t skip a beat and clocks so accurate that I can get a feel for the warping of spacetime.
  - antognini 4y ago
    Well, to be a bit pedantic, UTC does have leap seconds so modern clocks do skip a beat every few years.
    - state_less 4y ago
      > The difference is that GPS time is not corrected to match the rotation of the Earth, so it does not contain leap seconds or other corrections that are periodically added to UTC. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Timekeeping https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Ti...
- connorgutman 4y ago
  Roman Imperialism that was peddling Christian Imperialism. Let us not forget that the calendar was made for and named after Pope Gregory XIII and the years are structured around the death of Christ. Naming the weeks after pagan gods (in my opinion) was a similar act to moving Christmas to fall on Saturnalia. The purpose being to appease pagans and slowly convert them to Christianity.
  - ysavir 4y ago
29athrowaway 4y ago
> Its popularity has been deeply tied to Christian imperialism and its adoption has often been forced. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but ancient Israel was also a kingdom/empire. You are just migrating from the conventions from empire to the conventions from another one. If imperialism is bad there might be non-imperial calendar alternatives you may enjoy more, like the French Republican calendar. If you dislike Ancient Rome, you may also consider not using the Latin alphabet. Most of the atrocities you mention took place during a time when literacy rate was really low, masses took place in Latin and absolutely nobody understood what was going on. Copies of the Bible were extremely expensive and for over 1000 years there was not even paper to print them. Most of the people involved in those acts of violence had no idea what actual Christianity even meant because their only connection to Christianity was attending a church on Sunday where the entire thing was in Latin. Jesus was an extremely tolerant guy and his message was one of tolerance and forgiveness, which is extremely unusual for a monotheistic belief system. Another thing to take into consideration is that it is the successor of Christian imperialism mostly what helped found modern Israel and is helping protect Israel today. So perhaps it may be a good idea to relax those views a bit.
- connorgutman 4y ago
  This is getting a bit out of the scope of HN but... here goes nothing. Firstly, Jews =/= Israel! I have never been to Israel and do not plan on ever going. Nor do I support their actions/government. Secondly, the United States and other governments do not protect Israel for Christian fundamentalist reasons. While republicans would like you to believe they support Israel so that Jesus can return to Earth or whatever shit they believe the truth is that they are simply preserving hegemony in an oil rich region that lines their owners pockets. Second of all, Christian imperialism is clearly a much bigger concept than Roman imperialism. Countless nations have utilized Christian fundamentalism as a excuse to colonize people all over the world and commit atrocities. Yes the romans spread the gregorian calendar but it was created for and named after Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar clearly has far more to do with Christianity than the Roman empire. I mean the entire thing is built around the death of Christ. None of this is to say that Jews have not committed sins or carried out horrible acts in the name of their religion, however, unlike most religions proselytizing is a feature (not a bug) of Christianity. The Gregorian calendar has clearly been used as a tool to achieve this goal. Lastly, I aim to look forward and not backwards in life. We cannot change the past but we can question our present structures and hierarchies. By switching to the Jewish calendar I do not aim to convert others to Judaism, I simply am trying to reconnect to my all too often forgotten roots.
725686 4y ago
Just recently on twitter a funny thread about the many, many, many inconsistencies of the calendar: https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1572260363764400129 https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1572260363764400129
- connorgutman 4y ago
  Amazing thread. Lost it at "YOUR CALENDAR IS BASED ON A RELIGIOUS LEADER THAT NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES IN?"
devmunchies 4y ago
> more connected to my culture as I am more aware of holidays and other traditions that were lost when the Gregorian calendar took over. Didn’t every culture basically use a lunar calendar before the Gregorian calendar? I remember reading that the oldest lunar calendar was found in Scotland or something. Totally relate to your comments about being closer to nature when being aware of the moon cycle. It’s like we’re living in a clock and we’re using the gears to keep time instead of the hour hand. makes me wish more of pre-Christian European culture had persisted.
- antognini 4y ago
  The ancient Egyptians did not. They used a 365 day calendar that consisted of 12 months of 30 days plus an extra 5 days at the end. But because they didn't have any leap days, the calendar would gradually cycle through the year relative to the seasons.
gingerlime 4y ago
I didn’t know that the day ends at sunset. Did they also have a different clock for hours and minutes or it simply didn’t exist? Just wondering about Jewish timezones and keeping server times if days get longer and shorter at different places based on both latitude and longitude ;-)
- antognini 4y ago
  At least around the time of Roman rule the day was divided into what are called "canonical hours" so that there were 12 equal hours during the day and 12 equal hours during the night. This meant that during the summer the hours during day would be longer than the hours during the night and vice versa during winter. But keeping track of the hours themselves was a bit hard, so usually people only referred to three major hours of the day: Terce, around mid-morning; Sext, at noon; and None, around mid-afternoon. So yes, the hours of the day were absolutely dependent on the latitude (along with the day of the year).
- reissbaker 4y ago
  Yes! Great intuition. The Jewish timekeeping scheme is based on "relative hours" — there are always precisely 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of night, regardless of how long the day or night is. The time is directly associated with the position of the sun relative to the Earth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_hour https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_hour

willhinsa 4y ago

I’m not Jewish, but that sounds really appealing to me!

js2 4y ago

You might find this book a hoot. I did: https://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/ https://ajjacobs.com/books/the-year-of-living-biblically/

connorgutman 4y ago
Just downloaded a copy, thank you!

nvr219 4y ago

Hebcal is one of the few websites I have used consistently for as long as I've had a computer with Internet. In fact it might be the only one!

Isamu 4y ago

>Its popularity has been deeply tied to Christian imperialism Well, Roman Imperialism. The sheer reach of the Roman Empire is the reason why it became a de facto standard, difficult to displace. The month names are still Roman, and the days of the week are pagan gods.

state_less 4y ago
I like learning about these historical time reckoning methods. Using the solar system as a clock is a nice way to be more in touch with the cosmos. I’m still fond of our new gps time though. A simple number line that doesn’t skip a beat and clocks so accurate that I can get a feel for the warping of spacetime.
- antognini 4y ago
  Well, to be a bit pedantic, UTC does have leap seconds so modern clocks do skip a beat every few years.
  - state_less 4y ago
    > The difference is that GPS time is not corrected to match the rotation of the Earth, so it does not contain leap seconds or other corrections that are periodically added to UTC. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Timekeeping https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Ti...
connorgutman 4y ago
Roman Imperialism that was peddling Christian Imperialism. Let us not forget that the calendar was made for and named after Pope Gregory XIII and the years are structured around the death of Christ. Naming the weeks after pagan gods (in my opinion) was a similar act to moving Christmas to fall on Saturnalia. The purpose being to appease pagans and slowly convert them to Christianity.
- ysavir 4y ago

29athrowaway 4y ago

> Its popularity has been deeply tied to Christian imperialism and its adoption has often been forced. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but ancient Israel was also a kingdom/empire. You are just migrating from the conventions from empire to the conventions from another one. If imperialism is bad there might be non-imperial calendar alternatives you may enjoy more, like the French Republican calendar. If you dislike Ancient Rome, you may also consider not using the Latin alphabet. Most of the atrocities you mention took place during a time when literacy rate was really low, masses took place in Latin and absolutely nobody understood what was going on. Copies of the Bible were extremely expensive and for over 1000 years there was not even paper to print them. Most of the people involved in those acts of violence had no idea what actual Christianity even meant because their only connection to Christianity was attending a church on Sunday where the entire thing was in Latin. Jesus was an extremely tolerant guy and his message was one of tolerance and forgiveness, which is extremely unusual for a monotheistic belief system. Another thing to take into consideration is that it is the successor of Christian imperialism mostly what helped found modern Israel and is helping protect Israel today. So perhaps it may be a good idea to relax those views a bit.

connorgutman 4y ago
This is getting a bit out of the scope of HN but... here goes nothing. Firstly, Jews =/= Israel! I have never been to Israel and do not plan on ever going. Nor do I support their actions/government. Secondly, the United States and other governments do not protect Israel for Christian fundamentalist reasons. While republicans would like you to believe they support Israel so that Jesus can return to Earth or whatever shit they believe the truth is that they are simply preserving hegemony in an oil rich region that lines their owners pockets. Second of all, Christian imperialism is clearly a much bigger concept than Roman imperialism. Countless nations have utilized Christian fundamentalism as a excuse to colonize people all over the world and commit atrocities. Yes the romans spread the gregorian calendar but it was created for and named after Pope Gregory XIII. The calendar clearly has far more to do with Christianity than the Roman empire. I mean the entire thing is built around the death of Christ. None of this is to say that Jews have not committed sins or carried out horrible acts in the name of their religion, however, unlike most religions proselytizing is a feature (not a bug) of Christianity. The Gregorian calendar has clearly been used as a tool to achieve this goal. Lastly, I aim to look forward and not backwards in life. We cannot change the past but we can question our present structures and hierarchies. By switching to the Jewish calendar I do not aim to convert others to Judaism, I simply am trying to reconnect to my all too often forgotten roots.

725686 4y ago

Just recently on twitter a funny thread about the many, many, many inconsistencies of the calendar: https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1572260363764400129 https://twitter.com/Foone/status/1572260363764400129

connorgutman 4y ago
Amazing thread. Lost it at "YOUR CALENDAR IS BASED ON A RELIGIOUS LEADER THAT NOT EVERYONE BELIEVES IN?"

devmunchies 4y ago

> more connected to my culture as I am more aware of holidays and other traditions that were lost when the Gregorian calendar took over. Didn’t every culture basically use a lunar calendar before the Gregorian calendar? I remember reading that the oldest lunar calendar was found in Scotland or something. Totally relate to your comments about being closer to nature when being aware of the moon cycle. It’s like we’re living in a clock and we’re using the gears to keep time instead of the hour hand. makes me wish more of pre-Christian European culture had persisted.

antognini 4y ago
The ancient Egyptians did not. They used a 365 day calendar that consisted of 12 months of 30 days plus an extra 5 days at the end. But because they didn't have any leap days, the calendar would gradually cycle through the year relative to the seasons.

gingerlime 4y ago

I didn’t know that the day ends at sunset. Did they also have a different clock for hours and minutes or it simply didn’t exist? Just wondering about Jewish timezones and keeping server times if days get longer and shorter at different places based on both latitude and longitude ;-)

antognini 4y ago
At least around the time of Roman rule the day was divided into what are called "canonical hours" so that there were 12 equal hours during the day and 12 equal hours during the night. This meant that during the summer the hours during day would be longer than the hours during the night and vice versa during winter. But keeping track of the hours themselves was a bit hard, so usually people only referred to three major hours of the day: Terce, around mid-morning; Sext, at noon; and None, around mid-afternoon. So yes, the hours of the day were absolutely dependent on the latitude (along with the day of the year).
reissbaker 4y ago
Yes! Great intuition. The Jewish timekeeping scheme is based on "relative hours" — there are always precisely 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of night, regardless of how long the day or night is. The time is directly associated with the position of the sun relative to the Earth. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_hour https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_hour