Well, the subject tonight is on the Jewish calendar. I'm sure that much of the information that I will be talking about is known to everybody, but it doesn't matter if we review it and you learn about it again, because it's always good to review. The תורה emphasizes the idea of חזרינג, of reviewing the material that you learn, always helps out. So, it doesn't matter if it's not something that's new, and maybe there will be some new things that one might learn. We know that the Jewish calendar is different than the, let's call it the secular calendar, the regular calendar. The difference is very general: that the secular calendar is based on the solar, the solar calendar, and the Jewish calendar is the lunar calendar, based on the cycle of the moon. The, we call it the גויישע calendar, the regular secular calendar is based on the cycle of the sun, and our calendar is based on the cycle of the moon. The reason why, one of the reasons at least why we count, as the גמרא calls it, we count the days and the months, the years according to the moon, which is called מונין ללבנה, we count according to the לבנה, according to the moon. The גמרא says, because we are דומים ללבנה, because we are compared to the moon. It says that the גוים are compared to the sun, and the Jews are compared to the moon. And for that reason, it says that whenever there is an eclipse of the sun, it's a bad sign for the גוים. There is an eclipse of the moon, it's a bad sign for the Jews, because the Jews are compared to the moon, and the גוים are compared to the sun. In which way are the Jews compared to the moon? One of the things is that the moon has, as we call it, עליות וירידות, ups and downs. Sometimes the moon is full, sometimes the moon is small, it gets bigger, it gets smaller, it constantly changes. And the same is with the Jews. There were times when the Jews were on top, time of שלמה המלך, for instance, when the Jews were on top, and other times when it's good for the Jews, sometimes it's on the bottom, it goes up and down, we go up and down just like the moon. It says when משיח will come, then we'll be renewed like the moon in its fullness. We say that in the prayer that we say by קידוש לבנה. Every month there's a prayer that we say in connection to the moon, and there we say, שהם עתידים להתחדש כמותה, that they will be renewed like it. Meaning, that just like the moon is renewed every month, we too will be renewed, and when משיח will come, we'll be revived and renewed, and we'll be on top of the world. But this is basically one of the reasons why we count according to the moon. But to get down to the details of what it means that we count according to the moon, what does it mean that their secular calendar is according to the sun? So let's go to some details. We're going to go very, very general, the details will be very general details, and then I will try to explain a little bit deeper, according to חסידות, the meaning behind this idea of calculating the months and the years, etc., etc. There is a famous saying that, אין חדשים לחמה ואין שנים ללבנה. There's no such thing as month for the sun, and there's no such thing, such thing as years for the moon. Now I'll explain what it means. There is a cycle that the moon goes through, and that cycle is a cycle of twenty-nine and a half days and תשצ״ג, which is seven hundred and ninety-three חלקים. That's the cycle. Every time when twenty-nine and a half days and this amount of חלקים pass, the moon returns back to its place, in other words, it goes through a complete cycle. That is again, twenty-nine and a half days, which means twenty-nine days, twelve hours, and seven hundred and ninety-three חלקים, and seven hundred and ninety-three parts, parts of an hour. In other words, the חכמים, and this is not only, I guess, חכמים from the תורה, but the חכמים, the scholars of that time, years, years ago, divided every hour into one thousand eighty. Every hour has, as we call them, sixty minutes, but also every hour is divided into one thousand eighty parts, which is ת ת ר פ. In the Hebrew numbers, it's ת ת ר פ, one thousand eighty parts. The reason they divided it into one thousand eighty, not because there is anything that happens every time this part changes but it is because it's very easy to divide. Most numbers will be divided into 1,080, and as we find here in the מפרשים on the רמב״ם, that in 1,080 you could divide it by two, by four, by eight, by three, by six, by nine, by five, by 10, while other numbers you can't divide it by all. They do ask the question that the number 360 could also be divided by all these numbers. But anyway, this is the way the חכמים decided to divide, to put, to divide the hour into 1,800, 1,080. So the cycle of the moon is 29 days plus 12 hours and 793 parts of an hour, that's the cycle of the moon. The cycle of the sun is 355 and a quarter days, general, there are details of not exact, but this is the way it's generally. So again, the cycle of the sun is one, is 300 and and 300 and 65, I'm sorry, yeah, 365, excuse my, 365 and a quarter of of a day, which is six hours, 365 days and six hours. There is no such thing as a year for the moon. The moon just keeps on going, 29 and a half days and 300 and and 793 parts, and then it repeats again and again and again, it goes on and on, once and twice and 10 times and 20 times, 30, that goes on from the creation of the world, it keeps on going, there's no such thing as a year. On the other hand, for the sun, there's no such thing as a month. The sun has a cycle of 365 and a quarter days, and 365, and it goes on and on and on. And just interesting that if you want to put the division of the cycles of the month of the moon into a year, it'll come out about 12 times, that's all. It comes out about 12 cycles of the moon within one cycle of the sun, that's really the way it is, but not exactly, because if this is 29 and a half and a fraction, a part of an hour, and this is 365 and six hours, there is a difference in about 11 days. It comes out there are 12 cycles of the moon in one cycle of the sun with a difference of 11 days. Now, what the secular world did, since they follow the cycle of the sun, what they did was they have a year, a year of 365 and a quarter days, just you can't have a year with a quarter of a day, so they have a year of 365 days. Once in four years, they add another day, that's why February has 29 days once in four years, because four quarters add up to one more. So they have this year. Then you have to, you don't really have to, but makes sense that to divide it to make it easier to count, to divide the year in smaller parts. It's harder to keep track to say which day will you be coming? Well, I'm going to come on the day number 298. It'll be very confusing, so it's much easier if you divide the year into smaller fractions, smaller parts. So which way do you divide? So since there are 12 cycles of the moon, about 12 cycles of the moon in one big cycle of the sun, so they divide the year in 12 parts. And if 12 parts of the year, so it comes out sometimes one part is 30 days, sometimes one part is 31 days, and that's altogether you have 12 months. But really, this is a made-up thing, there's no such thing as month to the cycle of the sun. On the other hand, to the cycle of the moon, there is no such thing as a year. The cycle of the moon is 29 and a half and תשצ״ג חלקים, and that's how it goes on and on and on. Nevertheless, the תורה wanted, the תורה said that we should count the the the days by the by the moon, and that's why we count it by the month, but the תורה also wanted us to have a year. The תורה gave us the concept of years, and years are 12 cycles of a of the moon, the תורה said turns into one year. So really, a year, a Jewish year normally, is 12 times 29 and a half and תשצ״ג חלקים, which would add up to 300, about 355. 354 or 355 days a year. And that's actually what our year is. Our year is 355 days. No, the year of the moon. The year of the moon. Being that the year of the moon is, it's not really a year, but it's 12 cycles of the moon. So the 12 cycles of the moon is 12 times 29 and a half and תשצ״ג חלקים, so it comes out to 354 or 55. Actually, the number 355 in Hebrew is ש נ ה. ש נ ה makes up the word שנה. שנה, which means a year. So a year is 12 cycles of the moon. So every month is a 12th of that. In truth, a month should really have been 29 and a half days, because if a month depends on the cycle of the moon, so every month should have been 29 and a half days. But we know that we can't make a month made up of half days, not only because it's not practical, but we have different ways of learning it out from the תורה that we can't have half days. So it has to be full days. So how does it work? So it comes out that one month is 29 days, one month is 30 days. One month is 29, one month is 30. But being that it's not exactly 29 and a half, there are there's another part of an hour to the cycle, so it adds up eventually that after a while, we add another day to the year. And that's why we have in our year two types of years. We have sometimes a year which is called כסדרן. כסדר means regular. One month 29, one month 30, one month 29, one month 30. And then there is a year which is called a מלא, a full year with an extra day. And that year you will have two months in a row of 30 days, because we have to add up all these extras that were left over the other years and we add up to another day. But even though this would fit, everything would be fine, we'd count the months by the moon and every 12 months we have a year, and that's how we count our years. The problem is that the holidays the תורה says depend on the seasons. פסח, for instance, has to be in spring. The תורה says חודש האביב, it has to be in spring. Now, we know that the seasons don't depend on the moon. The seasons depend on the sun. Each season is a quarter of 365. There are four seasons and each season is a quarter of 365. Now, if we are going to count just 355 days a year, which means 12 times 29 and a half and that will be a year, and the first month which is ניסן, one way we count תשרי as the first month, but other ways we count ניסן as the first month, ניסן will be פסח. Next year, פסח will be with 11 days earlier. In two years, פסח will be 22 days earlier. In three years, פסח will be 33 days earlier. Why? Because the difference of the month of the Jewish year, the lunar year, is with 11 days. So it'll fall back from the solar year, every year it'll fall back with 11 days. So it'll be 11 days earlier as far as the season is concerned. Next year it'll fall early and early. You know what'll happen eventually? פסח will come out in the winter. פסח will come out in in in in the winter or or in in in autumn or in, but not in the spring, or in the middle of the summer. Things will keep on changing. But the תורה says clearly that you have to have פסח in חודש האביב, has to be in the spring. So how do we work it? So we have to have the year counted by the moon, which means only 29 and a half days, and there are 12 months to a year, which means a group of 12 cycles of the moon makes up one year. So we're fall back in the seasons. Therefore, what השם said was that every once in a while, you add another month to the year. And that's where we have this idea of a leap year. Not with one day like the גויישה the secular calendar has a leap year once in four years with one extra day because of the extra quarter of a day, but here we have a leap year of a whole month. So what happens, for instance, after three years pass and we fell back 33 days, we add in the next year we add another month. Now that we have another month, so פסח comes out 30 days later, that means it's only three days behind. The next year or the other two years, we don't add a month, so we're back to 12 months, so by then already We only fell back behind 25 days, because 3 days were left from before, then 11 and 11, 25 days. We add another leap year. A leap year is 30 days, so now we're ahead with 5 days. And that's how it goes on. Every 3 years or 2 years we add a leap year, and eventually after 19 years, it evens out. So there is such a thing as we call it a מחזור, a cycle of 19 years. And every 19 years, the two calendars equal out, almost. This is the difference between the two calendars. And this is the basic idea of the way our calendar works. Our calendar is we follow the cycle of the moon, which is 29 and a half days plus, and because of that we have 12 months a year, which is a shorter year with 11 days. Every few years we have an עיבור יאָר, we call in Yiddish, or a שנה מעוברת, a leap year, or actually a מעוברת means a pregnant year, a year that's bigger, and that year has more an extra month, and that's how we even it out.

So now we have this חשבון, which is this calculation, and this is how we figure the calendar. The way השם gave us the מצוה was that even though there are all these calculations how we could figure out the calendar, and this is very general, nevertheless השם said that as long as we have a סנהדרין, as long as we have that court that we used to have, the סנהדרין, it wasn't enough for us just to calculate to figure out when the month will start, when the cycle, the new cycle, every 30 29 and a half days when the cycle will start and when we will have the first day of the month, and the first day of the month is ראש חודש, but what had to be was we had to have witnesses that would be able to see the beginning of the מולד, which is called the birth of the moon, and they would come to the בית דין, to the court and testify in ירושלים that we saw it. And if they would do that, then the בית דין would know that today is the first day of the month. Again, since we're saying that the the we calculate the month based on the beginning of the cycle of the moon, the beginning of the cycle of the moon means at the beginning of the cycle, that's when the moon starts. The moon gets smaller and smaller and smaller till it is completely hidden. Then it starts being revealed again, and goes on and on, gets bigger and bigger and bigger, till the 15th day it's complete, it's full, then it gets smaller and smaller, and that's what happened, and that takes 29 and a half days and תשצ״ג חלקים. Now the day that the moon starts being born, that's the first day of the month, and that's what we call ראש חודש. ראש חודש is the first day of the month. In the time of the בית המקדש and even after the בית המקדש, when they still had a סנהדרין, they would have witnesses, people standing in different strategic areas watching to see the birth of the moon. And the second they would see the birth of the moon, they would run to the בית דין, and they would testify we saw the birth of the moon. And the סנהדרין, the בית דין would investigate and question them and see that they're saying the truth. And the day that the בית דין, that day that the new moon was born, that day was considered the first day of the month. And every month had to be the same way. Every month they had to have witnesses come to testify that they saw the מולד, they saw the birth of the new moon. And therefore, every month at the end of the month, there was always a question whether this month is going to have 29 days or is it going to have 30 days, because when 29 days passed, if on the 30th day witnesses came and said we saw the new moon, automatically the סנהדרין, the the בית דין would say today is not the 30th day of the month, today is day number 1 of the next month. And the בית דין would say מקודש מקודש, the day is holy, because ראש חודש, the first day of the month, is really a יום טוב. It's special sacrifices in the בית המקדש, it's a special day, so the בית דין would say מקודש. If witnesses did not come, no one saw it, then automatically that day turned into day number 30 of the past month. And then you didn't need witnesses anymore, because a month could only have or 29 days or 30 days. So if the if after 29 they saw the new moon, it was 30 it was day number 1. If they didn't see the new moon, it was day number 30. Automatically the next day was the first of the next month, because there's no such thing as a month of 31 days, because Because it all goes on the cycle of the moon, and the cycle of the moon is 29 and a half days. You can't have more than 30 days, because 29 and a half into the 30, but that's it. So every month, the people wherever they were had no idea how long this month is going to be. Will it be 29 and a half day 29 days, and the day after that will be day number one of the next month? Let's say ניסן, the month of ניסן. So they didn't know at the end of the month whether ניסן is going to have 29 days, and the day number 30 would really become the first of אייר, or that day is the 30th of ניסן, so ניסן had 30, and the next day, which is the 31st, really became the first day of the next month? And they never they didn't know it. And every month, the בית דין would establish that if they would the witnesses would come, the 30th day became number one, so the month had 29 and the next day was day number one of the next month. And if the witnesses didn't come, then the next then the 30th was 30, and the next day was the first of the next month. But this only went on as long as we had the סנהדרין. When we have no more סנהדרין, we don't have this power of what we call the מצוה of קידוש החודש, the מצוה of sanctifying the month. And then, the way השם said to משה רבינו, that if a time will come that you will not have the סנהדרין, then you have to rely on the חשבון, then you will go according to the calculations. And the calculation, like I explained before, that's how you will find out which month is 30 and which one is 29. And that's how we have it now: 29 and 30, 29 and 30, and sometimes because of the extra minutes, together they add up to another day, so we have an extra day, but it's all based on the calculations. So as long as we had סנהדרין, it wasn't based on the calculations, it was based on the witnesses coming and testifying. When we don't have סנהדרין, then it depends on the calculations. The truth is, according to most opinions, even the time when we had the סנהדרין, the בית דין also used the calculations. The calculations were used to see whether the witnesses are liars. If according to the calculations of the בית דין, it was impossible for the new moon to be born today on the 30th day that year that month, and if witnesses would come and say, \"We saw it,\" the בית דין would tell them, \"You are liars, it's impossible, because according to the calculations, it can't be.\" Only when it was possible, and they didn't know whether you will see it or not, that's when they would accept the witnesses. Or in other cases, let's say there were a few months in a row that it was very cloudy. So one month, the witnesses couldn't see the new moon, so automatically that month became 30 days. Let's say the next month, they couldn't it was cloudy for a few days, it was rainy, especially winter time, in ארץ ישראל, especially, winter time is called ימות הגשמים, the time of rain, so they couldn't see, so next month again was 30 days. And what happened if the third month they didn't see? So how- how many months in a row can you have 30 days, a month of 30 days, when really the cycle is only 29 and a half, and what would come out that when the fifth or sixth, the seventh month, let's say, it wouldn't be cloudy, you know when they would see the new moon? On the 25th day of the month, or 24th, or 26th. That doesn't make any sense. So the חכמים, the בית דין would use the calculation, and if it they passed too much time where the witnesses did not see because of cloudiness or whatever reason is, they would use the calculations and automatically make a shorter month, a 29-day month, and the next day was ראש חודש, even though the witnesses didn't come, because they had to use these calculations. But otherwise, under normal circumstances, it was all done by witnesses. That is concerning whether the month is 29 or 30. The same applies to whether we have to add a month to the year. That is Now, we know when to add a month to the year. There are calculations, when we go too far away that we are not equal with the sun, with the seasons, so we have to add a month, and we go too far, we add and we have the חשבונות when we do it. At that time, the סנהדרין would sit down every year and get information about what's doing concerning the crop that's growing and everything else that's connected to the seasons, and based on that, they would decide whether this coming year is going to be a leap year, or is not going to be a leap year. And they can there are different הלכות of different things that would be the determining factor whether the סנהדרין should make an extra month to the year or not. Eventually, it would all even out anyway. They wouldn't make two three years in a row leap years, it makes no sense, because they know that they will be far off. But still, it wasn't like we have now with a strict חשבון that every 19 years the same thing happens over again: two years and a leap year, three years and a leap year, one year and a leap year, and it comes out. Now we have everything figured out. Then it wasn't figured out. They used the calculations, but the way they decided was Every year they looked into it, and then they decided. When the סנהדרין became extinct, there was no more סנהדרין, what did they do? Because the דין is that in order to make ראש חודש, the בית דין has to say it's holy, מקודש. Certainly if ראש חודש is not the 31st day, but the 30th, בית דין has to say. When they have no more בית דין, who says מקודש now? Who now is here to be able to say that this day is ראש חודש and therefore this day is holy? The answer is that when the סנהדרין stopped, there was this great he was the נשיא at that time, he was the leader at that time, his name was הלל. Not to confuse with הלל הזקן, not with the famous הלל from the משנה, different הלל, he was an אמורא, he was called הלל הנשיא. And הלל הנשיא established a calendar all the way till the year 6000. And he and his בית דין already then said מקודש for all the years and all the months that are going to be till משיח comes. So they said מקודש. And therefore, now when we have a month with 29 days, and the next day is ראש חודש, like for instance this month, the month of אייר was 29 days and Sunday was ראש חודש, now in the time of the סנהדרין if this would happen, they would have to say on the 30th day, the day after the 29th, to say מקודש, it's holy. But we didn't say it, there's no one, no סנהדרין to say it. הלל הנשיא with his בית דין said it already for this month, said it for all the months that whatever it's going to be, we say מקודש and it was established מקודש. It was in the end of the גמרא's time.

Because of the way it was at that time that every month the סנהדרין had to decide whether it's going to be 29 days or 30 days, there was a great confusion. The confusion was the יום טוב. The ימים טובים, our holidays, depend on the calendar. פסח is the 15th day of ניסן. סוכות is the 15th day of תשרי. Now when it came to the 15th day of ניסן, in order to know when is פסח, you had to know when ראש חודש is, when the first day of the month is. Now when אדר, when we had the month of אדר, and we came to the month of אדר, the end of the month of אדר, no one knew, let's say the last day of the month of אדר was Tuesday, 29th day was Tuesday. No one knew whether Wednesday will be the 30th of אדר and Thursday will be the first of ניסן, or will Wednesday be the first of ניסן and אדר will only have 29 days. And therefore, they didn't know when פסח is going to be. It's not like now we plan ahead, we know I can tell you now, we look in the calendar which day of the week פסח is going to be in 25 years from now, because the calendar is fixed. But then, every month they didn't know what's going to happen. So when it came to פסח, they didn't know when פסח was going to be, there was always a question of one day. What they had to do was to notify everybody. As soon as the בית דין decided that this month is going to have 29 days, and tomorrow, the 30th, is number one of the next month, and therefore 15 days from now will be פסח, they had to notify everybody. So how did they do it? Didn't send a fax, or a tele- or call up by telephone, what did they do then? So they had a plan. These were called the משיאין משואות, in ארץ ישראל, all the way down ארץ ישראל, even close into בבל, there were different strategic places, mountains, and they would have people standing, that time when there was expected to see whether it'll be ראש חודש or not, they had people standing on the different mountains throughout the whole country. And as soon the word was given that today is ראש חודש, the first one who was standing with a big, gigantic torch, would light the torch. The other person on the next mountain, I don't know, 20 miles away or whatever it was, would see the fire, he would light his torch. 20 miles further, I'm just giving an example, 20 I don't know if it's 20 miles, but whatever it is, would see that fire, would light, and within a short while all the Jews in the whole of ארץ ישראל, even in other countries where יידן lived, they would know that today is ראש חודש, and then they would know when פסח is, and the same is with every יום טוב. What happened was, the כותים, who were converts, but there was a big argument whether their conversion was according to הלכה or not. The bottom line is, they were big troublemakers. And it happened many times that they lit the torches to confuse the people. There was a time when the סנהדרין did not make ראש חודש on the 30th day, When, so therefore, the torches should not have been lit, cuz the way the setup was that if ראש חודש is the 30th, which means that month only has 29 and the next day is ראש חודש, that's when they would light. If no torches were litten were lit, then they knew the next day would be ראש חודש, cuz there's only two choices. So once, when the next day was supposed to be ראש חודש, they got up and lit a torch. So the next one saw, so he lit it, and the word spread that today is ראש חודש. And in 15 days from now is פסח. And they made פסח, and really it was a lie, wasn't true. And it happened a few times, so the חכמים saw this is can't be done. And therefore, what did the חכמים decide to do? We have to send messengers, Pony Express. So they sent, soon as the בית דין decided that it's ראש חודש, they would send out messengers throughout the whole country to notify them that ראש חודש was on this and this day, so you should know on this and this day this and this day is יום טוב. Those places that the messengers came before the 15th day of the month, because they were a distance of 15 less than 15 days travel, which actually has to be less than 15 days because שבת you can't travel, and there are שבתות in the middle, so those that were, let's say, 13 place away that takes 13 days to travel, they would find out before פסח came when פסח was, when ראש חודש was, and messengers would get there, it would be too late. So when פסח came, I'm using פסח as an example, the same is with every יום טוב, they didn't know if today יום טוב or not. And that's where this whole concept of two days יום טוב started. In חומש, פסח is one day, first day, then is חול המועד, then you have the last day. The same is with ראש השנה is one day, סוכות is one day, שבועות is one day, it's all one day. But since they didn't know whether today is יום טוב or not, because they would have a question, is today day number 15, or is today really day number 14? Because they don't know when ראש חודש was. So when the day came that might be the 15th day, they would keep it as יום טוב. Then the next day they would keep as יום טוב also, because maybe today the next day is the 15th. And that's where the idea of two days יום טוב started. And we call that יום טוב שני של גלויות, the second יום טוב, the second day of יום טוב that they did in the גלות, in the exile places which were far away. And that's why they had two days יום טוב on פסח. That's why they had two days יום טוב on סוכות, because there are certain places that they didn't reach it by the 15th. But ראש השנה, ראש השנה was worse. ראש השנה is the first day of the month. So ראש השנה, no one knew when ראש השנה was. When there was the month of אלול, and it came the 29th of אלול, the next day, everybody was in doubt. When 29 days are up, is tonight the 30th day of אלול, or is tonight the first day of the next month, which is ראש השנה? So even in ארץ ישראל, they didn't know. The close places didn't know whether it's ראש השנה or not. So what did they do? So everybody, wherever they lived, would keep two days ראש השנה. Even in ירושלים, sometimes they would keep two days ראש השנה, because they didn't know when it's going to be. And that's why nowadays we know that every יום טוב in ארץ ישראל is one day, except ראש השנה is two days. The reason we have two days יום טוב now, even though now we have no problem, now we know the calendar, and we know every month when is the first day of the month, we know ahead of time, and we know when the 15th day of the month is, but we call that מנהג אבותינו בידינו, the custom that our forefathers did, continue. And since the people did two day kept two days יום טוב in these areas before, so they continue keeping two days יום טוב. In other words, wherever the שלוחים, the messengers, arrived on time before יום טוב when we had the סנהדרין, and they kept one day, that custom continued and you keep one day. Those areas that the שלוחים did not reach - I believe that they did not reach to Miami those times, I mean there's nobody here, but they the שלוחים did not come to notify here when ראש חודש is and they didn't reach here on time for יום טוב - so therefore, in such places you have to keep two days יום טוב. It is known that there is a difference between ארץ ישראל and out of ארץ ישראל, חוץ לארץ, it's not true. It has nothing to do with ארץ ישראל. And has nothing to do with the holy land that because ארץ ישראל is holy, that's why they have one day יום טוב, and we are outside of ארץ ישראל, we keep two days. It is for a different reason. It is because in ארץ ישראל, the messengers reached on time to make the יום טוב, while חוץ לארץ not. There's one exception to this, except ראש השנה, which exception that no one knew, but there is one יום טוב that everybody knew when יום טוב should be, and we still keep two days, and that is שבועות. I told you I would speak about שבועות. Why שבועות? Why is שבועות different? Because שבועות is the only holiday that doesn't have a day of the month. It doesn't say anywhere in the תורה that שבועות has to be on a certain day of a certain month. שבועות depends on one thing: on the 50th day of ספירה. You start counting ספירה from the second day of פסח, and you count 49 days, and as soon as that is over, that is שבועות. Now, at the time when we had the סנהדרין, שבועות did not always come out on the sixth day of סיון. The reason שבועות is now on the sixth day of סיון, because always, always, the month of ניסן is 30 days, according to the calculations. The month of אייר is always 29 days. So automatically, 50 days from the second day of פסח is the sixth day of סיון. But in the time of the סנהדרין, you could have had ניסן 30 days and אייר 30 days. Then the 50th day of ספירה would be on the fifth day of סיון. You could have had ניסן 29 days and אייר 29 days. Then it would have been the seventh. And it was! Sometimes was the seventh. The גמרא says that שבועות is פעמים בה', פעמים בו', פעמים בז'. Sometimes it's on the fifth day of סיון, sometimes on the sixth, sometimes on the seventh. So, it doesn't depend on סיון, it doesn't depend on any month. So according to that, why do we have שבועות two days? Because שבועות, to know when the יום טוב שבועות is, you only had to know one thing: you had to know when פסח was, which means you had to know when ראש חודש ניסן was. Well, by the time שבועות came around, which was 50 days after פסח, everybody got the message when the first day of ניסן was. So everyone knew really when שבועות was. So really, according to this, according to the דין, שבועות should not should really not be two days. The reason שבועות is two days, the רמב״ם says is כדי שלא תחלוק במועדים, we shouldn't make a division in the holidays. If all holidays are two days, then we should have the שבועות also two days. But because of that, the חתם סופר says that the second day of שבועות is stricter than any other second day of יום טוב. Every second day of יום טוב is based on a doubt. Because they were not sure whether it's יום טוב or not, so it's a doubt, and that's why they had a יום טוב. Now it's not a doubt anymore, but it's based on the doubt that they had then. The second day of שבועות was never a doubt. So why did they have a יום טוב? Because the חכמים said, for whatever reason we have, not to make confusion, we want you to have two days. So in the time of פסח and סוכות, it was a ספק. שבועות was a ודאי. שבועות was a definite day. And the second day of שבועות is מדרבנן, it's from the חכמים, not from the תורה. But it's a ודאי. In other words, what we're dealing here is a, and this is going to be in more in in למדניש, just in in גמרא-type of terms, that שבועות, the second day of שבועות is a ודאי דרבנן versus a ספק דאורייתא. It's a definite דין of דרבנן versus, other times when we have a second day יום טוב, it's a doubt of a מצוה of the תורה, because יום טוב is a מצוה of the תורה, and there was a doubt whether this might be the מצוה of the תורה. And the חתם סופר says that a ודאי דרבנן, if it's a definite דין, even though it's from the rabbis, is stronger than a דין that's based on a doubt, even though it's a doubt of a דאורייתא, doubt of the תורה. And therefore, the second day of שבועות, he says, is stricter. This is basically the whole idea of the way the חשבונות was before, and the way the calendar was set up. So then they had to wait for witnesses and בית דין would decide every month whether it should be 29 or 30 days. בית דין would decide every year whether it should be a leap year or not. Now we have a calendar and we have everything worked out, that every the months are 29 and 30, 29 and 30 generally, and then every certain amount of years we have a leap year, and that all works out that everything comes falls into place. This is the technical part of the calendar, very very general.

Just to get a little bit more than technical than than being technical into this concept: We know that the מצוה of קידוש החודש, the מצוה of sanctifying the month, is considered a very very great מצוה. It's called a מצוה גדולה, a very great מצוה. As a matter of fact, to a certain degree it's even called the first מצוה, because the first מצוה that was given to the Jews, before they left Egypt, was this מצוה of החודש הזה לכם. It says in חומש that השם spoke to משה while משה was How does the פסוק go? Anyway, that פסוק, etc., that פסוק is the פסוק that teaches us all the דינים concerning קידוש החודש. And that's the first מצוה given. החודש הזה לכם ראש חודשים ראשון הוא לכם לחודשי השנה, now I remember. Now I will see if it's correct. ויאמר השם אל משה ואל אהרן, החודש הזה לכם ראש חודשים, ראשון הוא לכם לחודשי השנה. That this month is the beginning and this should be the beginning of all the months, and in this פסוק השם commanded משה רבינו on this מצוה that the חכמים have to calculate and work out, and sanctify the month every month, and then to make the leap years, and all the דינים, it's all based on this פסוק. רש\"י in the beginning of חומש, everybody learned the first פסוק in חומש with רש\"י. רש\"י starts off with the question. The פסוק starts, the first פסוק is בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ, השם created the heaven and earth. So רש\"י says אמר רבי יצחק, רבי יצחק said, לא היה צריך להתחיל התורה אלא מהחודש הזה לכם, the תורה should have started with החודש הזה לכם. And רש\"י adds the words שהיא מצוה ראשונה שנצטוו ישראל, the first מצוה that was given to the יידן. Now, in the number, when we list the list of מצוות, this is not מצוה number one. But רש\"י refers to it as מצוה ראשונה, the first מצוה, because this to a certain degree is one of the most important מצוות. Now why would this מצוה be the most important מצוות? Now number one, very simple, because you know how many מצוות depend on this מצוה? You start thinking, how many מצוות depend on this? Everyone knows which is the holiest day of the year? יום כיפור. יום כיפור, can't eat anything. If someone goes and eats on יום כיפור, you're חייב כרת, all kinds of דינים יום כיפור. יום כיפור depends on this מצוה. When is יום כיפור? The tenth day of תשרי. When is the tenth day of תשרי? Depends when the first day, depends when the חכמים decide, when they make the calendar. חמץ! You know, you all go crazy, חמץ on פסח! God forbid חמץ, and מצה, all the מצוות of מצה, that all depends on this. שופר, סוכה, לולב, אתרוג, all the things depend on this one מצוה. So this is a very, very important מצוה. Plus, there's another thing here. There's a question that's asked: if this מצוה is so important, and the truth is there are a lot, a lot of details to this מצוה, הרמב\"ם has a whole section called the laws of קידוש החודש, and you know how much space the תורה gives for this gigantic מצוה? One line. One line. I'll read it again. The whole מצוה is this החודש הזה לכם, it's actually one line in this חומש. החודש הזה לכם ראש חודשים ראשון לחודשי השנה, that's it! That's it. And this contains all the מצוות. So the אבן עזרא asks the question: how come, take for instance, gives us an example, we have the מצוה of מצורע. If a person gets leprosy, and there are all kinds of דינים. Now how often did that happen, and how many people got leprosy, and how important is it, and it's something that only was for the time being, later on now we don't have such a thing as leprosy. We have two full פרשיות in the תורה that deal with the laws of leprosy. And here we have the מצוה which is the foundation of all the מצוות, and we have one line here! How come? So the אבן עזרא says, this is to show the greatness of תורה שבעל פה, of the oral תורה. Because this is one of the proofs that there is such a thing as oral תורה. If the תורה tells you to calculate the months, and it doesn't say how, does that make any sense? If השם gave us an order to do something, and that something is very complicated, so where is it? How come it doesn't say? Well obviously, he must have explained it to משה רבינו orally. So from here, we see the greatness of תורה שבעל פה. Then there's another specialty concerning the מצוה of קידוש החודש. It says in ירושלמי that this מצוה had the power to change the physicality of the world. There are certain laws that are connected to the physical things that happen in a person's body that depend on age. That if you're up to three years old, this and this happens, if you're over three, not. So let's say there was this girl who was under who was over three because she her third birthday was in the middle of the month of אדר, on the twelfth of אדר, let's give an example. And because of that the הלכה is that her physical body is in a certain status, a certain way. Then the בית דין decided, you know what? We have to add another month to the year. And they added another month So now her birthday changed, and her birthday is going to be next month, the second אדר. So the ירושלמי says her physical body would actually change. And whatever was supposed to happen will go back, whatever happened will change back, and now it'll start later. Because the הלכה that the חכמים said actually affects the world, and this is only in this מצוה where we see that it affects the world. Because the תורה is the boss of the world. And that's interesting. That's why, it's interesting to see, רש\"י says that the תורה should have started with this מצוה. Instead, what does the תורה start with? With בראשית, that השם created the world. Now, if you substitute one thing for the other, for whatever reason, they must be connected. There must be some connection between the two. You don't substitute one for another that doesn't have a connection. What's the connection that if you substitute, for the מצוה of קידוש החודש, it's substituted by telling us that השם created the world? But according to this, it goes together. The מצוה of קידוש החודש shows that the תורה is the בעל הבית, controls the world. And that's what בראשית ברא אלקים says, השם created the world and He's the boss. And then there is one more point I want to bring out in the importance of this מצוה of קידוש החודש. We know that the purpose of the creation and the purpose of השם giving us תורה is that we should bring קדושה into the physical things of this world. That's really what it is. השם wants us to take a piece of leather and make תפילין out of it, a piece of physical leather and make a מצוה out of it. He wants us to take a physical object and make a מצוה, take wool and make ציצית out of it. And the same with everything that we do. We take physical things and we make we bring קדושה into those things. Now, the foundation of every thing of the whole creation, the whole creation is made up of two things: time and space. And even in that, what comes first? Time comes before space, even though they're connected and time and space go together, because the whole concept of time, and not to get into the details, is change. Time means movement, change. Now, creation itself means there was a change from the way it was before, so automatically that's time. So time came before before space, but not to get into that, but that's for sure that the whole universe, the whole creation is made up of time and space. So if there is a מצוה the whole purpose is to take the physical objects of the world and bring קדושה into it, how much more is there there a מצוה or how important it is to bring קדושה into the foundation of the whole creation, which is time? How do we bring קדושה into time? And that can be more important than bringing קדושה into a physical piece of leather. So when we have a day that on itself is just another day of the year, another day of the week, a regular secular day, and through calculating and through following the מצוות of the תורה, we make that day into a יום טוב or we make make that day into ראש חודש, which is also קדושה, by doing that, we show how we bring קדושה into time. And that's this מצוה. And it's not like שבת. See, שבת is also a holy day. But שבת is not something that we bring קדושה into a secular day. שבת is holy to begin with. The גמרא says, שבת מקדשא וקיימא, שבת is holy from beginning and on. יום טוב is not like that. That's why שבת in שמונה עשרה or in קידוש we say the ברכה, ברוך אתה השם מקדש השבת, we thank השם for making שבת holy. יום טוב we say, ברוך אתה השם מקדש ישראל והזמנים, that He made the Jews holy and the time. Why mention the holiness of the Jews on יום טוב? שבת we don't mention the holiness of the Jews. Because שבת is not dependent on the holiness of the Jews. It's שבת is holy anyway. יום טוב, who makes the יום טוב holy? The Jews. It depends on the Jews. If they decided, the בית דין decided that ראש חודש is this day, then this and this day is יום טוב. If the בית דין decided it's the next day, the next day would be יום טוב. So really these days are regular, and it's up to us, the חכמים, the Jews, to decide which day is holy. In other words, יום טוב is a time when we take a regular day and we bring קדושה into it. That's why in חומש, שבת is called קודש, holy, and יום טוב is called מקרא קודש. מקרא קודש means you call the holiness, just like when you call somebody to come, you bring him to you, we call, we bring down קדושה on a regular day, which is not really holy. That's what יום טוב is. So this idea of bringing holiness into a secular thing, into a thing of creation, as much as it's accomplished in other מצוות, but they are when we do that we accomplish it in individual things. But with the מצוה of קידוש החודש and the מצוה of calculating the month and establishing the calendar, then we bring into the general concept of time, which is the foundation tion of the creation, and that's why this is such a great מצוה. And a lot of more things concerning this מצוה of קידוש החודש. I only want to mention one more thing, that this מצוה was given over to the בית דין, and even השם does not decide when ראש חודש is, He leaves it to us. It says in the מדרש that the מלאכים, the angels came to השם and said, when will be ראש חודש? Or when will be יום כיפור? השם said, I don't know, let's go find out what the בית דין down there decided. And whatever בית דין decides, that's the way השם agrees, that that's when ראש חודש should be, that's the specialty of ראש חודש. And that shows the כח that השם gave, the power השם gave to the בית דין, which is the representative of the Jews, that we have an ability to bring down קדושה in days and make the days holy. But after we lost the סנהדרין, so now it's also depending on other, but based on the calculations, when משיח will come, but then things are going to change back to the way it was before, and we will again start bringing the witnesses, and the בית דין will decide every month when ראש חודש is. So, one thing is clear, that when משיח will come now, שבועות will still be the same day it was, it's supposed to be. Why? Because שבועות doesn't depend on the may- day of the month. But the next יום טוב, since משיח we sure we're sure is going to be here by then already, so the next יום טוב already, the בית דין will decide when יום טוב is, and we hope we will partake in it, and we will be able to see this with our own eyes very, very soon. Yes? No such thing. Yeah, yeah, that's for sure. משיח will come before the year 6,000, yeah. Yeah. Yes? Truth is that now it's not a ספק דאורייתא. Now we know for sure it's not דאורייתא. Now for sure it's a דרבנן based on a ספק. And שבועות is a דרבנן based on a ודאי. So, a type of ספק דאורייתא the way it's in the יום טוב is more lenient than the way it's for שבועות. Okay, I guess everybody can sign.