alendar Controversy
T-S 13K2

Date: 10th century

MATERIAL: Paper

LANGUAGE: Hebrew

CONTENT:

The topic is a discussion of Jewish law (halakhah) relating to the fixing of the calendar and the argument is between those who believe that this should be in the control of the greatest scholars of the generation, who lead the rabbinic academies in Babylonia, and those who argue that the Jewish religious calendar was always based on the climate of the land of Israel. The intercalation (insertion) of the extra month should consequently always be the privilege of the rabbis of the homeland.

IMPORTANCE:Other historical documents mention a considerable difference of opinion between the Babylonian and Palestinian rabbis in the early tenth century about who had the power and the authority to list the dates of the Jewish festivals. They refer to the fact that in 922 c.e. the two communities even celebrated Rosh Ha-Shanah (New Year) on different dates. This document testifies to the Jewish legal argumentation that underlay the controversy.  

QUOTE: "Since the intercalation of the calendar is dependent on the time of spring, it is not possible to decide on the insertion of the extra spring month in other countries. This is because outside the land of Israel there are cold places in which the spring month is delayed until Sivan and hot places in which it comes as early as Shevat and they are already harvesting in Adar"

READING: The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs, by Jacob Mann, 2 vols., Oxford University Press, London, 1920–22, 1:50–52