Rabbi's Message

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman
Read about the Rabbi
Livin’ on Jewish Time
Nov. 2007

As Jews, we live by a different calendar, a different schedule than our neighbors and friends. I don’t simply mean that we follow a Jewish calendar for our Holidays – although that too is often confusing to outsiders who wonder why Rosh Hashana is always on a different day.

What I mean about living on a different schedule is that the very rhythm of our lives, the order in which we do things, when we see beginnings and ends, are different than most of the rest of the American world. The Jewish day starts in the evening, with sunset; the year starts in the fall; the month starts with the empty sky of the new moon; the Jewish week has seven regular (work) days and one day of Shabbat.

The liturgical cycle of the Jewish people is based on the Jewish calendar and the climate and geography of our ancient home land: we pray for rain in the winter time and dew in the summer time because that is precisely what falls during those periods in the Judean Desert. Our three major festivals: Sukkot, Passover and Shavuot, correspond to the agricultural cycle of the ancient near east – for that is where (and how) they developed. We read the Torah in a certain order: if it’s fall it, we must be in Genesis.

Personally, I am acutely aware of the Jewish calendar on a daily basis. I know what part of the month we are in by looking at the moon; the Torah readings remind me of the time of year. Shabbat comes earlier and earlier now – we must be heading into winter. OK – as a rabbi I may have a heightened awareness of the Jewish calendar, but we all carry around this clock to some degree or another.

As any historian or anthropologist will tell you, how a people clocks time, how they counts the days and years, is a primary marker of their particular civilization. We live by the Jewish calendar because we are part of the Jewish Civilization.

I like living in Jewish time, I like counting down the days to Shabbat and looking at the moon to anticipate the next holiday – it helps me see the cycles of the world – God’s world – behind the man-made definitions of workweek and school schedules.

Of course, most of us also follow the secular American calendar and live fully in that civilization as well. We root for the Patriots in the Fall, look forward to two-day weekends and holiday vacations, celebrate Thanksgiving. As Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionism, taught, we live in two (2) civilizations most of the time: Jewish and American. And more often than not, those civilizations exist side-by-side with little conflict. We can observe Shabbat and go out with friends; we can take off from school for our holidays and make up the work; we can go pumpkin picking in the fall and use them to decorate our sukkah.

But sometimes, we find that the two civilizations’ calendars conflict. It is then that we have to make the difficult choice of choosing between one calendar and the other, one civilization and the other. And sometimes the choice isn’t easy. Your child’s soccer game or Shabbat services? A weekday holy day or work? We all know the conflicts. And we all make the choices – sometimes one way, sometimes the other. We balance it the best we can.

But usually one calendar or the other takes precedence. One civilization or the other feels primary. One schedule wins out more often then the other. Which one is it for you and your family? Do you really live on Jewish time or is the Jewish calendar squeezed into the few empty spaces of your secular one?

If you spend more time in the American calendar, I challenge you – try to live a little more on Jewish time. Get yourself a calendar with the Jewish dates – take note of the moon cycle – put the word “Shabbat” on every Saturday in your date book. See if you can connect up to the rhythm of Jewish life and how that affects the rest of your being. You might find it feels very familiar.
Soon, it will be the month of Kislev – time to think about the Chanukah lights.

B’Shalom
Rabbi Elyse

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