While I remember much of a hullabaloo surrounding Y2K, I actually do not remember the front page of the newspaper on January 1, 2000. But, here is a fun fact that I learned recently. First, a little background. For several years in the 1990s, a financial sponsor ran a small ad every Friday in the “New York Times.” Appearing on the bottom corner of the front page, the ad was a reminder — week after week — of the Shabbat candle lighting time for New York City. It read: “Jewish Women: Shabbat candle lighting time this Friday is __ p.m.” Eventually, as is the way of the world of philanthropy, the donor decided to focus their giving elsewhere and, in June 1999, the ad appeared for what was meant to be the very last time. Now, here’s the fun fact. On January 1, 2000, the “New York Times” ran a [...]

While I am not usually a follower of such things, a recent journey down a Google rabbit hole led me to learn that tonight is supposed to be the peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower, one of four major meteor showers each year with a sharp peak. Apparently, under a dark sky with little-to-no moon, the Quadrantid shower can produce over 100 meteors an hour.With little knowledge of astronomy, other than a pretty good sense of the moon phases (thanks, Jewish calendar), I cannot help but think there is something significant about this showering of light and stars right at the beginning of a New (secular) Year. The Jewish New Year is, of course, tied to creation — hayom harat olam, today is the birth of the world. And also, we read in our liturgy each morning that God is מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל־יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית: The One who renews the works [...]

It does not always line up perfectly, but I love the symmetry of beginning a new book of Torah at the beginning of the secular New Year. All the stuff about a blank page, a new chapter, a fresh start — it all works, you know? And, maybe there is something particularly fitting about the shift from the Book of Genesis to the Book of Exodus, which we will begin this Shabbat. My colleague, Jodie Gordon, notes that while the Book of Exodus picks up where Genesis left off, at least geographically, “the story continues, in a new and different time, in a place that is the same and has changed.” The Book of Exodus starts with “a new king arose who did not know Joseph.” It is a sense of the ground shifting beneath us, where the things we thought we understood about our society and our community [...]

When teaching the Jewish calendar, I always note that it is a bit of a mindbender to understand. From the time of the Tanakh, Nisan — the month of Passover — is counted as the first month. And yet, we celebrate Rosh HaShanah, the New Year, in Tishrei — the 7th month on the calendar. Nisan makes a lot of sense; it is spring, flowers are blooming, rebirth is in the air. As Cantor Emma taught last week, the Mishnah teaches of the four New Years of the Jewish calendar, and explains that while Nisan is the first month for the order of the festivals, Tishrei is the first month for counting years.Given all of this, perhaps it is not surprising that — for centuries — the non-Jewish world celebrated New Years Day on March 15. It was the Roman King Numa Pompilius (715-673 BCE) who first introduced a 12-month [...]