March Agudagram 2024
Passover in July and Rosh Hashanah in January? That’s what could happen were it not for the
ingenious invention of the Jewish leap year. That’s because lunar calendars like this one work
beautifully until the end of the year when the 12 lunar months will inevitably miss the solar
year by an 11-day shortfall. It wouldn’t take long for such a disparity to wreak havoc with the
holidays; hence, the specter of a snow-covered Rosh Hashanah.
And the Torah makes it abundantly clear: Passover must be “in the month of springtime”
(Deuteronomy 16:1) and Sukkot must fall at harvest time when “God will have blessed you in
all your crops and in all your handiwork.” (Deuteronomy 16:15).