Calendar Conundrums Part 1: Foundations

  • Many people have noted that throughout this summer the Jewish calendar works in such a way that the parshiot in Israel are out of synchronization for months with those in chu"l! Why is this the case when they could have readjusted easily immediately after Pesach?
  • This opens up more general questions about the Jewish calendar, including:
  • (i) What are its origins and sources?
  • (ii) How does it work in practice?
  • (iii) How does it interface with the system of reading the parshiot haTorah through the year?;
  • (iv) How does it interface with the secular calendar?
  • Over the coming 3 shiurim we will be"H address these and other questions.