Day #62–Rambam DAILY Sefer HaMitzvos

today is day number 62 of ramam seifra mitsus we're continuing corresponding to the subject matter in the three chapters a day of Mishra where we're studying and we're studying about the Jewish calendar in the three chapters today we're on chapters six seven and eight of these laws and uh I'll say it again today's Mitzvah a positive commandment number 153 the Commandment to calculate the Jewish calendar okay um I'll add a little bit more information yesterday I spoke about the New Moon about the high court proclaiming the first day of the new month based on eyewitness testimony there's another major feature of the Jewish calendar and that is proclaiming a leap year a leap year in the Jewish calendar is very different than what you might be used to if you're used to using the Gregorian calendar and uh to you a leap year probably means every four years you have February 29th you had an extra day okay um in the Jewish calendar leap year means a whole extra month there's a month called other it's the last month of the year and when necessary we will create a whole second month and other base it's called there's a first other of their Alice and then there's another base a second month of other in order to prolong the year um what's the deal with that why is that happening well basically Jewish months are true lunar months in the Gregorian calendar months are actually completely meaningless they knowing the date of the month will not tell you what phase the Moon is in whatsoever um it's just dividing the Gregorian calendar just takes the solar year and divides it into 12 months but uh they don't actually have any relationship to the moon the Jewish calendar the date of the month will tell you exactly the phase of the moon so we know yesterday we mentioned on the first day of the month the moon the little sliver of the moon has just become apparent okay and it continues to wax that means get bigger and bigger until it becomes a full moon on the 15th of the month and then it gets smaller it wanes until it disappears at the last day of the month on the 29th day of the month Okay so so here's the issue the the month of real true lunar month as as I mentioned yesterday 29 and a fraction yesterday I said 29 in a fraction if you really want to know so I'll tell you what the ram says actually in today's mission of Toyota in um chapter 6 halacha 4 he gives us the exact number he says that if you have 12 lunar months true lunar months you end up getting 354 days eight hours and 867 parts so it's like 354 and a third roughly okay now a solar Year a true solar year is drama says 300 65 days and six hours so that's 365 and a quarter so we have a discrepancy between a lunar year meaning 12 actual lunar months we have a discrepance between that total and a solar year of 10 days and 21 hours and 204 parts these parts are well maybe we'll talk about God willing the the parts these little fractions and why what they mean why we use them at any rate what do we do with the fact that every year every non-leap year we have a a shortfall of 10 days and 21 hours in other words where every time we finish a cycle of 12 true lunar months where about 10 days short of having finished a complete solar year and if that adds up if that keeps on compounding um eventually what will happen is and this is one of the major indications that we need a leap year the festivals will be in the wrong season particularly PESA the festival Passover which is also known as the Festival of the springtime the Aviv and therefore if pesach is coming so early that it's not the spring and there's different indications what spring means there are some indications that are astronomical others that are Botanical but at any rate when we see that happening I say we but really I mean the high court in Jerusalem will add an extra month and an additional month of other the 12th month and add a second 12th month which I guess you call it the 13th month to push off the occurrence of Nissan which is the first month the month of Passover so that Passover will be in the springtime in the correct season okay God willing will speak more about this fascinating Mitzvah tomorrow