Times, Days and Years

Rebecca Hertzberg has today's summary. Thanks for a great job, Rebecca!

What’s למועדים

The Jewish calendar is not only based on the moon, but also the sun.

Rashi- Yomim tovim

Chizkuni- Rosh Chodesh

The determination of Rosh Chodesh also determines the dates of the Yomim Tovim.

Two ways the sun is involved:

1. Lunar solar calendar

2. Prayer for rain - on December 5 - follows the solar calendar

Ramban- Seasons

לימים What's

Rashi- A day consists of 24 hours. Days are the basic building blocks of our years.

What’s the significance of a day?

Each day we have the ability to start something new, fresh, have new chances and opportunities, to feel accomplished from the previous day (did what was needed,) completion of task, and now you know that you can do more in the new day!

Medrish- Rabbi Akiva was sitting and teaching. His students were falling asleep. He wanted to wake them up so he stated, Esther ruled over 127 countries because Sara lived for 127 years.

Now we ask, why would this wake the students up?

None of Sara’s years were wasted! The days of Sara remained permanent. They were there for Esther, her descendant. Instead of passing us by, days can become permanent. How so?

By building up yourself to do more each day you can improve and affect the world for the future!

Do teshuva one day before you die!

You may ask, “How should I know when I am going to die? So how will I know when to do teshuva?”

You don’t know when you will die; so do teshuva now and everyday! This means that one should not waste time! Use everyday by doing mitzvoth. Each day matters, so make it count! Treat everyday like it’s your last and important. By doing teshuva each day we make each day into a permanent building blocks of our lives. So like Sarah Imeinu, we can end with a full count of years. That will be there for our credit for all eternity.

Yeshiah describes those who say “Eat and drink! Tomorrow you could die." Someone who is careless lives only for the moment. His days are done when he leaves this world.

שנים What's

Rashi – Years is a full passage of 365 days that resumes for its starting point.

Why is that significant?

Years are like a spiral. Each point in time is affected by what happened in previous years. Some actions have a very far-reaching effect.

For example:

The year after the first Purim, they sent a letter to everyone to celebrate.

People still felt proud and wanted to celebrate. The feeling of Purim remained for the years that followed so it was appropriate to make it a Yom Tov for all generations.