We have cited passages and scholars pointing out the importance of history and the survival across time of the Jews. What, may I ask you are history and time made of? One response is the rising and setting of the sun. The orbit of the moon around the earth, the Earth around the sun. Years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds are the nitty gritty building blocks of our earthly time perception. That is exactly what is needed for every human society in general and for the Jewish faith community in particular.
All of the timing for the Biblical holidays were entrusted to the Rabbis. Biblical law demands that the month of Nissan (Passover) must occur in the spring and the month of Tishri, with the harvest festival of Succoth, must be in fall, hence the necessity for a solar and lunar calendar. Deuteronomy 16:1 demands that Passover be in the spring, ‘FOR IN THE MONTH OF SPRINGTIME THE L-RD, YOUR G-D TOOK YOU OUT OF EGYPT.’ Numbers, 9:1-3 tells us that the Passover offering needs to be offered on the 14 th day of the 1 st month (Nissan). <<THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL MAKE THE PESACH OFFERING IN ITS APPOINTED TIME. ON THE 14 TH OF THIS MONTH, IN THE AFTERNOON SHALL YOU MAKE IT, IN ITS APPOINTED TIME, ACCORDING TO ALL OF ITS DECREES AND LAWS SHALL YOU MAKE IT.>> Not only the exact style and nature of the offering was dependent on oral explanation of ‘decrees and laws’, but the very fixing of the calendar was completely dependent on our Oral Tradition.
[Ezekiel 13:9]: ‘MY HAND WILL BE AGAINST THE PROPHETS WHO SEE VANITY AND DIVINE FALSEHOOD. THEY SHALL NOT SHARE THE SECRET OF MY PEOPLE AND IN THE SCROLL OF THE FAMILY OF ISRAEL SHALL THEY NOT BE WRITTEN, AND TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL SHALL THEY NOT ENTER. THEN YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE L-RD G-D. THEY SHALL NOT BE IN THE COUNCIL OF MY PEOPLE…’
<<COUNCIL OF MY PEOPLE>>: This refers to the Council of the Calendar Inter-Calculation. When G-d said to Moses and Aaron, “THIS MONTH SHALL BE FOR YOU THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTHS”, [Exodus 12:1-2], G-d also transmitted to them the rules of calculating a new month. How to establish the year and month were made known to him – Moses – in order to fulfill the explicit command. ‘Observe the spring month and offer a celebration of the Passover sacrifice’ (Rosh Hashona 25a). This necessitated us having both a solar and lunar year.
Jewish months are calculated at 29.53059 days, following the cycle of the moon. According to the Oral Torah, the time between one new moon and the next is “29.5 days plus 793 parts of an hour.” An hour is divided into 1080 parts:
793 Parts of 1080 = 0.734259
0.734259/ 24 = 0.03059
29.5 + 0.03059 = 29.53059
Incredibly, it took the modern world many centuries to confirm this figure. Only after calculations using solar satellites, hairline telescopes, laser beams and super-computers did NASA scientists determine that the length of the "synodic month," i.e. the time between one new moon and the next, is 29.530588 days.
Is the point here clear? The Bible orders us to keep the holidays in a certain way and to establish a calendar. This command necessitates a tremendous amount of oral information, including topics in astronomy, math and seasons, all of which are not found in the written Torah by any regular examination.
Written textual scriptures contain many references to the Oral Tradition – where ever the text does not specify procedures, it is obvious that the oral torah must be relied upon. In Numbers 29:1, it is stated ‘THE 7 TH MONTH (again here is our Rabbinically supervised calendar), ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH, YOU SHALL HAVE A HOLY CONVOCATION, YOU SHALL DO NO MANNER OF WORK, IT IS A DAY OF BLOWING FOR YOU.’ Blowing what? A French horn? A flute? The answer, my friend is not blowing in the wind. No, my friend, the answer is flowing in the Oral Torah. Here it is stated without debate or contradiction that the Torah is talking about the Shofar, the ram’s horn. Leviticus 16/31 discusses the Day of Atonement; “you shall afflict your soul.” That this refers to fasting and other minor discomforts has been clearly defined in the Oral Law. Also, the written Torah tell us to circumcise on the 8 th day. What kind of operation is this? A heart operation, perhaps? (“And though shall circumcise your heart”). For heavens sake, we are talking about a medical procedure that demanded a thorough oral explanation.
The prophet Zechariah 8:19 lists four fast days that only are clear to us through the Oral Tradition only. So said HASHEM, (G-d) of Hosts, ‘the fast of the 4 th (month), the fast of the 5 th (month), the fast of the 7 th (month), and the fast of the 10 th (month) shall be for the house of Judah for joy and gladness for joyous holidays, for love, truth and peace.’ Here is an undisputed prophet mentioning fasts for which knowledge of the Oral Law was crucial.
For the crucial institution of Sabbath observance again you need to check in to understand the matter with the Oral Tradition. We learn out from the juxtaposition of prohibition of work next to the work required in the building of the Tabernacle. We learn of 39 categories of prohibitive creative work. From these verses emerge the authoritative definition of work and a Shabbat that has been kept faithfully without debate by millions of Jews for thousands of years.
Chapter Nine
HOLY NUMBERS