[Avodah] Pesach at equinox

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 04:33:16PM +0300, D&E-H Bannett wrote:
: Pesach will not be after chodesh ha'aviv in 2215, but rather 
: in 2214. But in addition to this minor slip, there is a 
: "slight" error in the logic.

: Using average solar and lunar years for the calculations 
: tells us nothing. If we remember that we have a 19-year 
: cycle with seven leap years, each with an added month in 
: that cycle, it becomes obvious that Pesach moves back and 
: forth depending on the year...

But having values around that mean (otherwise it wouldn't stay the mean,
would it? <g>). I figured it was close enough to give us an estimate.

: Pesach in Chodesh Ha'aviv is not a problem for the future 
: but one that already exists.  For example, in 2005 (year 8 
: of cycle), the first day of Pesach was on April 24th. In 
: 2016 (year 19), it will be on April 23.

Here you shift topics. You assume there is a single chodesh haAviv,
and therefore yes, the calendar is failing alreary. (BTW, just look for
any year in which the Notzrim celebrate their holiday closer to Purim
than Pesach.)

RJR asked about it not being in spring -- a much wider window. Behind
this is the assumption that "aviv" means spring, and thus any month in
spring would be a chodesh ha'aviv.

Even if chodesh ha'aviv wasn't the name of the first month in aviv, I
now realize that it's more likely aviv is only 2 months long, not three;
that the pasuq divides the year into 6 two-month seasons that come in
3 oppositional pairs: "zera veqatzir veqor vachom veqayitz vechoref"
(Bereishis 8:22) And yes,those are seasons. E.g. see Seforno ad loc who
says that the mabul cause the start of seasonal variation.

That removes a month from my estimate, but if chodesh haaviv needn't be
the first chodesh we still have a month of slippage possible. And the
problem is still millennia way.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
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