<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>Judaism has a Shabbos of days (yom hashabbos), a Shabbos of weeks (shevuous), a Shabbos of years (shmitah), and a Shabbos of shemitahs (yovel).</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>I am wondering about whether there is any tradition of Shabbos with respect to other units of time.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>A SHABBOS OF MONTHS</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>A Shabbos of months seems very suggestive.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The Jewish year has two new years of creation, (Nissan and Tishrei – as per RH 10-11), the month of each of which is the seventh month counting from the other.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Tishrei is the seventh month from Nissan and Nissan is the seventh month from Tishrei.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>As such we can conceive of the Jewish year as a thirteen month cycle comprised of two overlapping “Shabbos of months” cycles, (and each year similarly overlaps by a month with the adjacent year.)<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each cycle begins with a New Year and culminates in a seventh sabbatical festive month, which in turn marks the first month of the new cycle .<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>An alternative way to view the cycles would be to see each of the two half-year periods as running from one solstice to the next, and containing a cycle of holidays (not in exactly the same form or order) that parallel each other in many significant respects, with each cycle being <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>centred on a seven day festival at approximately the time of the equinox, beginning at the time of the full moon, that embodies and gives expression to the character of the cycle.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The spring festival is Passover, the festival of Aviv, coming from the root “av” (aleph beis) or “father” .<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The fall festival is Sukkos, the festival of the “tvuas haaretz”, (Lev. 23:39) with “tvuah being based on the mirror root<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>“ba” (beis aleph).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>A SHABBOS OF HOURS</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>If the 12 month year can be understood as made up of Shabbos cycles, than how about a 24 hour day, made up of two 12 hour cycles, each in turn comprised of two Shabbos of hour cycles.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Shabbos hours would commence at sunrise, chatzos ha yom and ha laila, and sunset.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3><FONT face=Calibri>QUESTION.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>Can anyone point to sources where these ideas might be discussed and developed, or at least to possible supports (or non-supports)?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So far I have just seen suggestive shreds, e.g. in the Sfas Emes (comparing Yom Kippur and Purim – Yom K’Purim) and in the Rambam, comparing the Atzeres of Shevuous with the Atzere of Shemini of Sukkos. But the ideas seems too compelling to have been overlooked.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face=Calibri>Michael Orr, Toronto</FONT></P></DIV></div></body></html>