February 27, 2012

Purim, festival of joy: When is it?

Felegosh, my havruta (Aramaic: study partner) 
 at the Bnei Akiva Purim party in Atlanta, Georgia

QUESTION [via email]: Tamar, I wanted to ask you the dates of Purim — would you know?

ANSWER: Thanks for asking. Purim falls on Adar 14 (and in Jerusalem and all ancient walled cities, it falls on  Adar 15). Adar is the sixth month of the religious year and the twelfth month of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar, also called the Jewish calendar.

For those who follow the Gregorian calendar year (which runs from January 1 to December 31), in 2012, Purim starts on Thursday, March 8, and continues for two days until Friday, March 9. In the Hebrew calender, a day begins at sunset on the previous day, so Jews will celebrate Purim at sunset on Wednesday, March 7.

We mark the date of Jewish holidays according to the Hebrew calendar, and therefore the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar year is not the same each year. (The same is true for Muslim holidays, which follow the Muslim calendar, and do not start on the same Gregorian calendar date each year.)

In the same way that Christmas is always December 25, Purim is always Adar 14.

It takes some getting used to the different calendars among religions and belief systems. All this is an aspect of differences among cultures, traditions, and world views among members of the human family. Happy Purim!

My other Purim posts

February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day from Sam Cornish!

Boston's Poet Laureate, Sam Cornish, crafts this song of love. (Read the magnified text below the image.)

ROMANCE

For them O & M
Beyonce and

the good old
songs

our parents
danced to

"At Last"
it is the two

of them
old school
slow

dancing
one

step
and then

another gliding

to the music
"At Last"

my lonely
days

are over
the two

of them
leaning

with the music
the song

is them
and us their

hearts
move

each other
hers

his
so close

they are
these two

we cannot
see

how dark
the ballroom

is young
people

thinking
it is our fathers

our mothers
in love

so
long

ago

— Sam Cornish

Decades ago, Sam and I were teammates on Education Development Center's nationwide project to guide learner-centered curriculum development initiatives as part of the federally-supported "Great Society" broad agenda to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. And great love for students, teachers, families, and communities was key in whatever successful outcomes came of our team's work with them nationwide.

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