Besides the often told joke that the definition of a Jewish holiday is “they tried to kill us, we prevailed, now let’s eat,” there are not many jokes about the Jewish calendar. You might be surprised to know that the only one I can ever remember was actually told by a non-Jewish late-night talk show host. In his opening monologue on The Late Show several years ago, David Letterman turned to his Jewish bandleader Paul Shaffer and wished him a “Happy New Year” since it was Rosh Hashanah. Letterman then asked Shaffer what the Jewish year was, to which he explained that it was now 5759. Letterman quickly deadpanned “Well, I’m sure I’ll still be writing 5758 on all my checks for a few weeks.”
The joke struck a chord for so many Jews because we all know we don’t use the Jewish year or the Jewish calendar very much in our everyday lives. Even most Israelis write the secular year on their checks and on contracts and celebrate the Gregorian date for birthdays and anniversaries. The Jewish calendar, however, does play a significant role our lives. We need to know when to observe our departed relatives’ yahrzeits dates. We need to schedule our events and travel plans around the Jewish holidays. We need to schedule our children’s bar and bat mitzvahs according to their Jewish birthdays.
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| Google's Calendar now includes Hebrew dates |
The joke struck a chord for so many Jews because we all know we don’t use the Jewish year or the Jewish calendar very much in our everyday lives. Even most Israelis write the secular year on their checks and on contracts and celebrate the Gregorian date for birthdays and anniversaries. The Jewish calendar, however, does play a significant role our lives. We need to know when to observe our departed relatives’ yahrzeits dates. We need to schedule our events and travel plans around the Jewish holidays. We need to schedule our children’s bar and bat mitzvahs according to their Jewish birthdays.
