Ori Z. Soltes
Lecturer in fine arts and theology at Georgetown University, Washington DC;
Professor Soltes also lectures at the Smithsonian and at Chautauqua Institution
The Lunar Calendar
Jewish religious holy days follow a lunar calendar based on the (approximate) twenty-nine-day cycle of the moon. However, strictly speaking, it is a lunisolar calendar of twelve months to which one extra month is added every two or three years. (The principle is the same as adding a leap day every four years to the internationally accepted Gregorian solar calendar.) In the Jewish calendar, each day begins at sundown and ends the following sundown.
Spiral Wisdom in the Jewish Tradition
The shofar is a spiral ram’ s horn used to call the faithful to worship. The sound of the shofar is called the Word of God.
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Notes from Interview with Professor Ori Z. Soltes
The Jewish faith expresses spiral "knowing"—both through sacred objects like the ram's horn (shofar) and the Torah scroll, and in the spiral-like cycle of holy days marked by the Jewish religious calendar.
Underlying Jewish faith is a vision of things happening again and again, yet balanced by necessary change: the same balance that is the essence of spiral growth.
The Spiral of the Torah Scroll
The Torah consists of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible and is the central religious text of Judaism. The physical document is made of sheets of parchment (dried animal skin) that are sewn together into one long roll and wound at each end around a wooden rod.
Observant Jews study the Torah, from beginning to end, on an annual cycle. Over the course of the year, the Torah unwinds in one direction while winding up in the other. When you study the Torah in this way, you return to the same teachings each year, but they are different because you have changed and the world has changed around you.
The Talmud
Second only to the Torah in importance as a text, the Talmud records opinions of rabbis as well as discussions of laws, customs, religious duties, and ethics. It is divided into two parts: the earlier Mishnah (originally in oral form), and the Gemara, which came later and comments on the Mishnah.
“Mishnah”
Mishnah can also mean the teaching of a rabbi or other noted authority on Jewish laws. The root of this word mishnah means turning—as in repetition, cycles, or returning. It is this turning that creates reliable social order, law, and a sense of identity and harmony. The student of Talmud experiences a turning and a returning to God.
World Religions > Judaism
The Jewish calendar more closely resembles a spiral then the closed circle of the Gregorian calendar. In the Gregorian calendar, for example, Christmas falls on December 25th every year. In the Hebrew calendar, as the seasons turn in the cycle every year, the calendar returns as well, but not to the same exact place year to year. Each week's Sabbath begins on Friday, at sunset, but each week, Friday's sunset falls at a slightly different time of day. Similarly, following the lunar pattern, each new year commences in a different place—a slightly different time of season—from the year before. The timing of worship follows the larger cycles of nature.
Examples: In 2002 (Jewish year 5762), the new year, Rosh Hashanah, fell on September 7; in 2003 (Jewish year 5763), the new year fell on September 27; and in 2004 (Jewish year 5764), the new year fell on September 15.
Jacob’s Ladder in the Jewish Tradition
As described in the Book of Genesis, what is know as Jacob’s Ladder appeared to Jacob in a dream and took the form of a ladder or staircase to heaven up and down which angels passed. In Jewish tradition, the ladder can be seen as representing the vicissitudes of life and virtue as well as the passageway for souls ascending to heaven in death and descending to earth to be born.
FIND ANOTHER JACOB'S LADDER IMAGE
