Hebrew Calendar - Usage in Contemporary Israel

Usage in Contemporary Israel

Early Zionist pioneers were impressed by the fact that the calendar preserved by Jews over many centuries in far-flung diasporas, as a matter of religious ritual, was geared to the climate of their original country: the Jewish New Year marks the transition from the dry season to the rainy one, and major Jewish holidays such as Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot correspond to major points of the country's agricultural year such as planting and harvest.

Accordingly, in the early 20th century the Hebrew calendar was re-interpreted as an agricultural rather than religious calendar. The Kibbutz movement was especially inventive in creating new rituals fitting this interpretation.

After the creation of the State of Israel, the Hebrew calendar became one of the official calendars of Israel, along with the Gregorian calendar. Holidays and commemorations not derived from previous Jewish tradition were to be fixed according to the Hebrew calendar date. For example, the Israeli Independence Day falls on 5 Iyar, Jerusalem Reunification Day on 28 Iyar, and the Holocaust Commemoration Day on 27 Nisan.

Nevertheless, since the 1950s usage of the Hebrew calendar has steadily declined, in favor of the Gregorian calendar. At present, Israelis — except for a minority of the religiously observant — conduct their private and public life according to the Gregorian calendar, although the Hebrew calendar is still widely acknowledged, appearing in public venues such as banks (where it is legal for use on cheques and other documents, though only rarely do people make use of this option) and on the mastheads of newspapers.

The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is a two-day public holiday in Israel. However, since the 1980s an increasing number of secular Israelis celebrate the Gregorian New Year (usually known as "Silvester Night" — "ליל סילבסטר") on the night between 31 December and 1 January. Prominent Rabbis have on several occasions sharply denounced this practice, but with no noticeable effect on the secularist celebrants.

The disparity between the two calendars is especially noticeable with regard to commemoration of the assassinated Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin. The official Day of Commemoration, instituted by a special Knesset law, is marked according to the Hebrew calendar - on 12 Marcheshvan. However, left-leaning Israelis, who revere Rabin as a martyr for the cause of peace and who are predominantly secular, hold their commemoration on 4 November. In some years the two competing Rabin Memorial Days are separated by as much as two weeks.

Wall calendars commonly used in Israel are hybrids. Most are organised according to Gregorian rather than Jewish months, but begin in September, when the Jewish New Year usually falls, and provide the Jewish date in small characters.