JOSEPH W. TKACH
PASTOR GENERAL

September 1988

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your recent question concerning the Jewish calendar.

This year (September 12, 1988, through September 29, 1989) is 5749 on the Jewish calendar because the Jews count their years from 3761/3760 B.C.E. (Before Common Era). That is the year of the commencement of the lunisolar calendar.

In the century following the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70) certain Jewish scholars took the date 3761/3760 B.C.E. and assigned it to the time described in Genesis 1 and 2. Thus, the Jews preserved the correct date for calendar calculation but mistakenly associated it with creation week.

Actually, Creation occurred over two centuries prior to the beginning of the lunisolar calendar. The basic factor upon which the lunisolar calendar is based, the average length of the lunar month, would have taken more than two centuries of measurement and observation to determine.

The Jews celebrate their new year in the autumn. The Bible refers to two different years, the civil and the sacred. In ancient Israel, the CIVIL year began in the autumn, on the first day of the seventh month. It is comparable to the fiscal year in the United States. It was more or less the legal year, which was used to reckon the reign of kings and other chronological events.

The true SACRED year of the Bible begins with the month of Nisan (also called Abib), in the spring (Ex. 12:2). The sacred year portrays God's great plan.

It has been our pleasure to serve you. If you have other questions you would like answered, please send them to us.

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE DEPARTMENT