{"id":48593,"date":"2019-01-31T17:19:12","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T15:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=48593"},"modified":"2022-08-28T10:31:43","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T07:31:43","slug":"relativism-is-a-biblical-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/relativism-is-a-biblical-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Relativism Is A Biblical Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[632,516,420],"acf":{"old_id":"48593","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"146","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Experiencing the world in Jewish time","content":"

Can we start by admitting that it is simply weird to launch a new year in the middle of the year? New Years, as the name implies, should mark the start of a new year, the conclusion of an old one. That\u2019s why in the Western Calendar, new year comes at the end of December and is celebrated on the first of January. A New Year celebration should rightfully come when the new year launches.<\/span><\/p>\n

But not in the Torah it doesn\u2019t. In fact, the Torah explicitly states that the new year begins in the middle of the year: \u201cIn the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a sacred occasion \u2026 You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded (Num29:1).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That can\u2019t be an oversight or a mistake, so what deeper truth is the Torah trying to tell us?<\/span><\/p>\n

Some realities are such because they correspond to facts in the objective world: hot and cold, temperatures and distances, these measure things outside of our opinions or subjective takes. But calendars generally institutionalize social convention. The duration of a year corresponds (roughly) to the time it takes our planet to circle the Sun. But when that cycle should be considered finished and when it starts anew is a designation that every society gets to determine on its own. It is a socially-established convention, not a reality outside of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

So perhaps the Torah is asking us to attend to when we establish practices based on objective truth, and when we impose a sense of order and predictability by our social designations and conventions. It\u2019s not that one is good and the other bad; both are needed in their own settings. But recalling that the calendar is the social construct of the Jewish people, a way of marking covenantal moments that lend significance and meaning to our meanderings through time is what converts the empty tic-toc of chronos into the meaning generating process of mo\u2019adim and chagim, set times and festivals. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We construct the meaning of times passage, we and God. New Year in the seventh month? As good a time as any! And perfect to remind us of our active role in fixing the significance of our lives, our people, our choices.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":48596,"id":48596,"title":"Spiraltime","filename":"Spiral20time.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/relativism-is-a-biblical-thing\/spiraltime\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"spiraltime","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":48593,"date":"2019-01-31 15:18:58","modified":"2021-06-22 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