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Conservative and Reform Judaism: Similarities and Differences
Shabbat and Yom Sh’vi’i shel Pesach 5781
April 2, 2021 Rabbi Barry H. Block
When does Passover end?
The answer is not as simple as most people imagine it should be. The Torah
decrees a seven-day festival. By that count, Passover ends tomorrow evening.
However, many observant Jews outside of Israel will continue abstaining from
unleavened foods until Sunday night.
The explanation is more complicated even than the answer.
The problem starts with the fact that the Jewish calendar is both lunar and
solar: Each month begins on the new moon, and each year is roughly a solar year.
Just as the Earth’s rotation around the sun takes between 365 and 366 days, the
moon needs between 28 and 29 days to encircle the Earth. Two millennia ago, the
calendar was fluid. Each new month began when witnesses would testify before
the Sanhedrin, the religious court in Jerusalem, that they had seen the new moon.
Messengers were dispatched to get out the word, and smoke signals were sent
across hilltops to reach far-flung Jewish communities. That way, wherever Jews
lived, they would know the date, and they could celebrate holidays on the correct
day.
However, then as always, the Jews had enemies; and with adversaries came
mischief. They sent smoke signals on days the Sanhedrin had not decreed. While
Jews in the Land of Israel could be reached by messengers who would reliably
convey the announcement of the new moon, those living farther away were
confused by the dueling smoke signals. They could take solace, though, in
knowing that they could never be more than one day off. Therefore, to play it safe,
Jews outside of Israel celebrated an extra day of each holiday, knowing that one
would be the correct day.
Many centuries have passed since the rabbis established a fixed calendar.
Wherever we live, we know the date—not only on the Gregorian calendar, but also
on the Jewish calendar. We do not await the declaration of the new moon by the
no-longer-extant Sanhedrin, and Google can tell us when Passover will end—not
only in 2021, but in 2051 as well.
Except, of course, that Google can’t solve the fundamental question about
when Passover ends: Is it a seven-day festival or eight? When our sages
concretized the calendar, they debated the extra day of holidays. Ultimately, they
