When is Pesach to be Celebrated this Year?
In 2010 the Christian Church will be celebrating Easter at the end of the same week the Jewish and Messianic Communities celebrate Pesach (Passover). Two years ago in 2008, Easter fell in the third week of March and Pesach in the latter half of April. Why was there such a large separation in that year, when this year the two celebrations fall within the same week?
The difference arises because the dates for modern day Easter are founded on man-made rules, based on the Gregorian calendar rather than Scripture. The difference began at the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, which decided that the annual celebration of Easter would be determined by the following rule - "EASTER SHALL BE ON THE SUNDAY FOLLOWING THE FIRST FULL MOON AFTER THE VERNAL (northern spring) EQUINOX"
Having established that rule, Easter celebrations down through the centuries have fallen between 23rd March and 25th April. Hence, it can be mathematically calculated well in advance as to which day it will be, in each consecutive year.
But, what about Pesach? The date for Pesach is based on the Scriptural calendar as given by YHVH to Moshe before Israel departed from Egypt.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar, which is widely used throughout the western world, the Scriptural calendar makes no reference to the "Vernal Equinox" instead it relies on the condition of the Barley crop that grows wild throughout the Land of Promise (Israel) and YHVH said to Moshe in Exodus 12:2 --
"You are to begin your calendar with this month; it will be the first month of the year for you."
But, that verse does not say which month will be the first. Which was the right month? How can we know which part of the year to start the count? Is it in spring, summer, autumn or winter? We need a reference point from which to begin our count. YHVH gave us the answer in the next few verses, where he set the ground rules for the first Pesach that Israel celebrated during the night before departing from Egypt. Exodus 12:3-8 says,
"Speak to all the assembly of Isra'el and say, 'On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or kid for his family, one per household. 'You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Isra'el will slaughter it at dusk. They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the two sides and top of the door-frame at the entrance of the house in which they eat it. That night, they are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire; they are to eat it with matzah and maror." (Complete Jewish Bible)
These words set the rules for the first Pesach as ordained by YHVH. The celebration was to occur on the night of the 14thday of the first month of YHVH's new calendar. The night before their departure from slavery in Egypt.
But, this still does not give us a reference point in the yearly cycle. Unlike Easter, which takes the Vernal Spring Equinox as it's starting point, counting forward from there. The equinox is annual event which occurs on 21st March each year. It is the time when night and day are equal in length and in the northern hemisphere, when the season is changing from winter to summer - it is the beginning of spring.
So, if we can't use the Vernal Equinox as our reference point, then YHVH must have given us another means by which to determine the beginning of the new Scriptural year.
That reference point is given a little later in Exodus in Chapter 13:4, where YHVH says:-
"You are leaving today, in the month of Aviv."
also Exodus 23:15,
"Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt."
And again in Exodus 34:18
"Keep the festival of matzah by eating matzah, as I ordered you, for seven days during the month of Aviv; for it was in the month of Aviv that you came out from Egypt."
and also Deuteronomy 16:1
"Observe the month of Aviv, and keep Pesach to YHVH your God; for in the month of Aviv, YHVH your God brought you out of Egypt." The statement is made four times reinforcing the fact that the festival of Pesach is to be celebrated as a memorial of the departure from Egypt, in the month of Aviv.
But, what is AVIV?
Aviv describes a stage in the development of the barley crop, which grows wild in Israel. The barley reaches a stage in it's development, when it is not completely ripe, but has ripened enough that the seeds can be eaten when roasted in fire. That condition is known as "The Aviv" the first pickings.
If the grain was harvested and stored at the Aviv stage it would go mouldy and rot, because of the high moisture content in the grains. It takes a further 15-21 days to loose the excess moisture ready for the first-fruit harvesting.
Hence, the month of Aviv begins when the wild barley has reached the point where it can be eaten only when roasted. So, YHVH said to Moshe that your year (the Scriptural year) will start, when the barley in Israel is Aviv. That is the same month that Israel marched out of Egypt, the day after Pesach.
There is no connection here between the Christian Easter and the Scriptural festival of Pesach. The former is the work of men, while the latter is the command of YHVH through his Word to his people Isra’el.
Scriptural Leap Years
Coming back to our original question, why then is there such large separation between Easter and Pesach in some years and not in others? In 2008 the gap was over three weeks, yet this year (2010) they are both in the same week.
As we have discovered the Scriptural year begins with the first New Moon after the barley in Israel reaches the stage in its ripeness called The Aviv. Therefore, it is important to check the state of the barley crops at the end of the twelfthmonth. If most of the barley is Aviv at that time, then the following New Moon is Hodesh Ha-Aviv ("New Moon of the Aviv"). However, if the barley is still immature, having not reached the Aviv state, then we must wait another month and check again at the end of the thirteenth-month.
Hence, by convention, a twelve-month Scriptural year is referred to as a "Regular Year" while a thirteen-month year is referred to as a "Leap Year". This should not be confused with Leap Years in the Gregorian (Christian) Calendar, which involves the addition of a single day (Feb. 29) every four years. In contrast, the Scriptural Leap Year involves the addition of an entire lunar month (a thirteenth month, called in Rabbinic communities - Adar Bet). It can only be accurately determined whether a year is a regular or leap year just a few days before the end of the twelfth month, when the barley crop has either reached the Aviv state or not.
Until around the 16th March, this year we cannot be certain if it will be a regular or leap year. But, if by the 16th March (the last day of the twelfth month) the barley in Israel had not reached the required Aviv state, then another month must be added to the calendar, making it a Scriptural Leap Year. Hence, a new search would begin 29 days later around 14th April, by which time the barley would be sure to have reached The Aviv state and the next New Moon 15th April, would be Hodesh Ha-Aviv. However, it is highly likely that the Aviv barely will be found in sufficient quantities on or before 16th March, so that the evening of the 17th, when the first light of the new moon is just visible, immediately following sunset, the new Scriptural year will begin.
So, as YHVH instructed Moshe, we shall start counting fourteen days from the start of the new month and thus determine the night on which we will celebrate our Pesach Seder.
This year 2010, Pesach will begin on Tuesday 30th March at sundown. Unless the barley fails to reach the Aviv state in time, then it will be one month later.
Written by Graeme Purdie © - (for Talmidei Yeshua Messianic Kehilah - Auckland)
References: Complete Jewish Bible -David Stern; Karaite Korner Newsletters; Karaite Korner - The Abib Barley; The Old Catholic Encyclopaedia; Wikipedia article - Abib of God by Brian Convery