When
writing a check in Israel, one can choose to date it with the
“Jewish” date (ex: 1 Nissan) or with the secular date (ex: March 1).
But is the “Jewish” date really Jewish and if not then why are we
using it?
The
Ramban teaches on the topic of Parshat HaChodesh that we should count the
months based on the first month of the redemption so that we will always
remember the Exodus from Egypt. Therefore, the months in the Torah have no
individual names. Just as in counting the days of the week we always remember
Shabbat since the weekdays have no specific Hebrew name of their own, but are
instead called “the first day in the week of Shabbat”, “the
second day in the week of Shabbat” so too the months have no name other
than “the first month”, “the second month”, “the third
month” to our redemption (from Egypt).
The
rabbis taught in the Yerushalmi Rosh HaShana 1:2, “The names of the months
came up with us from Babylon”, since at first we had no names for the
months. The reason for this adoption of the names of the months when our
ancestors returned from Babylon to build the Second Temple was that at first
their reckoning was a memorial to the Exodus from Egypt, but when we came up
from Babylon the words of scripture were fulfilled as it says in Yirmiyahu
16:14-15 “And it shall no more be said: As the Eternal lives, that brought up
and led B’nai Yisrael from the land of Egypt, rather: As the Eternal lives that
brought up and led B’nai Yisrael from the land of the north.” From then
on we began to call the months by the names they were called in the land of
Babylon. In that way we are reminded that there we stayed during the exile and
from there God brought us up to our Land. The names- Nisan, Iyar etc. are
Persian names and are only found in the books of the prophets of the Babylonian
era (Zecharia, Ezra, Nechemia) and in Megillat Ester and are often used alongside
the original numbers of the months as in “In the first month, that is, in the
month of Nisan,” (Ester 3:7). Through the names of the months we remember our
second redemption as we have done until then with regard to the first one.
Today,
we are living during the era which we hope is “the first flowerings of the
third redemption” so it actually makes sense to use the secular date (as
in March 1) to remind us that we were once again in exile and now Jews from all
over the world are returning to Israel as part of what we hope is the process
of the third redemption.
What
is interesting is that most Israelis call the secular months by the number of
the month so March 1 would be called the first day of the third month which
sounds a lot like the way the dates are outlined in the Torah.
Before
long, checks will become obsolete as all banking will be done online so this
won’t even be an issue at all.
