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Are Thirteen months possible?

Posted By: Ron Hughes
Date: Wednesday, 6 September 2006, at 9:26 a.m.

In Response To: Thirteen is not a bad number in Hebrew! (Ron Hughes)

From; http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm

This good site, and should be read in toto. It says, in part;

"The problem with strictly lunar calendars is that there are approximately 12.4 lunar months in every solar year, so a 12-month lunar calendar loses about 11 days every year and a 13-month lunar gains about 19 days every year. The months on such a calendar "drift" relative to the solar year. On a 12 lunar month calendar, the month of Nissan, which is supposed to occur in the Spring, would occur 11 days earlier each year, eventually occurring in the Winter, the Fall, the Summer, and then the Spring again. To compensate for this drift, an extra month was occasionally added. The month of Nissan would occur 11 days earlier for two or three years, and then would jump forward 29 or 30 days, balancing out the drift. In ancient times, this month was also added by observation: the Sanhedrin observed the conditions of the weather, the crops and the livestock, and if these were not sufficiently advanced to be considered "spring," then the Sanhedrin inserted an additional month into the calendar to make sure that Pesach (Passover) would occur in the spring (it is, after all, referred to in the Torah as Chag he-Aviv, the Festival of Spring!).

A year with 13 months is referred to in Hebrew as Shanah Me'uberet (pronounced shah-NAH meh-oo-BEH-reht), literally: a pregnant year. In English, we commonly call it a leap year. The additional month is known as Adar I, Adar Rishon or Adar Alef. It is inserted before the regular month of Adar (known in such years as Adar II, Adar Sheini or Adar Bet). Note that Adar II is the "real" Adar, the one in which Purim is celebrated, the one in which yahrzeits for Adar are observed, the one in which a 13-year-old born in Adar becomes a Bar Mitzvah. Adar I is the "extra" Adar."

So, is there any relationship between the monthly menstrual cycle, and the above mentioned "Pregnant Year?", and the age of a man?

Does it destroy my contention of a 28 day, 13 month year?

It is also interesting to see just how confused Hebrew can be just by reading the sites concerning it. It seems that I have even found two ways to write or indicated the number "13"! On is, or could apparently be, "Yod 'Gershayim' Mem", while the other version is "Yod Gimmel!" The above are written left to right while in Hebrew they would be written right to left!

All things considered, I certainly see no reason to accept any Biblical translation as correct or even near what was originally intended. The problems of vowels, diacritical marks, 22 consonants, etc., and just what came first, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Greek, etc., just throws too many monkey wrenches into our current translations of the Old Testament.

Regards,

Ron

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