So, in Israel not even for the ultra-Orthodox is this a holiday; nor is it for Reform Jews in America or just about anywhere else in the world. But outside of Israel, for Orthodox, even Conservative Jews, the eighth day of Passover is a holiday. Why?
This is how I explain it:
Rosh Hashanah is the only Jewish holiday that begins on the FIRST day of a Hebrew month (Tishri); all the others found in the Torah (so Chanukah and Purim, for example, don’t count in this discussion because they are not found in the Torah) begin on other than the first day of a Hebrew month.
Now we have funeral directors – also kosher butchers, when they were around - whose main job is to supply us with Jewish calendars. They didn’t have calendars way back when. They had to rely on the sighting of the new moon to know when Rosh Hashanah begins. If they screwed that up, well, the entire year would be as well. So, they had officials stand on high places and check out the sighting of the new moon, and since we begin our “days’ the night before (erev), that was very important.
Are you with me so far? Let’s make believe for a moment…
Say you were designated a new moon sighter in Alexandria (no, for this I mean Alexandria, Virginia, not Egypt) which is northeast of Harrisonburg. “Ahah!” you say to yourself, “a new moon!” You blast on your trusty shofar so that the person in Virginia Beach hears you. “Ahah!” says that official, “a new moon!” That person gives notice via his shofar. Then that blast is heard in Harrisonburg, and down the line until the last person, let’s say the one in Danville, Virginia, hears it. All along the way, everyone thinks the person before him/her (no, him) was the one who sighted the new moon. BUT, that’s not true because the first one was in Alexandria. So, when, ask the sighters, was the new moon first seen? An important question…very important, in fact.
Ok, now what? We know the sequence in Virginia (we’re only making believe, remember? We’re really talking about Israel, perhaps starting with the sighting in Haifa, then Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beersheva, ending up in Eilat). What about the person who hears it in Martinsburg, West Virginia (Alexandria, and NOW I mean Egypt, not Virginia) …that’s outside the Holy Land of Virginia. That poor person is totally confused, and THAT’S why there are two days for the diaspora Jews, those who live outside Israel/Virginia.
So as not to be confused as to whether the sighting of the new moon, ergo Rosh Hashanah, was when s/he heard it or earlier, there’s an additional day added, an eighth day. And the ultra-Orthodox in Israel? Well, they’re in Israel, so whether they’re ultra, modern, progressive, liberal, secular or any other combination, they, as I said, are in Israel, and in Israel only SEVEN days are observed.
Now you ask, don’t our more observant brethren/sisteren outside Israel, acknowledge that a calendar trumps (pardon me) antiquated customs such as human new moon sightings? One would think at least Conservative Judaism’s adherents do. But as the poster reads, the one I diplomatically put on my home study wall instead of my Temple study wall, “We’ve always done it this way!”
But we don’t have to worry about that IF we have a Jewish calendar. If you can obtain one from your Jewish funeral director (silly me!), fine; if not, you can print one out from the many offered online. It’s very important to have one so that we know when our special days of celebration are.
(Speaking of Rothschild - I know, I told you a Rothschild joke on Monday but here’s another – a beggar once wangled an appointment with Rothschild by insisting he had a foolproof way for the banker to make a half-million rubles. “So,” asks Rothschild, “let me hear your great idea.” The beggar says, “It’s very simple. I understand when your daughter gets married, you’re planning to give her a dowry of a million rubles, right?” Rothschild responds, “Nu?” “So,” continues the beggar, “I’ve come to tell you that I’ll marry her for half that amount!”)