Year of the Jew: Secrets of the Hebrew Calendar

Why is the 15th of Av the time to go dancing in the vineyards? What does the last king of Israel have to do with Tisha b'Av?

Should Tisha be-Av really be two days? What's the origin of the Baghdad Barbecue Break-fast? Is the Rema obsessed with high noon?

Is it appropriate to fast for the entire Three Weeks? What does the Rema ban on the Eighth of Av? Can one be sad at a feast?

On Tisha be-Av, is Israel a lost daughter or an estranged wife? Why do we remember Samaria on the day of Judea's destruction? When does Jewish liturgy talk of Pisces, Leo and Sagittarius?

Does the Book of Eikha (Lamentations) end with a bang or a whimper? Why does Tisha be-Av have a special Saturday night dirge?

What's a funeral without music and singers? Who wrote the first Book of Kinot (Elegies)?

How did our enemies fatten up the Temple? Why is our mourning for the sacrificial service three-fold? Can fasts become feasts? Why do the Greeks get a shout-out in our penitential prayers?

When did the siege of Jerusalem end? Who was Tammuz? Where did Apostomos the Arsonist come from? Is there more to connect 17 Tammuz and 9 Av than a calendar?

Is the sabbatical year good for the soul? What does sh'mita fix in Israelite society? What is the mystical symbolism of the jubilee year? Can the seventh year in the Holy Land affect the whole world?

Can you pay people to pick your produce in the sabbatical year? How does your salmon steak become holy? What did the rabbis have against wild carrots? Is it against Torah law to export sacred produce?

How many New Years do you need? When does the fruit fall far from the tree? What law was Rabbi Akiva unsure about? Can a citron (etrog) be all things to all people?

Does the barnyard need to keep an eye on the forest menu? Can you start a bonfire with oranges? When in the sabbatical year do you need a little help from your friends? Can one word in the Mishna change Jewish law forever?

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When did Mishnaic judges get their feet dirty? Can court-appointed olive oil light up our lives? Did the medieval authorities give a fig about harvesting in the sabbatical year? Was the Chazon Ish religious enough for contemporary rabbis?

Does the Torah forbid selling land in Israel to a non-Jew? How do Jews avoid burning their firstborn sheep and half-eaten boxes of pasta? Can a law in Knesset change halakhic reality? Can you pick your apple and eat it too?

Does the Holy Land get less holy depending on its owners? Is taxpaying a matter of life and death? Who's a good witness in a sabbatical year? Have we settled the burning legal issues of 16th-century Tz'fat (Safed)?

Did Hillel "fix" the Torah? Is the center of the Jewish world about to shift? Is the sabbatical year just for saints? How is sh'mita like Purim? Can a misprint in Maimonides change the law for a millennium?

Is "Cheshvan" really a Jewish month? Was the Temple destroyed in a sabbatical year? When does tradition trump reasoning? How do we know this year is sh'mita?

What is the relationship between the sabbatical (sh'mita) and jubilee (yovel) years? How many tribes do you need to "proclaim liberty throughout the land"? How many times does seven go into fifty anyway?

How far north does sh'mita go? Does it cross the Jordan? How did the sages encourage aliya? When is a Mosaic law from Sinai not what it appears?

When does the sh'mita (sabbatical) year really begin? What do Shamai and Hillel agree on? What laws did Moshe (Moses) leave out of the Torah?

Do the Prophets ignore sh'mita, the sabbatical year? What was the proximate cause of the destruction of Bayit Rishon, the First Temple? What does the Hebrew servant have to do with sh'mita?

What is the sabbatical year all about? How does it relate to the experiences of the Patriarchs? Is "sh'mita" about agriculture? How many seven-year cycles are there in the Torah? Follow us through the Five Books of Moses as we analyze the meaning of the upcoming year.