How the Jewish Calendar Became the Israeli Calendar https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/israel-zionism/2022/09/how-the-jewish-calendar-became-the-israeli-calendar/

September 28, 2022 | Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, Elana Stein Hain
About the author: Yossi Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He is author of the New York Times bestseller Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor, and Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist, which tells the story of his involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement.

While Israeli Jews vary greatly as to how, and even if, they observe the series of holidays that mark this time year, it is impossible for them to be unaware of them. From pre-Rosh Hashanah traffic patterns to headlines about a possible holiday chicken shortage to questions for celebrities about how they plan to repent in advance of Yom Kippur—these sacred days are part of everyday life. They also take on a national and communal element that has no precise parallel in the Diaspora, contend Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi. Elana Stein Hain finds a precedent for this discussion in the book of Nehemiah’s description of the Rosh Hashanah celebrated by Babylonian exiles returned to the Land of Israel. (Audio, 35 minutes.)

Read more on For Heaven’s Sake: https://www.hartman.org.il/jewish-calendar-israeli-calendar/