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Israel - Dividing of days past and present
Expert: Leon Gork - 11/4/2009
Question
Hello,
I am studying the division of 1 day to the next. I understand current practice is to declare one day's end and the next day's beginning at sundown/nightfall as opposed to midnight or morning. Please provide any teaching of this from religious texts (Old Testament, Torah, etc) and confirmation if the current practice is identical to how it was practiced in ancient history. Has there ever been disagreement (past or present) regarding this issue among Jews? One particular interesting phrase from scripture is from Genesis 1: "And the evening and the morning were the X day". What exactly does that mean? Did the day end with evening AND morning or did the day start with evening? Is there a differentiation between religious time keeping and civil time keeping regarding this Issue? If yes, what are the reasons and has this been practiced by ancient Jews? Please point me to good references to continue research. Thank you!
Answer
Obviously the day begins with the dawn not with sunset. This is the meaning of "and it was evening and it was morning, one day" that means morning and evening is one day. Each day consists of a period of darkness which is evening which is the end of the daylight part of the day and morning is the beginning of a new day.
the counting of the days has got nothing to do with the beginning and end of the law of ceasing to work on the sabbath and festivals. Obviously rest or ceasing to work begins with evening. Work begins with morning and rest begins with evening.
Counting days is a different matter. Six working days begin with Sunday morning and end with
Friday evening. Sure the Sabbath ceasing work begins on Friday evening but that isn't the beginning of the 7th day. The 7th day begins with Saturday. I hope this helps you.
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