Friday, March 15, 2013

Pesach is in the Winter This Year (Rambam)

Many are familiar that Pesach is supposed to begin the spring. The way the Rambam clearly defines spring has this year's Pesach occurring one day too early and in direct conflict with the biblical directive. In earlier times Pesach has even occurred prior to the scientific definition of spring. I recently wrote a paper that discusses this topic. It is a very non-technical (in terms of scientifc definitions and mathematical equations) paper, it mainly focuses on the talmudic and rishonic discussions and also the historical development of the standardized calendar. It is available for free download here.