How Does Time Work?

Earlier this year during the counting of the Omer, my co-workers and I talked about how we measure time. As I grow up, I notice some moments, some situations, some years move faster than others. The conversation was enthralling to me and is a concept I think of often now. It also helped me understand my co-workers and how they think and work!

Stephanie and Eddie celebrating a holiday.

Aaronson children (Eddie, Stephanie, Samantha, Danielle) in Margate, NJ.

Aaronson family with close family friends celebrating Passover.

We shared how we think of time.

Some people noted they consider time like a calendar in months starting at the beginning of the academic year, others noted they measure time through annual events (like birthdays), and others noted they view time in a circle with no specific beginning or end.

My brain is different; it operates in rolodex form. I imagine my brain has endless rows of those tall and skinny file drawers that used to be in libraries and each drawer is filled with rolodexes. And it’s organized by category, and things that are similar to each other are filed near each other and then refer to other things that are similar to it and filed near them and so on and so forth. It is also color and text size coordinated (if you’ve ever seen my calendar, you would absolutely understand). So when I think of time, I think of an event, then another event similar to it or that happened adjacent to it.

For instance, when I think of Hanukah, I think of a few specific memories. The one that calls to me is from growing up. My family was opening presents in our dining room after eating dinner and lighting the candles together. The 4 kids gave my mom a Mama Mia DVD and my parents gave us kids a Mama Mia DVD - and so much laughter erupted when we opened our identical gifts. That then makes me think of other memories scattered across my childhood when we opened a gifted game and then played it together one night of Hanukkah each year, then I think of looking at my dad’s face when he watched us unwrap gifts he didn’t know about because my mom picked them out, and then I think about when my dad started picking tech gifts out for us.

It also makes me think of times my family and I had uncontrollable laughter; one Shabbat service that Eddie, my mom, and I could not stop laughing (Eddie and I had to leave services); playful water fights with my siblings when we were cleaning up dinner; and any time Monty Python’s opening scene is talked about. That’s how my mind works.

Maybe when you think of time, you think of the Jeremy Bearimy Timeline from The Good Place.

So, how does time actually work? I guess that’s up to you.

- Stephanie Aaronson

Why is Hanukkah so early this year?

Timing comes up a lot this time of year - why is Hanukkah so early? Why does it always change? The answer is: it doesn’t change on the Jewish (Hebrew) calendar. On the Jewish calendar, Hanukkah starts on the 25th day of the month of Kislev every year. The same day it has for 2,000 years!

And you are correct, Hanukkah is constantly changing on the standard (Gregorian) calendar. That’s because the Jewish calendar does not exactly follow the Gregorian calendar. According to Yale University, the Jewish calendar has not changed since 900 AD. This calendar is luni-solar and the months are 29 or 30 days with an added month every 3 years. This makes sense when I think about the harvest holidays celebrated in Judaism. And that’s why Jewish holidays are always moving around on the Gregorian calendar: the calendars are different!