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previous system of time reckoning as that from a bipartite division of the lunar month to a week
which ran continuously through the months and the years" (Rest Days).

Babylonian Rabbis Divorce the Sabbath

While the influence of Rome caused the early Christians to adopt a continuous seven-day
week with the Sabbath on every seventh day, the Jews came under a more subtle influence.

Following the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., the Palestinian Jews struggled hard to
retain control of the sacred calendar. Notes the Encyclopedia Britannica:

The calendar was originally fixed by observation, and ultimately by calculation. Up to the
fall of the Temple (A.D. 70), witnesses who saw the new moon came forward and were
strictly examined and if their evidence was accepted the month was fixed by the priests.
Eventually the authority passed to the SANHEDRIN and ultimately to the PATRIARCH.
When necessary, a second "Adar" was inserted in order that the reaping of the corn
should come at Passover. Gradually observation gave place to calculation. The right to
determine the calendar was reserved to the PATRIARCHATE; the JEWS OF MESOPO-
TAMIA tried in vain to establish their own calendar but the prerogative of Palestine was
zealously defended.

Continues the encyclopedia --

So long as Palestine remained a religious centre, it was naturally to the homeland that the
Diaspora looked for its calendar. Uniformity was essential, for if different parts had cele-
brated feasts on different days confusion would have ensued. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE
4TH CENTURY A.D. THAT BABYLON FIXED THE CALENDAR...The Talmud
speaks of various New Year's Days. It may be regarded as certain that in Palestine the
New Year [Rosh Hoshana] began in NISSAN (cf. Exod. xii. 2) and IN BABYLON in
TISHRI (volume 4, article "Calendar").

What is not realized by many is that control of the calendar implied ultimate POLITICAL
AUTHORITY in Judaism. In other words, whoever controlled the calendar also controlled the
destiny of the Jewish people -- for good or for evil!

"In the period after 70 C.E." writes Herschel Shanks, "THE RABBIS ARROGATED THIS
AUTHORITY TO THEMSELVES. In the story that appears in the Talmudim, Rabbi Hananiah, an
émigré Judean scholar, tried to assert the SUPREMACY OF BABYLONIAN JEWRY by asserting
its right (that is, his own right while in Babylonia) to intercalate the calendar. His attempt was un-
successful because it was SEVERAL CENTURIES TOO EARLY. This authority remained for
some time with the rabbis in the land of Israel" (Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism, p. 197).

Notes Shanks --

All this BEGAN TO CHANGE IN THE THIRD CENTURY C.E. Ultimately the rabbis

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