Let's Twist Again!

A Valley Stream Bar Mitzvah Update: Let's continue last week's Chubby Checker story (see Celebration With a Twist) with a few updates. In April 2019 Abq Jew wrote:

Abq Jew and his parents, of blessed memory, lived on the bottom floor of 35 Gibson Blvd, Valley Stream, from 1956 through 1962. Abq Jew's grandparents, also of blessed memory, lived on the top floor.

A joint purchase, Abq Jew surmises. Maybe ... $10,000 each? Less (GI Bill)? Today worth $560,204, Zillow says.

Well, that was then. Zillow now says Abq Jew's ancestral home is worth $745,000 on the open market. But then again - it's a duplex, so one other family gets to share in the excitement of owning a 70-year-old house.

And that $10,000 each? Not a bad guess. John F reports that his family chipped in $12,500 x 2 for their purchase. And that their price included an extra $1,000 so their new home was next door to Abq Jew's parents' - across the street from (not next to) the LIRR tracks.

Sunrise Jewish Center, the Orthodox shul on Rockaway Avenue that Abq Jew's parents helped found - where Abq Jew celebrated his Bar Mitzvah - well, it's now Chabad of Valley Stream, North Woodmere, East Rockaway, and Lynbrook. But it's still there!

The rabbi at Abq Jew's Bar Mitzvah was Theodore Jungreis, husband of the much-more-famous Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. Shortly after Abq Jew's Bar Mitzvah. Rabbi & Rebbitzen left Sunrise and moved to North Woodmere (one of Long Island's "Five [Rich] Towns"), where they, shall we say, did well.

And then - for the record - there's Congregation Beth David, the Conservative synagogue now in Saratoga, California that Abq Jew's parents also helped found - where Abq Jew pre-celebrated his Bar Mitzvah.

At some point, what became Beth David started meeting in a white house on El Camino Real, close to Downtown Sunnyvale. Abq Jew had a nice Friday-night Bar Mitzvah going-away celebration at the white house in June 1963.

So let's talk about
Shabbat Korach Rosh Chodesh Tammuz.

As mentioned last week, Abq Jew's Bar Mitzvah date turned out to be Shabbat Korach of the year 5723, which also turned out to be Rosh Chodesh Tammuz of that year (1963).

Since that day, we Jews have read Parshat Korach 60 times in the Land of Israel and 59 times here in the Diaspora. (The 60th time will be, G-d willing, this coming Shabbat, June 24.)

 

But since that day, we Jews have read the Haftarah for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh 142 times. (The 142nd time was Shabbat Tazria-Metzora, April 22, 2023.) 

Which, to what is left of Abq Jew's mind after too many years of technical writing, raises the question -

The answer lies in the delightful yet
mysterious intricasies of the Hebrew Calendar.

First of all - Abq Jew strongly recommends that , at a minimum, you review these blog posts what he has written about the complexities of the Hebrew Calendar:

• Nineteen and Twenty-Eight (April 11, 2013)
• Easter On Purim (March 16, 2016)
• Apple Sauce and Sour Cream (December 14, 2020)

WARNING: Reviewing these blog posts will not help you understand the magic behind Shabbat Rosh Chodesh. On the other hand - it couldn't hurt!

Here's something that will help you understand aforementioned magic: Mathematics of the Jewish Calendar. Where it says (abbreviated):

There are fourteen possible types of year.

A year may not start on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. Thus it may start on any of four weekdays (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday). There can at most be 24 year types.

Of these, nine are obviously impossible because they would cause the next Rosh Hashana to fall on a forbidden weekday. And one possible type of leap year can never happen.

This leaves fourteen possible year types, and they all do occur.

Then we turn to what Mathematics says (abbreviated) about Shabbat Rosh Chodesh:

Shabbat Rosh Chodesh is a Shabbat that falls on Rosh Chodesh. 

There are two such Shabbats in every Hebrew year type, and three in six certain types.

In four year types, Rosh Chodesh Tishrei is also Shabbat, but that is Rosh Hashanah, so does not count as Shabbat Rosh Chodesh.

Abq Jew (thank you, HebCal.com!) looked at the Civil Calendars for the years 1963 through 2024. And discovered:

Twelve years in which there was but one Shabbat Rosh Chodesh. (Remember: these are civil years, not Hebrew years.) In every case, it was Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Iyar, and the Torah reading was Tazria-Metzora.

Fifteen years in which there were two Shabbats Rosh Chodesh. Several Nisan-Elul combinations; a few Shevat-Iyars; others were one-offs.

Thirty-five years in which there were three Shabbats Rosh Chodesh. Many Shvat-Tammuz-Cheshvan combinations; several Adar I-Tammuz-Cheshvans; some Nisan-Elul-Tevets.

Tammuz and Cheshvan were the most popular Shabbats Rosh Chodesh. In all cases, they are a two-fer; in many cases they are a three-fer with Shevat. 

There was never a Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Sivan or a Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Kislev. 

Since (and including) 1963, there have been nineteen Shabbat Korach Rosh Chodesh Tammuzes. The last Shabbat Korach Rosh Chodesh Tammuz was in 2017; the next Shabbat Korach Rosh Chodesh Tammuz will be in 2024.

If you're going to learn but one Haftarah (say,

for your Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, or Aufruf),

Isaiah's Shabbat Rosh Chodesh would give you

the most bang for the buck. Just sayin'.

Remember last week when Abq Jew said that someplace, he has photos of his Chubby Checker Bar Mitzvah celebration of June 1963?