Tekufah & Rosh Hodesh : “the last and the first of the 4 turns of the year”

The word תקופות , pronounced in modern Hebrew Tekufot (singular Tekufah), is one of those inevitable key words, involved in the study of the Calendar, that had remained enigmatic until the discovery of the Qumran scrolls.

Dr. Ratson and Prof. Ben-Dov, of the University of Haifa expounded: “This term is familiar from the later Rabbinical literature and from mosaics dating to the Talmudic period, and we could have assumed that it would also be used with this meaning in the scrolls, but this is the first time it has been revealed”.

A Tekufah can now be firmly defined as "one of four cardinal points of the year, occurring at the turn of each season." They correspond roughly to the times of the equinoxes and solstices.

Fragments of Aramaic I Henock were found at Qumran Cave 4. The most complete Book of Henock comes from Ethiopic manuscripts, maṣḥafa hēnok, written in Ge'ez. The authorship of 1 Henock is attributed to "Henock the Seventh from Adam" (Jude 1:14–15 ; 1 En 60:8). Henock describes the Tekufot as follows :

Henock 75:1-3

"Blessed are all the righteous, blessed are all those who walk in the way of righteousness and sin not as the sinners, (abiding) in the reckoning of all their days in which the sun traverses the heaven, entering into and departing from the portals for thirty days with the heads of thousands of the order of the stars, together with the four (days) which are intercalated, which divide the four portions of the year, which lead them and enter with them four days. Owing to them, men shall be at fault and not reckon them in the whole reckoning of the year: yea, men shall be at fault, and not recognize them accurately."

In the reckoning of the elementary structure of the Calendrical year, 360 days are divided into 12 successive months, each of 30 days. Four (4) special days are then intercalated, at the turn of each season, to divide the year into 4 portions, numbering a total of 364 days. The Tekufot are therefore 4 special days: one of the longest days, one of the shortest days, and the 2 days on which daylight and night are equal.

The 364-day calendar, with the Tekufot & Memorial days divisions

The Qumran Calendrical Scrolls also detail the structure of the months & place the intercalary days at the end of a 90-day cycle. A full season is therefore composed of exactly 91 days.

MMT A (4Q394 1-2)

On the seventh of the third month: sabbath.

On the fourteenth of it: sabbath.

On the fifteenth of it: Feast of Weeks.

On the twenty-] II [f]irs[t] of it: sabbath.

[On] the twenty-eighth of it: sabbath.

The first of the sabbath (Sunday), and the secon[d da]y (Monday) [and the third

(Tuesday) are to be added. And the season is complete: ninety-one days.

MMT A (4Q394 3-71 i)

[The (twenty)-eighth of it (of the twelfth month)]: sabbath.

The first [of the] s[abbath (Sunday) and the second day (Monday) and the third

(Tuesday) are to be ad]ded to it. And the year is complete: three-hundred and si[xtyfour] days. vacat

ETYMOLOGY

According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, the word Tekufah תקופת comes from the Hebrew word נקף « naqaph », which means « a revolution, i.e. course (of the sun), lapse (of time) -- circuit, come about, end. »

NAS Exhaustive Concordance, because of the little evidence of the etymological correlation between « tekufah » and « naqaph », states that the origin of the word Tekufah is unknown, « from an unused word ».

In these dictionaries, the word Tekufah is numbered H8622, and neighbors the words “tekif” תקיף H8623 : mighty, strong, and “tekef” תָּקַף H8630: to prevail over, to overpower.

In English, Tekufah is translated as “turn (of the year)”, “circuit”, “in due time”. It sometimes appears as « come about », « end (of the year) », « revolution (of the sun) », « coming around (of the sun) », « lapse ».

The difference in these translations is explained by the fact that the exact meaning of the word Tekufah remained a bit elusive for a long time.

IN THE BIBLE

The word Tekufah appears only 4 times in the entire Hebrew Bible :

Exodus 34:22

" And the Festival of Weeks, you shall observe, with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn (tekufot) of the year.”

HEB: ׃ וחג שבעת תעשה לך בכורי קציר חטים וחג האסיף תקופת השנה

ErrB & YLT: "revolution of the year"

KJV: "year's end"

Septuagint: "middle of the year"

New American Bible: "close of the year"

INT: “the turn of the year”

Several Bibles translated the word Tekufah in this passage as “year's end”. However no feasts of FirstFruits occurs at the “end of a year", for the harvest season has not yet started. The word Tekufot is now fully understood to refer to one of the 4 turns of the year. In this passage, it refers to the 31st day of the 3rd month, that is the end of the Spring 91-day cycle, two weeks after the Feast of Grains (wheat harvest) also known as Feast of Weeks.

1 Samuel 1:20

« and it came to pass in due time (tekufot), she gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I asked YHWH for him.”

ויהי לתקפות הימים ותהר חנה ותלד בן ותקרא את־שמו שמואל כי מיהוה שאלתיו ׃HEB

NIV: "in the course of time”

ErrB & YLT: "revolution of days"

NAS: “It came about in due time”

KJV: “Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about”

INT: “came due time”

In this verse, Tekufah continues to mark a special time of the year, a turn of a season. It is also recorded as a time of blessings, for it is when Hannah gave birth to her longed-for son Samuel.

2 Chronicle 24:23

“And it came to pass at the turn (tekufot) of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against him.”

HEB: ויהי לתקופת השנה עלה עליו חיל ארם ויבאו

NIV "At the turn of the year”

ErrB & YLT: "revolution of the year"

NAS: Now it happened at the turn of the year

KJV: And it came to pass at the end of the year,

INT: happened the turn of the year came

The term Tekufot in this passage refers most likely to the end of the annual cycle, for springtime was often a season when kings chose to go to war.

Psalm 19:5-6 (Interlinear)

That is, like a bridegroom, coming out of his canopy, rejoicing and mighty, to run its path; From one end of the heavens, going out from its tekufot to the other end, nothing hiding from its heat.

HEB: ׃ מקצה השמים מוצאו ותקופתו על קצותם ואין נסתר מחמתו

NLT: "follows its course to the other end"

NIV "makes its circuit to the other”

KJV "circuit unto the ends of it"

Anglican Book of Common Prayer: "runneth about unto the end of it again"

Moffatt: "round he passes to the other"

The Jerusalem Bible: "end of his course is its furthest edge"

In Psalm 19:6, the event of Tekufah is directly linked to the sun. Verse 5 & verse 6 draw a mirroring parallelism between the sun and the bridegroom, both coming out their canopy, nothing hiding from their might, running their path, from one extremity of the heavens to another, circling from one seasonal « tekufah » to the others.

"Tekufah" from one extremity to another

With such a description, Psalm 19:6 seems to openly link the word Tekufah to the astronomical solstices. Therefore, the word Tekufah, rather than referencing to the sun’s daily east-to-west circuit as implied in some translations, is pointing to the sun’s circuit from one season to another.

TEKUFOT, EQUINOXES AND SOLTICES

The ancient observations of the sun’s solstices and equinoxes are today mistakenly attributed to pagan cultures only. However, words like “Tekufot” retrieved from exclusive monotheistic literature prove that tracking the movement of the celestial bodies was a science anciently performed by the Hebrews. After all, astronomical events had been created by God, then man calculated and named them. The Hebrews, like Joseph, were indeed renown for their astronomical skills. The different cultures of Antiquity, eager to stay relevant in the field, developed different ways of tracking the circuit of the sun.

Today, our culture calls these astronomical events, the Spring / Fall equinoxes, and Summer/Winter solstices. Similarly yet at the same differently, the four corners of the Hebraic year are referred to as Tekufot.

As the sun "crosses" over the equator, the modern day science estimates the Spring Equinox to fall every year around March 20 or 21. As far as the Spring Equi-lux is concerned, it may occur a few days before or after that date, depending on the location of its observer. The numbers of days that separate one Equinox from another will vary slightly from year to year and they fall on random days of the week.

Unlike the Equinoxes or the Equiluxes, every Tekufah will perpetually and consistently occur on the same day of the week, year after year, that is the 3rd day of the week (Tuesday). Furthermore, a Tekufah will steadily be computed to be 91 days apart from its previous seasonal turn.

Therefore, even if most theologians continue to err on these 4 intercalary days, often postulating that the biblical “tekufah” refers specifically to the vernal equinox, we know now that this Hebrew word is actually defining the 4 turns of the year, bearing no direct link to modern day computation of equinoxes or solstices. A 1-to-6 day margin will always keep the occurrences of the soltices/equinoxes separate from the Tekufot events.

JEWISH TEKUFOT

In the village of Beit Alpha in the state of Israel, a synagogue displays a 6th century mosaic on its floor. This ancient art work is particularly intriguing, for it depicts a zodiac wheel, with a sun chariot in the middle, and four “tekufot” - or turning points - at the corners of the year.

Beth Alpha Mosaic Floor

This archaeological finding shows that in the 6th century, the observation of the Tekufot were still applied. It is not the only piece of evidence of former Jewish tracking of the Tekufot.

Historical Jewish documents compiled around the 6th century CE within the Jewish diaspora of Babylonia, like the Talmud, reflect post-Temple understanding and interpretation of the word Tekufah by the various Jewish rabbis :

TALMUD - MAS. BERACHOTH 59B and its footnote

"and I make a sackcloth their covering.

1 Our Rabbis taught: He who sees the sun at its turning point,

2 the moon in its power,

3 the planets in their orbits,

4 and the signs of the zodiac in their orderly progress,

5 should say: Blessed be He who has wrought the work of creation."

FOOTNOTE 2: "(2) In its apparent motion in the ecliptic, the sun has four 'turning points' which mark the beginnings of the four respective seasons. These points are generically referred to as the Tekufot (sing. Tekufah).

TEKUFAH: FIRST DAY OR LAST DAY OF THE SEASON?

The word Tekufah was misunderstood by the Tamuldic writers to mean the fist day of a season, “the beginning” of a period of 91 days 7½ hours, as its reckoning was eventually adapted to luni-solar calendar. It is important to realize that these Jewish writings are a reflection of their own understanding, adapting the bits and pieces recuperated from the formerly lost Original Calendar, to their current civil luni-solar calendar.

Encyclopedia Judaica (vol.5), "calendar" article:

TEKUFOT (Seasons): As stated, the 4 seasons in the Hebrew year are called tekufot. More accurately, it is the beginning of each of the 4 seasons - according to the common view, the mean beginning - that is named tekufah (literally circuit, related to go around), the tekufah of Nisan denoting the mean sun at the vernal equinoctial point; that of Tammuz denoting it at the summer solsticial point; that of Tishri, at the autumnal equinoctial point; and that of Tevet, at the winter solsticial point.

However, the original meaning of the word Tekufah can now be restored thanks to the Qumran discovery. The Tekufot represent the 4 intercalary days, the 4 turns of the year, at the end of a season (not at the beginning). A Tekufah marks the last day of the season. It is always followed by a Memorial Day, known as Rosh Hodesh, being the 1st day of the month & of the season.

Tekufot followed by Rosh Hodeshim, in the 364-day Calendar

The term Rosh Hodesh (Hebrew: ראש חודש ) can literally be translated as “head of the month”, “beginning of the month”, or “New Month”. The Post-Temple Jewish community had to adapt its meaning to fit their lunar months. Rosh Hodesh are now called in rabbinical communities “New Moon” festivals. However, Rosh Hodesh in the Original Calendar were the first day of the “New Months”, also known as Memorial days or Days of Remembrance.

Jubilees 6:23-31

And on the new head of the first month, and on the new head of the fourth month, and on the new head of the seventh month, and on the new head of the tenth month are the days of remembrance, and the days of the seasons in the four divisions of the year. These are written and ordained as a testimony for ever.

And Noah ordained them for himself as feasts for the generations for ever, so that they have become thereby a memorial unto him. And on the new head of the first month, he was bidden to make for himself an ark, and on that (day) the earth became dry and he opened (the ark) and saw the earth.

And on the new head of the fourth month, the mouths of the depths of the abyss beneath were closed.

And on the new head of the seventh month, all the mouths of the abysses of the earth were opened, and the waters began to descend into them.

And on the new head of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains were seen, and Noah was glad.

And on this account he ordained them for himself as feasts for a memorial for ever, and thus are they ordained.

And they placed them on the heavenly tablets, each had thirteen weeks; from one to another (passed) their memorial, from the first to the second, and from the second to the third, and from the third to the fourth.

And all the days of the commandment will be two and fifty weeks of days, and (these will make) the entire year complete. Thus it is engraven and ordained on the heavenly tablets.

And there is no neglecting (this commandment) for a single year or from year to year.

Memorial days are at the head of the 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th month, following the last days of the seasons - named Tekufot - on the 31st day of the 12th, 3rd, 6th and 9th month. Memorial days, or the Days of Remembrance, appear in the bible under the name of Rosh Hodesh.

Numbers 10:10

Also at your times of rejoicing--your appointed festivals and New Month feasts (roshy hodeshicem)--you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am YHWH your God."

Numbers 28:11

On the first of every month (roshy hodeshicem), present to YHWH a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.

Exodus 12:2

"This month is to be for you the first month (rosh hodeshim), the first month of your year.

The New Months feasts (translated mistakenly today by New Moon) are “memorial” days, as defined by Numbers 10:10. They constitute feast days during which community meals are shared and offerings done unto YHWH. The story of David trying to avoid King Saul for the feast of New Month, proves that the feast of the turn of the year is to be composed of 2 days:

1 Samuel 20:5-27

5David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Month ( חדשׁ֙ ) and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.

(...) 18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Month ( חדשׁ֙ ), and you will be missed if your seat is empty. 19When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began,(...)24So David hid in the field, and when the New Month ( החֹדֶשׁ ) had come, the king sat down to eat.(...) 27But on the day after the New Month ( החֹדֶשׁ ), the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

In this account, King Saul had hosted a celebration meal for the turn of the year and David was expected to participate. Yet the anointed one had to hide because of the jealousy of King Saul. The story of 1 Samuel 20:5-27 shows that this feast was celebrated over two days in a row: David remained absent during the feast of Tekufah, and the following day, Memorial Day. Only on the 3rd day, could he hope to leave his hiding place, when the two days of feasts were over. David’s anecdote brings yet another evidence that the Feast of the turn of the year is composed of 2 days, not three or one.

Therefore, let us remember to celebrate the 4 turns of the year, with joy and righteousness, two days in a row, the first and the last, the day of Tekufah & the day of Rosh Hodesh (also known as Memorial Day).

When the time is right, I, YHWH, will make it happen.”

-Isaiah 60:22

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