A printed PJ Library Perpetual Jewish Calendar was sent to all subscribers ages 0-8 with the August 2021 books. The accompanying instruction sheet is also reprinted on the back of the calendar itself.
Here are a few additional pointers for using your perpetual calendar:
Holiday Line-Up
We included stickers for many Jewish holidays, but not for all of them. Which “made the cut?” We included the holidays that appear most widely in PJ Library books – and the holidays most commonly celebrated by PJ Library families:
- The fall holidays of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Forgiving), Sukkot (Festival of Small Huts), and Simchat Torah (Dancing with the Torah), all of which fall in the same month (Tishrei) in the Jewish calendar (September-October in the Gregorian calendar).
- The winter holiday of Hanukkah (Festival of Lights), which is followed in the calendar by Tu B’Shevat (Birthday of the Trees) and Purim (Festival of Esther’s Bravery)
- The spring holiday of Passover (Festival of Freedom), which is followed in the calendar by Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Shavuot (Festival of the Giving of the Torah)
We also included stickers for the “once-every” holidays – Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), which comes once every week (Friday sunset until Saturday nightfall), and New Moon celebration (in Hebrew, Rosh Chodesh), which comes once every month. (Some months have one day of Rosh Chodesh, some have two.)
Learn more about all of these Jewish holidays at pjlibrary.org/holidays.
A holiday in the Perpetual Calendar that may be unfamiliar to many families is Shemini Atzeret, which falls on what would be the “eighth day” (Shemini is Hebrew for “eighth”) of the week-long holiday of Sukkot. Drawing on the spirit of Sukkot as a fall harvest festival, Shemini Atzeret features a collective prayer for rainfall – something every good harvest depends on.
We did not include holidays that are less family-friendly, such as: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Israel’s Memorial Day), Lag B’Omer (a holiday honoring the memory of Jewish sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai), and Tisha B’Av (a fast day commemorating the destruction of the first and second Temple in Jerusalem).
Additional Stickers
We included the following additional stickers:
Candle Lighting
If your family lights candles on Shabbat or holidays, this sticker can be a nice reminder.
Full Moon
A number of Jewish holidays coincide with a full moon (Passover, Sukkot, Purim, and Tu B’Shevat), and those holiday stickers have a built-in Full Moon sticker. It can be fun to place a free-standing Full Moon sticker on the date of the full moon (exactly two weeks after New Moon) of other months of the calendar – and then make sure to look outside that night.
Seasons, Birthdays, Vacations, Play Dates
Use these stickers any way you like!
Havdalah
This is the sticker with a braided candle and a spice box. Havdalah is the ceremony on Saturday evening to say “goodbye” to Shabbat, and it features wine or grape juice, spices, and a special candle.
Tzedakah Box
This is the sticker with a coin dropping into a box. Tzedakah, which literally means “justice,” refers to charitable giving, and a tzedakah box (maybe you have a PJ Library tzedakah box?) is designed for collecting coins to support causes that will help make the world better. This sticker can be a good reminder to give coins for tzedakah, especially around a milestone or a holiday.
Blank Stickers
Go wild.
Pro Tip: When you aren’t using your stickers, put them back on the page they came from. That way they’ll hold their stickiness longer.
For an explanation of how the Jewish calendar works, visit Frequently Asked Questions About The Jewish Calendar.
July 28, 2021