I am on a journey, to make Aliyah, and want to share my journey with my family, friends and anyone that is interested. I made the decision to make Aliyah in December 2002 and now I am actually doing it. This blog will chronicle my story and adventures leading up to getting on the plane and then the continuing story of the beginning of my new life in Israel and what I experience once there.
___________________________________________

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Another interesting thing about this year

I recently was wondering when my Hebrew birthday would be this year. So, I went to an online calendar to determine when I was born as I didn't know what my Hebrew birthday was. Well it is the 24th day of Tammuz. I then checked this year's calendar to see when it would be so I would know when to celebrate it in Israel. Well, guess what, it is on July 16th, which is my birthday on the Gregorian calendar. I was curious as to how often they actually occur on the same day. I haven't found a perfect answer other than it's not super common. I calculated every birthday since I was born and this year is the first time they have occurred on the same day since I was born and the next time it will occur will be in the year 2020.

So, as I was born so many years ago on the 24th of Tammuz, this year I celebrate my birthdates in Israel as a new Israeli, an oleh chadash, on the same dates, for the first time in my life since my birth. I find it interesting that without this knowledge I picked this year to make Aliyah.

2 comments:

Maya / מיה said...

Wow, what awesome symbolism! You're really bringing your Jewish and secular sides together with this move. :) I've always heard that this happens every 19 years... is this not true? (Or maybe you're 19 years old right now... ;)

Matt Gottlieb / משה גוטליב said...

The 19 year thing is one of the many descriptions I read about. I talked with my rabbi this morning and he said every 19 years it may be close (within a day or two).

I am not 19 or 38 and definately not 57, so the 19 year thing doesn't exactly work. I read about another possibility of some combination of 11 and or 9 years, but I couldn't figure out that either. SO... what I do know is that this year is the first time since I was born that they are the same day.