Until recently, Beth El observed the tradition that outside of Eretz Yisrael [the land of Israel] the Biblical Festivals [the Festivals instituted in the Torah] are celebrated on the proper day, but then celebrated again on the following day. It is unusual for a Reform congregation to follow this tradition. Beth El still observes the second day of Rosh Hashana.
[The Hebrew term for a Festival is ``Yom Tov,'' literally ``good day.'' A Yom Tov is a religious Holiday.]
Yom Tov Sheni came about long ago in the time of the Second Temple. To understand why, one must first understand how the calendar was calculated at that time. The Hebrew calendar is lunar; one month ends and another begins when the moon is new. The lunar cycle is 29 and 1/4 days; each Hebrew month has either 29 or 30 days. At the time of the Second Temple, the religious authorities in Jerusalem determined when a new month should begin by observing the moon. They announced on the day after the 29th of each month whether it was the 30th or the 1st. Lacking telephones, Jews living far outside Eretz Yisrael had difficulty determining the correct Hebrew date after the 29th.
One must also be aware of another fact --- the dates for the Festivals were considered to have been set by God Himself. Therefore celebrating them on the proper date was taken
extremely
seriously.
Suppose an outlying community had not heard completely trustworthy information about what the authorities in Jerusalem had decided 15 days after Adar 29th. They would not have known if the correct date was Nisan 14 or Nisan 15. If it was the 15th, Passover should start. Just to be safe, they would celebrate it on that day, but also on the next day which was either Nisan 15 or Nisan 16. Thus the tradition of celebrating the Festivals twice outside of Eretz Yisrael came about.
Eventually, the calendar was
fixed
by Hillel II in the 4th century C.E. [Common Era, a secular alternative for A.D., Latin for
year of our lord (Jesus)
]. This calendar is what we use today. Thanks to Hillel II, one can go to any Hebrew bookstore and buy a Hebrew calendar good for a year or more. Using Hillel's calendar, any Jew anywhere knows the proper day to celebrate a Festival. Even so, Jews outside Israel continued to repeat Festival celebrations on the day following the proper one. (This was in fact advocated by Hillel II.) The Reform movement, citing the fact that the original motivation for this custom is long obsolete, abandoned the second day.
Traditionally, a second festival day is added to the first day of Passover, the last (seventh) day of Passover, Shavuot, the first day of Sukkot, and to Shemini Atzeret.
Following this tradition causes Passover to effectively become eight days long.
The tradition does not add a second day to Yom Kippur, since obviously a 48-hour fast (no eating
or
drinking) would be difficult. [It is traditional to fast on Yom Kippur.]
Rosh Hashana is celebrated for two days, but unlike the other Festivals, this is also the practice in Eretz Yisrael. According to Halacha [Jewish religious law, literally ``the way to go''], the two days of Rosh Hashana are treated as a single ``long day.'' Even so, most Reform congregations only observe a single day of Rosh Hashana. At Beth El, both days are observed.
The second day of Shemini Atzeret evolved into what is today known as Simchat Torah. Most Reform temples celebrate Simchat Torah on the first day of Shemini Atzeret itself;
until recently, Beth El celebrated it one day later. Now Beth El celebrates
Simchat Torah on the first day of Shemini Atzeret.
