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  • Unfortunately, he didn't get around to finding a source – Shmuel Brin Nov 23 '17 at 19:34



The answer: we started counting Hebrew years in תש"ח - 1948. My answer is completely unsourced, but based on my little research on Masechet Rosh Hashanah.

The bottom line is that the State of Israel is the first time in the history of the Jewish people, when the years from Creation are publicly and officially COUNTED (as opposed to CALCULATED). According to Israeli law you can use Hebrew dates in all formal interactions with any institutions in Israel, including courts, banks, government etc.

In other words, we do have a long tradition of calculating Anno Mundi dates and previous answers brought the sources. However, in my humble understanding, NEVER in the history of Judaism this calendar was publicly and unanimously accepted. Sages throughout the ages kept different traditions of calculating the timeline, but never really "COUNTED". Maybe, because there's no Mitzvah of announcing the year, for example, on Rosh Hashana. There's no obligation to use then in contracts between Jews, so those years in dates served only as "secondary" to secular counting.

Hope it helps a bit.

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    This is demonstrably false. People used the Seder Olam convention to date things we'll before the state of Israel was established – Double AA Nov 23 '17 at 14:43
  • @DoubleAA Once again, those dates were used occasionally, as a reminder of the Jewish tradition. They were not "counted". Don't get me wrong, I only objected the word counted as opposed to calculated. It was not accepted legally and not accepted as a public system of calendar, as it is now in Israel. – Al Berko Nov 23 '17 at 14:50
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    It was counted. And it was accepted legally. It was used on legally binding contracts. And it was used publicly by the Jews in the Jewish communities. I have no idea what you're talking about historically or linguistically – Double AA Nov 23 '17 at 14:51
  • I would love to hear, when I was studying Rosh Hashone, I could not find a single Jewish community that exclusively used Hebrew year dates in public. I agree that many private agreements used Hebrew dates, but using years was very problematic, as there was no single system and no Beis Din that could authorize it. – Al Berko Nov 23 '17 at 14:54

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