Editing Hebrew calendar (section)

===Past methods of numbering years===
Before the adoption of the current {{lang|la|Anno Mundi}} year numbering system, other systems were used. In early times, the years were counted from some significant event such as [[the Exodus]].<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|1|Kings|6:1|HE}}</ref> During the period of the monarchy, it was the widespread practice in western Asia to use era year numbers according to the accession year of the monarch of the country involved. This practice was followed by the united kingdom of Israel,<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|1|Kings|14:25|HE}}</ref> kingdom of Judah,<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|2|Kings|18:13|HE}}</ref> kingdom of Israel,<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|2|Kings|17:6|HE}}</ref> Persia,<ref>(e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse||Nehemiah|2:1|HE}}</ref> and others. Besides, the author of [[Books of Kings|Kings]] coordinated dates in the two kingdoms by giving the accession year of a monarch in terms of the year of the monarch of the other kingdom,<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|2|Kings|8:16|HE}}</ref> though some commentators note that these dates do not always synchronise.<ref name="Thiele" /> Other era dating systems have been used at other times. For example, Jewish communities in the Babylonian diaspora counted the years from the first deportation from Israel, that of [[Jehoiachin]] in 597 BCE.<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse||Ezekiel|1:1–2|HE}}</ref> The era year was then called "year of the captivity of Jehoiachin".<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|2|Kings|25:27|HE}}</ref>

During the Hellenistic Maccabean period, [[Seleucid era]] counting was used, at least in the [[Land of Israel]] (under Greek influence at the time). The [[Books of the Maccabees]] used Seleucid era dating exclusively,<ref>e.g., ''Hebrew-English Bible'', {{bibleverse|1|Maccabees|1:54|NAB}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Maccabees|6:20|NAB}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Maccabees|7:1|NAB}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Maccabees|9:3|NAB}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Maccabees|10:1|NAB}}</ref> as did [[Josephus]] writing in the Roman period. From the 1st to 10th centuries, the center of world Judaism was in the Middle East (primarily [[Talmudic Academies in Babylonia|Iraq]] and [[Talmudic Academies in the Land of Israel|Palestine]]),{{efn|Ancient Iraq and [[Palestine (region)]], not the modern territories with those names}} and Jews in these regions also used Seleucid era dating, which they called the "Era of Contracts [or Documents]";<ref name=Jones>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AvVPlyYjX7YC&pg=PA295 |title=Chronology of the Old Testament |author= Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones |date= 2005 |quote=When the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe during the 8th and 9th centuries CE, calculations from the Seleucid era became meaningless. Over those centuries, it was replaced by that of the {{lang|la|anno mundi}} era of the {{lang|he-Latn|Seder Olam}}. From the 11th century, {{lang|la|anno mundi}} dating became dominant throughout most of the world's Jewish communities.|page=295|publisher=New Leaf Publishing |isbn=978-1-61458-210-6}}</ref> this counting is still sometimes used by [[Yemenite Jews]].<ref>Yitzhak Ratzabi, [https://www.maharitz.co.il/?CategoryID=345&ArticleID=511 The counting of years for Contracts], accessed on Maharitz on January 16, 2025.</ref> The [[Talmud]] states:

<blockquote>[[Rav]] [[Aha bar Jacob]] then put this question: How do we know that our Era [of Documents] is connected with the Kingdom of Greece at all? Why not say that it is reckoned from the Exodus from Egypt, omitting the first thousand years and giving the years of the next thousand? In that case, the document is really post-dated!<br />Said [[Rav Nachman|Rav Nahman]]: In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used.<br />He [Rav Aha] thought that Rav Nahman wanted to dispose of him anyhow, but when he went and studied it thoroughly he found that it is indeed taught [in a [[Baraita]]]: In the Diaspora the Greek Era alone is used.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Avodah_Zarah.10a.3?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en|title=Babylonian Talmud: Avodah Zarah 10a|website=www.sefaria.org|publisher=[[Sefaria]]}}</ref></blockquote>

In the 8th and 9th centuries, as the center of Jewish life moved from Babylonia to Europe, counting using the Seleucid era "became meaningless", and thus was replaced by the {{lang|la|anno mundi}} system.<ref name=Jones /> The use of the Seleucid era continued till the 16th century in the East, and was employed even in the 19th century among [[Yemenite Jews]].<ref name=Zarah />

Occasionally in Talmudic writings, reference was made to other starting points for eras, such as destruction era dating, being the number of years since the 70 CE [[Siege of Jerusalem (70)|destruction of the Second Temple]].<ref name=Zarah>[https://halakhah.com/zarah/zarah_9.html Avodah Zarah 9a] Soncino edition, footnote 4: "The Eras in use among Jews in Talmudic Times are: (a) Era of Contracts  [H] dating from the year 380 before the Destruction of the Second Temple (312–1 BCE)... It is also termed Seleucid or Greek Era [H].... This Era... was generally in vogue in eastern countries till the 16th cent, and was employed even in the 19th cent, among the Jews of Yemen, in South Arabia... (b) The Era of the Destruction  (of the Second Temple) [H] the year 1 of which corresponds to 381 of the Seleucid Era, and 69–70 of the Christian Era. This Era was mainly employed by the Rabbis and was in use in Palestine for several centuries, and even in the later Middle Ages documents were dated by it."</ref>