The fifth edition of the cutty famous calendar illustrated with Jenna Thornhill’s favorite challah sculptures of the year.
Welcome to the fifth edition of my Challah Calendar, for the Jewish year 5785. The past four have been thirteen month calendars, but because Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is in early October for 2024 and then late September the following year, I have twelve months to work this go around.
I started baking challah for Shabbat because to buy them required a drive across town each week to find a Jewish bakery in the Valley or West Side. L.A. traffic is not the best way to greet the day of rest. In addition to traditional challahs, I started trying other shapes; Blessing and eating a challah snake, or whomever, alongside a braided loaf. Like many things one makes a practice of, they have become more involved as time goes on, particularly during periods of less than full employment.
Speaking of which, my work schedule has made my challah practice difficult to maintain with regularlity this year. In light of this, the twelve presented here were all made in 5784 with the exception of one, which was not given a proper full spread in the year of its making.
Candle lighting and grunion run times are given for the tides and sunsets in the Los Angeles area. For all other locations, candles may be lit just prior to sundown (in this calendar, by 18 minutes), except for Havdalah (the ending of Shabbat) which is after sundown when three stars are visible, by one tradition.
"Grunion runs" refer to grunions, a small fish species that spawn on the shore of Southern California (among other places) in Spring and Summer. No matter your location, grunion runs are about two hours long starting at nighttime high tide, for four days beginning and ending on the full and new moons. In this calendar, any runs set to begin after midnight are shown on the day prior. Grunions can be elusive, avoid spooking them with bright flashlights and loud noise.
Strictly observation only April, May, and June so they can make the next generation.
I have also included those "King Tides" which have been predicted so far for the upcoming year. These are the highest tides of the year which are not caused by weather or earthquake, and are really striking to see, but also can be a nuisance or even dangerous for low-lying communities.
As a dual Gregorian and Hebrew calendar, I hope this can be enjoyed by Jews and non-Jews alike. I think everyone can agree Autumn is a good time to start a new year.
Free Palestine.
—Jenna Thornhill, Los Angeles, August '24
Softcover, spiral-bound, 26 pages, full-color, Los Angeles, 2024
