The annual calendar in Israel with all the halachic zmanim and significant Jewish dates has an interesting note for this week.


The note, quoting the sefer "Elya Rabba", written about 260 years ago, says that whenever Rosh Chodesh Shevat comes out on a Wednesday, as it does this year (this week), that winter will bring a strong cold front and heavy snowfall. The sign for this is the acronym of "Vayigash" - ויגש - which stands for Yom Vav Gimmel Shvat, or Vav Yehiyeh Gimmel Shevat, or Sheleg Gadol Yehiyeh V'Kor. This is tried and tested.

(as an aside, the lower note in the picture above is also interesting. In it he writes that during Shevat one should try to chase peace more and make peace between friends, between spouses, even more than during the rest of the year. One should support those learning Torah and strengthen the weak, avoid speaking gossip of others and avoid running to bad things more carefully than during the rest of the year. The note does not say why).

Back to the top note. The note says it has been found to be true. I find it interesting because this week we will celebrate Rosh Chodesh Shevat on Wednesday, and the meteorologists are predicting a particularly stormy weekend in Israel beginning on Thursday night. They are saying we will have another storm of heavy rains with snowfall in the mountainous regions (including Jerusalem hilltops), with strong winds and unusually cold temperatures.

I guess we will find out for sure on Friday, but the timing is excellent.