Page 279 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
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258 COINCIDENCES IN THE BIBLE AND IN BIBLICAL HEBREW
20.2.3 A Personal Comment
I conclude this section with a personal comment. Back in 1990, when I realized
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that invasion of Kuwait had taken place so near Tishah B’Av (in fact, the following
day), I was puzzled. As missiles fell on Israel, and anxiety built up with each

passing day, and with Purim approaching, I wondered whether all this mayhem
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might come to an end at Purim. I told my close family and friends that I believed
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the war would most probably end in Purim. I was ridiculed. I was right.
Prior to the start of the second Gulf war in 2003, as American and allied forces
amassed in the Gulf, and Israelis anxiously awaited the start of yet another war in
Iraq, expecting the worst and carrying around personal gas masks, my graduate
students in one of the courses I delivered at the time asked when I believed the
war would start. I guessed, “Probably on Purim.” In hindsight, I could have been
more precise. Obviously, by the Hebrew calendar, the war would start where it
left off (prematurely)—namely, a Hebrew-calendar day after the cessation of the
incomplete war back in 1991!
And so it was. How else could it be?

Table 20.1. Summary of major dates in the two Gulf wars
(Hebrew and general calendar).

Event General Calendar Hebrew Calendar

Tisha B’av July, 31, 1990 9th of Av
Invasion of Kuwait August, 1, 1990 10th of Av

Cease-Fire February, 28, 1991 14th of Adar
st
(1 Gulf War )
First day of Purim February, 28, 1991 14th of Adar
(same year)

Start of Coalition Bombings in Iraq March, 19, 2003 15th of Adar
nd
(2 Gulf War )
Second Day of Purim March, 19, 2003 15th of Adar
(same year)