THE PALINDROMIC YEAR

We’re all familiar with palindromes, those words and phrases that read the same in both directions.

• Bob.
• Madam, I’m Adam. (Possibly the first palindrome ever.)
• A man, a plan, a canal - Panama!

Years can be palindromic as well. The last three were 1881, 1991, and 2002; the next will be 2112. (The turn of the millennium accounts for the relatively close proximity of 1991 and 2002, only eleven years apart instead of 110.)

Like countless others, my mother never saw a palindromic year. Her entire lifespan - a too-short sixty years - began well after 1881 and ended before 1991. And yet Dee and I, along with Elder Daughter and the Mistress of Sarcasm, have experienced two.

We Red Sea Pedestrians in the Diaspora, given that we use both the Gregorian and Hebrew calendars, get a crack at yet another palindromic year. The setting of the sun this past Wednesday evening marked the start of 5775. (Bob! 5775, Bob!)

Too bad none of us now living are likely to get to see the year 2222. “Palindrome” doesn’t quite capture it. What should we call it?