Which Month Marks the Jewish New Year?
By Maayan Jaffe/JNS.org
T ishrei is among the most well-known
months on the Hebrew calendar because it
contains the High Holidays and marks the
beginning of the year. Or so it seems. Indeed, to
modern-day Jews, Rosh Hashanah is considered the
Jewish New Year. But traditionally, the Hebrew cal-
endar actually has four “New Year” days: the first of
Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah); the first of Nisan; the 15th
of Shevat (Tu B’Shevat, or the New Year of trees);
and the first of Elul, the New Year of animal tithes.

The Torah specifically names Nisan as the first
month of the Jewish calendar. So where did Tishrei
come from, and how did it gain New Year status?
Rabbi Donny Schwartz, midwest regional direc-
tor for the Orthodox youth organization NCSY, ex-
plains that Tishrei relates to the sun, which is con-
nected to the solar year. In Hebrew, the word “year”
is translated as shanah, which is related to the Hebrew
words sheni (second/repeatable) and yashan (old).

“Tishrei represents a system that never changes,”
says Schwartz. “You wake up on the morning and it
is just another day. You know you drive on the right
side of the street, put clothes on your body. You know
who you are. It’s a ‘blah’ feeling sometimes, but there
is a benefit to that.”
On the other hand, Nisan relates to the moon,
which is changing daily, if not more frequently. Nisan
is therefore the “head of the months,” and is “all about
renewal” and change, Schwartz says.

Tishrei and Nisan also are tied to the seasons in
which they fall. Schwartz believes that at different
times of year, there are different energies in the world.

Rabbi Jessica Minnen, resident rabbi of New
York’s OneTable initiative, which brings together
Jews in their 20s and 30s for Shabbat dinners, takes
this idea a step further. She says Nisan is the planting
season, and Tishrei the harvesting season. Minnen
says that a recent course she was teaching examined
the differences between the two creation narratives
in Genesis 1 and 2, which many modern scholars
believe are competing stories.

“In Genesis 1, God is breathing into Adam, into
the Earth, the ground, the shape that is formed into
a human being. In Genesis 2, God physically shapes
Adam out of the ground,” Minnen says. “This is the
planting and the harvesting, this is Nisan and Tishrei.

We need both creation narratives, and we need Nisan
and Tishrei to form a complete sense of who we are
and who we can be.”
Minnen says the main message of all the Jewish
New Years is one of continuity.

“You have these four opportunities to start over,
to redefine who you are now and where you want to
go,” she says. “Every day can be your New Year.”
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