New Year's Eves

New Years

The Mishnah identifies four different dates as New Years: the 1st of Nisan, the 1st of Elul, the 1st of Tishri and the 1st of Shevat. In the Jewish calendar there are different New Years, each with a distinct purpose - such as the beginning of the political year, the fiscal or financial year, even the academic year, etc.

New Year's Eve - tradition and religion

According to normative Judaism, the first two verses of Exodus chapter 12 stipulate that the regulation of the months is the responsibility of a special congress, which has the power to establish and determine the months of the year. Therefore, the final decision on the temporal structure does not belong to the science of astronomy, but to the competent religious authority.

Nisan 1 is considered the religious New Year in the Jewish calendar - that is, the numbering of the months and the scheduling of holidays begin on this date. The Jewish Passover begins on 15 Nisan, as it is a celebration of the first month. On the other hand, Rosh Hashanah (Rosh Hashana) begins on 1 Tishri, which is the seventh month.

Because Easter should be celebrated in the spring, immediately after the vernal equinox, if the twelfth full moon after the previous Easter happens to occur before the equinox, then an extra month (a thirteenth) is added to the end of the year before the new one begins.

Nowadays, New Year's Day is widely recognized as the 1st of Tishri, with the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, even though Tishri is the seventh month of the Jewish year. This is the political New Year, as it is when the chronology of the year changes. The month of Tishri marks the end of the agricultural year and the beginning of the next, which is why the 1st of Tishri is considered the beginning of most agricultural commandments included in the Torah.