The History of the Tishrei Conundrum
2012; Volume: 40; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0792-3910
Autores Tópico(s)Archaeology and Historical Studies
ResumoIs Tishrei the first or the seventh month of the year? The Mishnah (Rosh HaShanah 1:1) states that the first day of Tishrei is the beginning of a new calendar year. However, in biblical times the month later called Tishrei (or Tishri) was considered the seventh month. Nominally, it has remained that way. But virtually all our calendars begin with Tishrei as the first month. Are they wrong? This presents a bit of a conundrum. For if it is still to be considered the seventh month, then the question is, of which year? It cannot be the new year, which only begins on the first day of Tishrei. Therefore, it must be the seventh month of the previous year. How does a new year begin on the seventh month of the old one? The conundrum becomes even more puzzling upon further scrutiny. Much is made of the first day of the seventh month in Scripture. Leviticus 23:24 states, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there be unto you a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of the shofar, a holy convocation. Similarly, Numbers 29:1 instructs, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, there be unto you a holy convocation, a day of the blast of the shofar. Neither of these passages states that the first day of the seventh month was also the beginning of a new year. If the first day of the seventh month was not the beginning of a new year, why were there festivities on that day? Dr. J. H. Hertz, in his commentary on the Pentateuch, points out that in biblical times seven was considered a special number. Just as the seventh day was deemed holy, so, too, were the seventh month and the seventh year, termed by Leviticus a year of solemn rest for the land (Lev. 25:4). The Jubilee year, taking place at the completion of seven cycles of seven years was sanctified as well (Lev. 25:8-10). Additionally, a Hebrew slave worked for six years and was set free on the seventh (Ex. 21:2). The first day of the seventh month was considered special, even with no connection to the new year. Thus, when the Psalmist declaims (81:4), sound the shofar on the new moon, it was on the first day of the seventh month, for only then was the shofar sounded. But was it also considered the beginning of a new year? Not at all. The term Rosh Ha-Shanah, which came to be used for the beginning of a new year, is found only once in all of Scripture (Ezekiel 40:1), but nothing is stated as to when it occurred, nor are there any festivities associated with it. If the month later called Tishrei was considered the seventh month, Nisan must have been the first month. Exodus 12:2 states, This month [Abib] (later called Nisan) be unto you the beginning of months of the year. Does this establish Abib (Ex. 13:4) as the first month? The noted biblical scholar, M. D. Cassuto, explains that the verse is not now establishing Nisan as the first month of the year, for had this been the intent of the text it would read yiheyeh lakhem, shall be unto you. The absence of this suggests that it was already viewed as the first month. According to Cassuto, the Israelites in Egypt had already been calculating the new year from that month, even before the Exodus. However, the traditional rabbinic approach understood that it was only at the time of the Exodus from Egypt that the month later called Nisan became the first month of the Israelite calendar (see, for example, Sforno). Deliverance from bondage was an epoch-making event. Since it took place in Abib, it became the first month, and thenceforth it was also first in the counting of years (Num. 1:1, 33:38; I Kgs. 6:1). But when Abib (Nisan) was considered the first month, were there any festivities on the first day to celebrate the beginning of a new year? We find no trace of such a celebration in the Bible. Only at year's end (Ex. 23:16) or at the turn of the year (Ex. 34:22) was the Feast of the Ingathering, referring to Sukkot, which takes place in the seventh month. …
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