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How is Nissan considered the first month, if the year starts on Rosh Hashanah?

by Rabbi Ari Shishler




Jews are anything but straightforward. We celebrate the New Year in the 7th calendar month!

Actually, Rosh Hashanah recalls when the world was created. In other words, it’s the New Year for the normal order of things. It’s the time of the year when G-d decides who will live or die (G-d forbid), how much each person will earn, and what each region’s rainfall will be like.

Rosh Hashanah was around since the beginning of Time.

In the Jewish year 2448, something drastic happened. G-d introduced His special People - a nation that lives beyond the normal and the natural. This “Chosen Nation” would not only hope for miracles, but would literally survive on them.

Nissan is the first month of our history as a Jewish nation
The month of the birth of this nation, ( later known as “the Jews”,) is Nissan. Even that name relates to miracles (the Hebrew root of the word, nes, means a miracle). Consider the story of what happened in that month - the supernatural escape of a beleaguered slave nation from the most powerful slave drivers ever.

Nissan is the first month of our history as a Jewish nation. Important dates in Nissan (mainly Pesach) are important for us as Jews. The Torah introduces this month to us as: “This month will be for you the first of months…1 Six months later, we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the New Year for all people and all life.

By counting every month from Nissan, we constantly commemorate the miracle that G-d performed when He took us out of slavery.2


  • 1. Exodus 12:1.
  • 2. Commentary of Nachmanides on above verse.


Rosh Hashanah