Rosh Hashanah: The New Year that belongs to Everyone

The uniquely Jewish year doesn't start in Tishrei but rather in Nissan which is the month of the Exodus—הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם לְחׇדְשֵׁי הַשָּׁנָה (Shemos 12:2). 

Tishrei is the seventh month of the Jewish covenantal calendar year and yet we celebrate the New Year on its first day—not Nissan's. 

What gives?

The Mishnah (RH 1:2) pegs the first day of Tishrei as the day upon which all humans are judged for the year—בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה כָּל בָּאֵי הָעוֹלָם עוֹבְרִין לְפָנָיו כִּבְנֵי מָרוֹן.

Human judgement and accountability aren't particular to the Jews, it is a species-wide event encompassing all of humanity. 

Cue the Deluge and Sodom; Nineveh is exhibit A for the concept and power of Teshuvah. 

The annual agricultural cycle commences and concludes in Tishrei. 

The opinion adopted by the Rosh Hashanah liturgy is that the world was created on the first day of Tishrei—זֶה הַיּוֹם תְּחִלַּת מַעֲשֶׂיךָ זִכָּרוֹן לְיוֹם רִאשׁוֹן (with Maharsha stating that it actually refers to the sixth day of creation—when humans were created—which fits even better).

As Rosh Hashanah (and by extension Yom Kippur) transcends any single nation, it fittingly belongs at the start of the universal human calendar—rather than the Exodus-centered month of Nissan, which marks the start of Jewish national history.

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