Tishri

Tishrei (תִּשְׁרֵי)       Cheshvan →
The holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonment, takes place on the 10th of Tishrei.
Month Number:	1
Number of Days:	30
Season:	autumn
Gregorian Equivalent:	September-October

Tishrei (or Tishri) (IPA: [ˈtɪʃri] or [ˈtɪʃreɪ]) (Hebrew: תִּשְׁרֵי (תִּשְׁרִי‎) Standard Tišre (Tišri) Tiberian Tišrê (Tišrî) ; from Akkadian tašrītu "Beginning", from šurrû "To begin") is the first month of the civil year and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar. The name of the month is Babylonian; in the Torah it is called Ethanim (Hebrew: אֵתָנִים‎ - I Kings 8:2). It is an autumn month of 30 days. Tishrei usually occurs in September–October on the Gregorian calendar, and coincides with either the eighth or ninth month of the Chinese calendar, though the Chinese calendar starts the day at 11:00 pm rather than at sunset.

Edwin R. Thiele has concluded, in The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings, that the ancient Kingdom of Judah counted years using the civil year starting in Tishrei, while the Kingdom of Israel counted years using the ecclesiastical new year starting in Nisan. Tishrei is the month used for the counting of the epoch year - ie., the count of the year is incremented on 1 Tishrei.

Holidays in Tishrei

1-2 Tishrei - Rosh Hashanah

3 Tishrei - Tzom Gedaliah – (Fast Day) - On Tishrei 4 when Tishrei 3 is Shabbat

10 Tishrei - Yom Kippur – (Fast Day)

15–21 Tishrei - Sukkot

21 Tishrei - Hoshanah Rabbah

22 Tishrei - Shemini Atzeret & Simchat Torah - Also the 23 Tishrei outside of Israel

Tishrei in Jewish history

1 Tishrei - Adam & Eve were created (3761 BCE)

• On Tishrei 1, which corresponds to the sixth day of creation -- "God said: 'Let us make Man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth...'" (Genesis 1:26).

1 Tishrei - (3761 BCE) - First Sin & Repentance

• On the same day man was created, man also committed the first sin of history **This statement should be edited. It is improbable and is not implied anywhere in scripture. It is more likely that a significant amount of time had passed prior to this event.**, transgressing the divine commandment not to eat from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, and humanity became subject to death, labor and moral confusion. But also on that day, the first persons also repented their sin, introducing the concept and opportunities of teshuvah ("return").

1 Tishrei - (2105 BCE) - Dove's 3rd Mission

• On the 1st of Tishrei, (the 307th day of the Great Flood), Noah dispatched a dove from the ark, for the third time. When the dove returned carrying an olive branch, this is how Noah knew that the flood was drained from the earth. On that day, Noah removed the roof of the ark; but Noah and his family, and all the animals, remained in the ark for another 57 days, until the 27th of Cheshvan, when the surface of the earth was completely dry and God commanded them to leave the ark and resettle and repopulate the earth.

1 Tishrei - (1677 BCE) - Binding of Isaac; Sarah's Death

• Abraham's test of faith -- his binding of Isaac in preparation to sacrifice him as per God's command, occurred on the 1st of Tishrei of the Hebrew year 2084 (1677 BCE), and is recalled each Rosh Hashanah with the sounding of the shofar (ram's horn, for the reason that a ram was sacrificed in Isaac's place when an angel revealed that the command to sacrifice Isaac was a divine test). The Torah's account of the event is publicly read in the synagogue on the 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah. On the day of Isaac's binding, the Talmud tells that his mother, Sarah, died at age 127, and was then buried in the Machpelah Cave in Hebron.

1 Tisrei - (1923) - Daf Yomi

• The "Daf Yomi" a daily regimen of Talmud study (in which the participant studies one folio a day to complete the entire Talmud in seven years) initiated by Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin, was launched on Rosh Hashanah of 1923.

3 Tishrei - Assassination of Gedaliah (Fast of Gedalia)

• 3rd Tishrei is a fast day which mourns the assassination of the Jewish Royal Gedaliah ben Achikam, governor of the Land of Israel for a short period following the destruction of the First Temple. Gedaliah's killing spelled the end of the small remnant of the Jewish community that remained in Israel after its destruction, which then subsequently fled to Egypt. (According to many opinions, the assassination actually occurred on Rosh Hashanah, but the commemoration of the event is postponed to the day after the festival).

5 Tishrei - (134) - Rabbi Akiva murdered

• The great Talmudic sage, Rabbi Akiva, was taken captive by the Romans on the 5th of Tishrei, of the year 3894 from creation (134 CE). His subsequent torture and execution ("martyred") is recalled in the Eleh Ezkerah poem of the Yom Kippur service.

8 Tishrei - (826 BCE) - Temple dedicated

• The 14-day dedication festivities, which celebrated the completion of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem built by King Solomon, started on the 8th of Tishrei of the Hebrew year, 2935 (826 BCE). The First Temple served as the centre of Jewish national and spiritual life for 410 years, until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in 423 BCE.

10 Tishrei - (1313 BCE) - 2nd Tablets; Day of Forgiveness (Yom Kippur)

• On the 10th of Tishrei of the Hebrew year, 2449, (which was 82 days after the people of Israel betrayed their new covenant with God by worshipping a Golden Calf and after Moses twice spent 40 days atop Mount Sinai pleading on their behalf), "God restored His goodwill with the Jewish people gladly and wholeheartedly, saying to Moses 'I have forgiven, as you ask', and gave him the Second Tablets", which established that as a day of atonement, forgiveness and teshuvah for them and all future generations.

13 Tishrei - (1837) - Death of Rabbi Akiva Eiger

• Death of Rabbi Akiva Eiger (1761-1837), a notable Talmudist and Halachic authority.

25 Tishrei - (1810) - Death of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev

• Death of Chassidic leader, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (1740-1810). Levi Yitzchak was a close disciple of the second leader of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch. He is best known for ideas of love for every Jew.

25 Tishrei - (1839) - Death of the Chatam Sofer

• Tishrei 25th is the yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Rabbi Moses Sofer of Pressburg (1762-1839), known as "Chatam Sofer" after his work of Rabbinic respona. Sofer was a Halachic authority, and advocated against various reformist Jewish movements of his time.

29 Tishrei - (1508) - Death of Rabbi Don Isaac Abravanel

• The yahrtzeit (anniversary of the death) of Rabbi Don Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508), who was one of the leaders of Spanish Jews at the time of the 1492 expulsion. A minister in the King's Court (and before served as treasurer to the King of Portugal), he chose instead to join his people in exile. He began writing extensive commentary on the Torah in 1503 in Venice (where it was published in 1579).

Other uses

• Tishrīn (Arabic: تشرين‎) is the name of two Gregorian months in the Levant:
  • Tishrīn al-Awwal (Arabic: تشرين الأول, literally "First Tishrin"): October. The 1973 Yom Kippur War is generally known by the name Ḥarb Tishrīn ("October War") in Syria and Lebanon, and among the Palestinians, following the Arab custom of naming the Arab-Israeli wars by months or years.
  • Tishrīn al-Thāni (Arabic: تشرين الثاني, literally "Second Tishrin"): November.

References

• Resources on the Month of Tishrei
• This Month in Jewish History