Jewish minutiae

[cellio]

A few days ago goljerp raised the question of why we don't say the Rosh Chodesh (new month) prayers on Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana is, after all, a new month as well as the beginning of the new year.

I asked Rabbi Berkun this morning, and his answer is that Rosh Hashana, being a much bigger deal, replaces Rosh Chodesh. (He says, by the way, that we do not do the Rosh Chodesh additions to bentching, the prayer after a meal, so there's no inconsistency between liturgy and home observance after all.) Someone else had an interesting comment: Rosh Hashana commemorates the creation of the world; therefore, there was no time before RH and RH isn't a "new" month but the first month. So the first Rosh Chodesh would be the beginning of the following month. I find this explanation somewhat elegant.

For those who might be wondering why we keep the Shabbat prayers in the service on a holiday when the preceeding would seem to suggest that this should be omitted, it's because Shabbat is more important than holidays. Yes, really. The only Shabbat concession we make for a holiday is that if Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat we do in fact fast on that day. Yom Kippur is described in Torah as the "Shabbat of Shabbats", though, so it's special.

Comments

[lefkowitzga.livejournal.com]

This brings up the topic of Rosh Hashana being the "first day of the sixth month" How does that figure into it?

[cellio]

(Seventh month.)

There are multiple "first months" depending on how you count. From the creation of the world, Tishrei was first. The way we count years for legal purposes, it starts with Nisan. It's the difference between a fiscal year and a real year, sort of.

Why did it end up this way? Not sure. If you start in Nisan then the three festival holidays, which commemorate specific events, fall out in order: Pesach (Exodus), Shavuot (giving of the Torah), Sukkot (booths in desert). Whether that's cause or just a convenient effect, though, I don't know.

Hmm...

[goljerp]

Well, the Torah does specifiy that Nisan (or whatever it's called in the Torah - I forget) should be "the first month". But there are lots of new years... for trees, holidays, years, etc., etc., etc.

Re: Hmm...

[cellio]

Yes, the Torah refers to what we now call Nisan as the first month. (I think that one was Aviv before.)

I kind of like the following interpretation, which I just made up: the reason that Rosh Hashana is not the first month is to teach us that while some parts of the Torah are about us, other parts are about everyone. (This might lead to more humility.) Rosh Hashana is about the creation of the whole world; the month of Nisan, with the Exodus from Egypt, is about the creation of the Jewish people. Yes, we were a people before Egypt, but the Torah is what distinguishes us, so it makes sense to count our annual cycle of festivals from the event that made that possible.

Or maybe I'm spouting nonsense, but if so, I've heard worse nonsense over the years. :-)

Re: Hmm...

[goljerp]

I kind of like the following interpretation

I do, too.

Or maybe I'm spouting nonsense

<gilbert and sullivan> Nonsense, yes, perhaps - but oh, what precious nonsense!</gilbert and sullivan> (Patience, right after Bunthorne's poem in Act I :-)