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The Four "New Years"

Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the numbering of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. In halakha, four different New Years are observed: Rosh Hashanah (the first of Tishrei), the first of Nisan (when the Exodus began), the first of Elul, and Tu BiShvat (the fifteenth of Shevat). Each one delineates the beginning of a year for different legal or ecclesiastical purposes. The Talmudic distinctions among the New Years are discussed in the tractate on Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is the new year for calculating ordinary calendar years, Sabbatical years, Jubilee years, and dates inscribed on legal deeds and contracts. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of Man. In Jewish practice, the months are numbered starting with the spring month of Nisan, making Tishrei the seventh month; Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the new calendar year, is also actually the first day of the seventh month.

The second of these "New Years", the first of the lunar month Nisan (usually corresponds to the months March–April in the Gregorian calendar) is the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the months are numbered beginning with Nisan. It marks the start of the year for the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. Its injunction is expressly stated in the Hebrew Bible: "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months" (Exodus 12:2). Their injunction is expressly stated in the Hebrew Bible: "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast unto me... the feast of unleavened bread (Passover)... the feast of harvest (Shavuot)... and the feast of ingathering (Sukkot) which is at the departing of the year " (Exodus 23:14–16). "At the departing of the year" implies that the new year begins here according to the Babylonian Talmud. It is also when a new year is added to the reign of Jewish kings.

The third New Year, the first of Elul, the new year for animals, began the religious taxation period for tithing animals in Biblical times. Elul corresponds to the Gregorian August/September, after the spring birthings, when it was relatively simple to count the number of animals in herds.

The fourth New Year, Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees, began the religious taxation period for tithing fruits and nuts from trees. Shevat corresponds to the Gregorian January/February, the end of the Mediterranean wet season when the majority of the year's rainfall had occurred. Taking fruit or nuts from a tree younger than three years old, with the birthday counted as Tu Bishvat, was prohibited.