Yahrtzeit Yomi #1009!!
א ניסן!!
Rabboisai!! Rosh Chodesh Nissan!!
A time of renewal, rebirth and rejuvenation!!
Rosh Chodesh Nissan has always been a day associated with glorious opportunity for renewal and revitalization:
1. It was on this day that כלל ישראל were commanded in mitzvos for the first time.
2. It was on this day that אהרן הכהן became the first כהן גדול.
3. And it was on this day that אדם and חוה were created and placed in גן עדן, and were later forgiven for their sin (on that very same day).
Wait, WHAAATTT??!???
“Weren’t אדם and חוה created on Rosh Hashana, the first day of Tishrei?!?”
Well my friends, despite what you may have always understood, the answer is a resounding “no”. After a lengthy discussion, the Gemara (ראש השנה יב) concludes that the actual creation of the world took place in Nissan, and not in Tishrei.
Allow me to elaborate:
(Note: in the following Talmudic discussion, “The Creation of the World” refers to the sixth day of creation, Friday, when אדם and חוה were created, and NOT to the first day of creation. Thus, the day of the creation of אדם and חוה was either the First of Tishrei or the First of Nissan.)
The Gemara (שם) tells us that while our calendar years are reckoned as beginning and ending in the month of Tishrei, in accordance with the opinion of רבי אליעזר; the actual creation of the world occurred in Nissan, in accordance with the opinion of רבי יהושע -
״למבול כרבי אליעזר, ולתקופה כרבי יהושע״.
Now, if you are wondering why you always understood that Rosh Hashana was the anniversary of the creation of the world, you’re in good company, and for good reason!! The Gemara (ראש השנה כז) asks essentially the same question:
״כמאן מצלינן האידנא ׳זה היום תחלת מעשיך זכרון ליום ראשון׳? כמאן, כרבי אליעזר דאמר בתשרי נברא העולם״
-
“In accordance with whose opinion do we pray today (on Rosh Hashana) these words: ’This day is the beginning of your works, a commemoration of the first day’?
It is in accordance with the opinion of Rabi Eliezer, who said: ‘The world was created in Tishrei’”.
Hoo-boy. My friends, this is troubling, to say the least. We now have one Gemara on Daf 12a concluding that the world was created in Nissan, in accordance with the opinion of Rabi Yehoshua; and yet on Daf 27a we are told that our Rosh Hashana prayers are in accordance with the opinion of Rabi Eliezer, that the world was created in Tishrei!?? Well, nuuu, which is it??! Whose opinion do we actually follow??!?
So the Ba’alei HaTosafos
(שם, ד״ה כמאן מצלינן) are bothered by this question. To answer, they bring the following earth-shattering statement, in the name of Rabbeinu Tam:
THE WORLD WAS ACTUALLY CREATED IN TWO STAGES!!
״בתשרי עלה במחשבה לבראות, ולא נברא עד ניסן״!!
”In Tishrei, Hashem DECIDED to create the world, but the ACTUAL CREATION only took place in Nissan”!!
(See Rashi on Chumash, on the first פסוק in the Torah, in his third comment, where he also points out that there were 2 creations; one in “thought”, and one in “deed”.)
So, in fact, both are true: Rosh Hashanah - א׳ תשרי - is indeed “The Beginning of Your Works”, for that was the day on which Hashem DECIDED to create the world. But the ACTUAL CREATION of the world did not take place until א׳ ניסן.
(The most vivid and practical illustration that shows that we follow this understanding, namely that the world was actually created in Nissan, and not in Tishrei, is evidenced by the universal practice of reciting
״ברכת החמה״
every 28 years on a Wednesday morning, in the season of Nissan, not Tishrei. The blessing is recited when
״החמה בתקופתה״
- “the sun returns to the position in the heavens that it occupied at the time of its original creation”. If the world was actually created in Tishrei, this blessing would be recited on a Wednesday morning in Tishrei, not Nissan. Hence, we see clearly that we understand, even in practice, that the world was created in Nissan and not in Tishrei.)
״בניסן נגאלו, בניסן עתידין ליגאל״, במהרה בימינו, אמן כן יהי רצון!!
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