Rosh Hashanah

MISHNAH. THERE ARE FOUR NEW YEARS.1 ON THE FIRST OF NISAN2 IS NEW YEAR FOR KINGS3 AND FOR FESTIVALS.4 ON THE FIRST OF ELUL5 IS NEW YEAR FOR THE TITHE OF CATTLE.6 R. ELEAZAR AND R. SIMEON, HOWEVER, PLACE THIS ON THE FIRST OF TISHRI.7 ON THE FIRST OF TISHRI8 IS NEW YEAR FOR YEARS,4 FOR RELEASE AND JUBILEE YEARS,9 FOR PLANTATION10 AND FOR [TITHE OF] VEGETABLES.11 ON THE FIRST OF SHEBAT12 IS NEW YEAR FOR TREES,13 ACCORDING TO THE RULING OF BETH SHAMMAI; BETH HILLEL, HOWEVER, PLACE IT ON THE FIFTEENTH OF THAT MONTH. GEMARA. FOR KINGS. Why this law?14 — R. Hisda said: For dealing with documents,15 as we have learnt: ‘Bonds if antedated are invalid, 16 but if postdated are valid’. Our Rabbis learnt: If a king ascended the throne on the twenty-ninth of Adar, as soon as the first of Nisan arrives17 he is reckoned to have reigned a year. If on the other hand he ascended the throne on the first of Nisan, he is not reckoned to have reigned a year till the next first of Nisan comes round. The Master has said, ‘If a king ascends the throne on the twenty-ninth of Adar, as soon as the first of Nisan arrives he is reckoned to have reigned a year.’ commencing in the latter half of March or the earlier part of April. matter in what month the king came to the throne. The Gemara discusses what kinds of kings are meant — whether Israelitish or other. could not be given as tithe for cattle born in another, v. Lev. XXVII, 32. the bond is invalid and does not give the lender any right to seize property which the borrower may have sold even subsequent to Tishri. This is a fine for having conspired to seize by means of the bond property which had been sold prior to the making of the loan. Now if the reigning king came to the throne some time between Tammuz and Tishri, then if we reckoned his years from the date of his accession, Tishri would always come before Tammuz, and the document should therefore be valid. To prevent this leading to confusion, it was consequently ordained that the king's year should always be regarded as commencing with Nisan. Tosaf. point out that it is very difficult to conceive of an instance where this might actually lead to confusion, as scribes can usually be trusted to remember the year of the reign; the example Tosaf. give is where the king came to the throne on the first of Nisan and a scribe has to write a document on the first of Nisan in the following year. In such a case the scribe might easily think that the king came to the throne on the second of Nisan, and so, but for the regulation, might date the document a whole year wrong.