Four New Years

This mishnah enumerates four “new years” for different purposes. The text functions partly to reconcile the two different new years recognized by Jews: the spring new year, on the first of the month of Nisan, which the mishnah designates the new year for kings and festivals, and the autumn new year, on the first of the month of Tishri, which the mishnah designates the new year for the sabbatical and jubilee years. The former reflects the calendar used by the Israelites before the Babylonian exile, and the latter derives from the period of the Babylonian exile and reflects the Babylonian calendar. Despite this recognition of four new years, it is the first of Tishri, in the autumn, that rabbinic literature—including this passage—refers to as Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, considered a day of judgment for humankind. For a commentary on this passage in the Babylonian Talmud, see Judgment on Rosh Hashanah.