Rosh Hashana 1:1 — The Four New Years

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Mesechta Rosh Hashana
Mishnah 1 of 35
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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
1Perekפרקא׳
1Mishnahמשנהא׳
נושא · Topicאַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי שָׁנִיםThe Four New Years
This Mishnah is:a list · with a machlokeswhat does that mean?
Mishnah ראש השנה א׳:א׳ · Rosh Hashana 1:1
אַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי שָׁנִים הֵם.
בְּאֶחָד בְּנִיסָן רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַמְּלָכִים וְלָרְגָלִים.
בְּאֶחָד בֶּאֱלוּל רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לְמַעְשַׂר בְּהֵמָה.
רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר וְרַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמְרִים, בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרֵי.
בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַשָּׁנִים וְלַשְּׁמִטִּין וְלַיּוֹבְלוֹת, לַנְּטִיעָה וְלַיְרָקוֹת.
בְּאֶחָד בִּשְׁבָט, רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לָאִילָן, כְּדִבְרֵי בֵית שַׁמַּאי.
בֵּית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ:
There are four new years.
On the first of Nisan — the new year for kings and for the regalim (the three pilgrimage festivals).
On the first of Elul — the new year for maaser behema, the tithe of animals.
R' Elazar and R' Shimon say: It is on the first of Tishrei.
On the first of Tishrei — the new year for counting years, for shemittah and yovel, for planting, and for the tithe of vegetables.
On the first of Shevat — the new year for the tree, so say Beis Shammai.
Beis Hillel say: It is on the fifteenth of it.
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectrestrictive rulingpermissive rulingTanna
Structure
The shape of it▾
הַשָּׁנָהone year — four places a count startsבְּאֶחָד בְּנִיסָןkings · the regalimבְּאֶחָד בֶּאֱלוּלmaaser behemaבְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרֵיyears · shemittah · yovel · orlah · vegetablesבְּאֶחָד בִּשְׁבָטthe treeמַעְשַׂר בְּהֵמָהבְּאֶחָד בֶּאֱלוּל↔בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרֵיR' Elazar · R' Shimonהָאִילָןבְּאֶחָד בִּשְׁבָטBeis Shammai↔בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹBeis Hillel
Summary Chart
The Four New Years▾
CaseRulingReason
Which day is the new year for kings and the regalim?The first of Nisan—
And for maaser behema?Tanna Kamma: The first of Elul—
R' Elazar and R' Shimon: The first of Tishrei—
And for years, shemittah, yovel, orlah and maaser yarak?The first of Tishrei—
And for the tree?Beis Shammai: The first of Shevat—
Beis Hillel: The fifteenth—
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

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Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

Insights on this mishnah▾

אַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי שָׁנִים הֵם — there are four new years

The count is craft: mishnayos were transmitted be'al peh, and numbered openings were a memory aid for the student — seventeen such fours across Mishnayos, and the first four mishnayos of this masechta all open on a number. Even the closing הֵם is doing work: Tosafos, brought in Melechet Shlomo, notes the Mishnah says הן where the list is complete in itself, but ד' אבות נזיקין carries no הן, because the mishnah goes on to expound them.

רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַמְּלָכִים — the new year for kings

Bartenura gives the mechanism: a king who was crowned even in Shevat or Adar, משהגיע ניסן כלתה לו שנה — when Nissan arrives his first year has ended and year two begins. The stakes are documents: a scribe who misdates by the king's reckoning produces a שטר מקדם ופסול, an antedated document that is invalid and can wrongly reach buyers. A fixed first-of-Nissan line was a way of standardizing the use of dates.

רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַשָּׁנִים — the new year for years

What are לַשָּׁנִים, when kings already have their own line? The Gemara carries three readings. Rebbi Zeira: our mishnah follows the view that the world was created in Tishrei, so this is the count of years since creation. Rav Pappa: it is counting years for secular kings, not Jewish kings. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak: לשנים means the Yom HaDin itself. Bartenura fixes on the documents reading, and Yesh Seder LaMishnah asks openly what compelled him to choose it over the other two.

בְּאֶחָד בְּנִיסָן — on the first of Nissan

Why does the masechta of Rosh Hashana open in Nissan? Yehuda Shaviv suggests the first two mishnayos are introductions to the masechta's two halves: this mishnah, with its new years falling mainly on Rosh Chodesh, introduces Rosh Chodesh and the cycle of the year; the next, with its days of judgment, introduces Rosh Hashana itself. Four new years, and all four fall on the first of a month — the confluence the masechta is about.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

Our mishnah counts four of them without pausing. Yet in all of Tanach, how many times does the term Rosh HaShanah actually appear — and of which day is it said?

— Ephraim's written commentary (מהדורת שניה), question 2
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הֲדַרָן עֲלָךְ מַסֶּכֶת רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה
A siyum · Mesechta Rosh Hashana

You have learned every Mishnah of Rosh Hashana — all 43 steps, from the four new years through the tefillos of the day. Hadran alach: we will return to you.

Hear the Siyum — the Summary of the Mesechta Back to the Mesechta