TISHRI

TISHRI (Heb. תִּשְׁרֵי), the post-Exilic name of the seventh month of the Jewish year according to biblical usage which has been retained until the present day even though Tishri is the first month of the chronological year in the current way of dating. Frequently mentioned in Assyrian-Babylonian records and in rabbinic literature (e.g., Megillat Ta'anit), it is derived from the Aramaic shera or sherei ("to begin"). Hence, this name means "beginning of the year." Its zodiacal sign is Libra. In the present fixed Jewish calendar it invariably consists of 30 days, 1^st of Tishri never falling on Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday in accordance with the system of calendric "postponement" (see *Calendar). In the 20^th century, Tishri, in its earliest occurrence, extended from September 6 to October 5 and, in its latest, from October 5 to November 3. Memorable days in Tishri are mainly feasts laid down in the Pentateuch: (1) 1^st and 2^nd of Tishri, the New Year, Rosh Ha-Shanah (Num. 24:1–6), the second day applying in Ereẓ Israel as well as in the Diaspora (at least since about the tenth century); (2) 10^th of Tishri, the *Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:29–34); (3) 1^st–10^th of Tishri, the *Ten Days of Penitence; (4) 15^th of Tishri (in the Diaspora 15^th–16^th), the first day of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles; Lev. 23:33–43); (5) 16^th–21^st of Tishri (in the Diaspora 17^th–21^st), the days of ḥol ha-mo'ed ("intermediate days"; Num. 29:17–34), the last of which (6) 21^st of Tishri, known as Hoshana Rabba, is of special significance (Suk. 4:4–7); (7) 22^nd of Tishri, Shemini Aẓeret ("The Eighth Day of Assembly"; Num. 29:35–38), combined with Simḥat Torah ("Rejoicing with the Torah," which is of post-talmudic origin). In the Diaspora 22^nd of Tishri is observed as Shemini Aẓeret, and 23^rd of Tishri as Simḥat Torah; (8) 3^rd of Tishri, once observed as a minor feast in commemoration of the omission of the Hasmonean title "Priest to the Most High God" (modeled on the title of Melchizedek (Malki Ẓedek) in Gen. 14:18) from the dating of secular documents in the terms of the era of the regnal years of the Hasmonean high-priest kings (Meg. Ta'an. 337, et al.). Later this day reverted to its previous status of a fast in commemoration of the assassination of *Gedaliah (Jer. 41:1–2, et al.), the "fast in the seventh month" in Zechariah 7:5 and 8:19 (rh 18b, et al.) possibly postponed from 1^st of Tishri (see Ibn Ezra and Kimḥi, ibid.).

[Ephraim Jehudah Wiesenberg]