The Jewish New Year

Question

When is the Jewish New Year?

Answer

In the Jewish calendar there are several "new years", some of them only of agricultural significance. The two main New Years are the one in the Spring, which the Torah calls "the first of the months" (Ex.12:2), and the one in the Fall (Rosh Ha-Shanah), on the first day of the seventh month (Lev.23:24), when the number of the year changes. The counting of years is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah, but the Mishnah (Rosh Ha-Shanah 1:1) tells us that the year changes in the Fall, even though the months are numbered from the Spring (so that half of the momths of the year belong to the old year and half to the new year.)

Follow-up question

Question

Trying to find out what the year of the full cycle of the Jewish new year means. Someone told me that this was the meaning of 5767 but I cant find anything on it to explain its meaning could you help me with this?

Answer

I’m not sure what you are asking here. Jewish years do not cycle like Chinese years where one year it’s the rat and another year it’s the dragon. Jewish years do have various cycles however. There is the Shmittah cycle, where Jews must leave the land in Israel fallow every seventh year, and that is true to this day. There is the Yovel (Jubilee) which is the year following seven Shmittah cycles, but is not observed while Jews remain in our current 2000 year exile. Then there is the 19 year cycle where 7 leap months are added to keep the seasons aligned with the sun and the holidays where they are supposed to be in their season.