This year, on Monday, April 8, at sunset, will be the 1st of Aviv, according to the Biblical calendar.

In Exodus 12:2 we read, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.”

Exodus 13 mentions the name of the first month: “Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.”

Also in Deuteronomy 16:1 we read, ‘“Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the your God brought you out of Egypt by night.”

We now call the first month Nisan, but this name is only mentioned in Nehemiah 2:1 and Esther 3:7.

“In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.”

“In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.”

This is because the names of the months were changed after the Babylonian exile. These names are of Babylonian origin, many related to Babylonian gods, such as the month of Tammuz, for example.

The term Aviv means spring, and it is the season that is now beginning in Israel.

The term Aviv also means the beginning of the ripening of barley, as described in Exodus 9:31:

“(The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.”

The Hebrew term for “the barley was in the ear” is “haseorah aviv.”

“וְהַפִּשְׁתָּ֥ה וְהַשְּׂעֹרָ֖ה נֻכָּ֑תָה כִּ֤י הַשְּׂעֹרָה֙ אָבִ֔יב וְהַפִּשְׁתָּ֖ה גִּבְעֹֽל׃ “

Many celebrate the Jewish New Year in September/October, on the biblical feast of Yom Teruah, but it actually takes place in the seventh month: ‘“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. ‘

Leviticus 23:24

So, friends, we are just a few days away from the true biblical new year. How to celebrate it then?

There is a commandment for every beginning/head of the month (Rosh Chodesh) or New Moon Day/Feast (The beginning of the biblical month is always at the beginning of the New Moon)

“On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Numbers 10:10

This commandment is forgotten by many of us, but in other verses we see that it is placed in the same importance as the Sabbaths and Feasts.

“Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the Lord my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before him, and for the regular arrangement of the showbread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths and the new moons and the appointed feasts of the our God, as ordained forever for Israel.”

2 Chronicles 2:4

saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,”

Amos 8:5

“Thus says the Lord God : The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.”

Ezekiel 46:1

This Rosh Chodesh of the 1st of Aviv is also called Rosh haChodashim (Head of the Months).

We should celebrate it with the blowing of the Shofar, Worship, Prayer and Offerings, blessing the new year that begins.

May we flourish and bear much fruit!

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

Song of Solomon 2:10-14

Shana Tovah Umetukah! Have a Good and Sweet Year!