Tishrei: the Hebrew new year, festivals and Libra
Tishrei begins the numbered Hebrew year at Rosh Hashanah while remaining the seventh month in the sequence counted from Nisan. It has 30 days in the fixed calendar and follows Elul. English records may use Tishri, including some calendar software; both spellings refer to the same month.
Prepared by Mazalogy · Published · Our editorial approach
| Hebrew name | תשרי |
|---|---|
| Order counted from Nisan | 7 |
| Days in the fixed calendar | 30 |
| Gra letter | ל · Lamed |
| Gra zodiac correspondence | Libra |
| Gra faculty, concise gloss | Intimacy |
Seventh month, beginning of the year
The words “first” and “seventh” can both appear in discussions of Tishrei because they refer to different sequences. A source counting months from Nisan calls it seventh. A calendar showing the start of a numbered Hebrew year begins with Tishrei. Ask what is being counted before treating the descriptions as contradictory.
Compare 29 Elul with 1 Tishrei and record both year numbers. Then locate Nisan within that newly begun year. This exercise makes the year boundary concrete and shows why a month-order table needs a named starting point, particularly when it is reused in a lesson or family record.
Sources: Chabad · The Jewish Month: order and fixed-calendar lengths
A month with several distinct festivals
Chabad’s Tishrei guide introduces Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. A busy festival month requires more than one generic date label. The Israel and Diaspora schedules can differ, especially around the end of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, so identify the schedule before comparing calendars.
Make a planning note for one event rather than treating the entire month as one observance: name it, copy its Hebrew date, locate the civil daytime date and note its opening evening. Check a local community timetable for practical participation. A month overview is a map into those details.
Sources: Chabad · Tishrei month introduction
Lamed, Libra and the Gra version
The Gra version links Tishrei with Lamed and Libra. The faculty appears here as “intimacy,” a concise rendering of sexual intimacy in that version; it should not silently become “touch.” A modern study question can ask how trust and respectful boundaries support closeness, without attributing that exercise to the ancient text.
Sources: Sefer Yetzirah · Gra version, chapter 5:9 · Sefer Yetzirah · Compare another version, chapter 5:1–2
Use it in a calendar or birthday record
Keep “Tishri” in the original record if that is what it says, and add “Tishrei” as the site’s display spelling. When converting a birthday around Rosh Hashanah, inspect the numbered year as well as the month. Crossing the evening boundary can change more than a day label.
Continue from Tishrei
Explore the Hebrew calendar · Find your Hebrew birthday · Study the correspondence system
Sources and approach
Prepared with AI assistance using the linked sources and original reading exercises. Calendar facts, named textual correspondences and contemporary applications are kept distinct. The Gra version is the reference for this table; other versions can assign faculties differently.