The Rosh Hashanah Machzor says היום הרת עולם and depending on your edition, probably translates it something like “today is the birthday of the world” or some fairly similar translation.

But… Says who?

This holiday is not called “Rosh Hashanah” (“start of year” or more colloquially, “new year”) in the Torah. It’s called a יום תרועה (“day of horn sounding”) and זכרון תרועה, (“remembrance of horn sounding”) but not Rosh Hashanah!

In fact, in Exodus chapter 12, it is pretty clear that Nissan is the first month of the year!

הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחׇדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה

This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.

Furthermore, even if it is the beginning of the year, does that mean it’s the birthday of the world – the day that the world was created?

In fact, in masechet (tractate) Rosh Hashanah, the first mishnah immediately tells us that there are four new years on the Jewish calendar!

אַרְבָּעָה רָאשֵׁי שָׁנִים הֵם, בְּאֶחָד בְּנִיסָן — רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַמְּלָכִים וְלָרְגָלִים.

בְּאֶחָד בֶּאֱלוּל — רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לְמַעְשַׂר בְּהֵמָה. רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר וְרַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמְרִים: בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרִי.

בְּאֶחָד בְּתִשְׁרִי — רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לַשָּׁנִים וְלַשְּׁמִיטִּין וְלַיּוֹבְלוֹת, לִנְטִיעָה וְלִירָקוֹת.

בְּאֶחָד בִּשְׁבָט — רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה לָאִילָן כְּדִבְרֵי בֵּית שַׁמַּאי. בֵּית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים: בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ.

There are four new years. on the first of Nisan is new year for kings and for festivals. on the first of Elul is new year for the tithe of cattle. R. Eleazar and R. Simeon, however, place this on the first of Tishrei. On the first of Tishrei is new year for years, for release and jubilee years, for plantings and for [tithe of] vegetables. On the first of Shevat is new year for trees, according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, place it on the fifteenth of that month.

So we see that both the first of Nissan and the first of Tishrei are new years (among others.)

But neither of them is identified in the mishnah as the “birthday” or creation day of the world!

A bit later on in the Gemara of Rosh Hashanah, daf 10b-11a we find a discussion that relates these dates to the Creation of the world, but of course, there’s more than one opinion, we have a machloket (disagreement):

תַּנְיָא, רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר: בְּתִשְׁרִי נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם, בְּתִשְׁרִי נוֹלְדוּ אָבוֹת, בְּתִשְׁרִי מֵתוּ אָבוֹת, בַּפֶּסַח נוֹלַד יִצְחָק, בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה נִפְקְדָה שָׂרָה רָחֵל וְחַנָּה, בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה יָצָא יוֹסֵף מִבֵּית הָאֲסוּרִין.

בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה בָּטְלָה עֲבוֹדָה מֵאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְּמִצְרַיִם, בְּנִיסָן נִגְאֲלוּ, בְּתִשְׁרִי עֲתִידִין לִיגָּאֵל.

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רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר: בְּנִיסָן נִבְרָא הָעוֹלָם, בְּנִיסָן נוֹלְדוּ אָבוֹת, בְּנִיסָן מֵתוּ אָבוֹת, בְּפֶסַח נוֹלַד יִצְחָק, בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה נִפְקְדָה שָׂרָה רָחֵל וְחַנָּה, בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה יָצָא יוֹסֵף מִבֵּית הָאֲסוּרִין, בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה בָּטְלָה עֲבוֹדָה מֵאֲבוֹתֵינוּ בְּמִצְרַיִם, בְּנִיסָן נִגְאֲלוּ בְּנִיסָן עֲתִידִין לִיגָּאֵל.

It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: In Tishrei the world was created; in Tishrei the Patriarchs were born; in Tishrei the Patriarchs died; on Passover Isaac was born; on Rosh HaShanah Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah were remembered by God and conceived; on Rosh HaShanah Joseph came out from prison; [11a] on Rosh HaShanah our forefathers’ work in Egypt ceased; in Nisan the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt; and in Tishrei in the future the Jewish people will be redeemed.

Rabbi Yehoshua says: In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; in Nisan the Patriarchs died; on Passover Isaac was born; on Rosh HaShanah Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah were remembered by God and conceived sons; on Rosh HaShanah Joseph came out from prison; on Rosh HaShanah our forefathers’ work in Egypt ceased; in Nisan the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt; and in Nisan in the future the Jewish people will be redeemed.

So now we have an answer: One opinion, Rabbi Eliezer, at least, says that the world was created in Tishrei, which tracks fairly closely to saying that today is the birthday of the world. Assuming that by “in Tishrei” he means on the first of Tishrei.

Now, you might think that this machloket is only a midrash about world / Jewish history.

However, in fact, there’s a halachah that depends on exactly this question: ברכת החמה, the blessing on the Sun, said once every 28 years! (The last time was in 2009…)

(And this may be the only evidence external to that sugya itself that supports either opinion…)

This rare blessing is described on masechet Brachot 59b:

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: הָרוֹאֶה חַמָּה בִּתְקוּפָתָהּ, לְבָנָה בִּגְבוּרָתָהּ, וְכוֹכָבִים בִּמְסִילּוֹתָם, וּמַזָּלוֹת כְּסִדְרָן, אוֹמֵר: ״בָּרוּךְ … עוֹשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית״. וְאֵימַת הָוֵי? אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: כׇּל עֶשְׂרִין וּתְמָנְיָא שְׁנִין, וְהָדַר מַחְזוֹר וְנָפְלָה תְּקוּפַת נִיסָן, בְּשַׁבְּתַאי בְּאוּרְתָּא דִּתְלָת נַגְהֵי אַרְבַּע

Our Rabbis taught: He who sees the sun at its turning point, the Moon in its power, the planets in their orbits, and the signs of the zodiac in their orderly progress, should say: Blessed be He who has wrought the work of creation.

And when [does this happen]? — Abaye said: Every twenty-eight years when the cycle begins again and the Nisan [Spring] equinox falls in Saturn on the evening of Tuesday, going into Wednesday.

(Note that “falls in Saturn” refers to an association of hours of days with the Sun, Moon and five visible planets. This cycle repeats weekly. Meanwhile, relative to the hours of a weekly cycle, the Sun’s cycle of approximately 365.25 days, “completes” – or the equinox falls out – one quarter day away from the previous year’s hour of completion. Hence a 28 year cycle.)

The blessing is said When the Sun’s cycle returns to where is was when it was created and the blessing is always said in Nissan!!!

The Halacha follows Rabbi Yehoshua! The world was created in Nissan!

So now we’re back to our קשיא (difficulty) on the Machzor. Is the Machzor only accurate according to R. Eliezer, who’s opinion we don’t hold by in this machloket? That’s not a very satisfying answer…

Let’s explore some further midrashim related to this question.

The Gemara on Menachot 29, regarding the verse ” כי בי-ה צור עולמים” – “for in G-d the Rock Of Worlds” explained:

This is saying that עולם הזה, this “ה-wired” world, metaphorically speaking, was created based on an expectation that people would need teshuva and would do teshuva to go up rather than fall through the bottom of the ה “out of the world”.

Similarly, Rashi says on the first verse of the Torah:

ברא אלהים וְלֹא נֶאֱמַר בָּרָא ה’, שֶׁבַּתְּחִלָּה עָלָה בְמַחֲשָׁבָה לִבְרֹאתוֹ בְּמִדַּת הַדִּין, רָאָה שֶׁאֵין הָעוֹלָם מִתְקַיֵּם, הִקְדִּים מִדַּת רַחֲמִים וְשִׁתְּפָהּ לְמִהַ”דִּ, וְהַיְינוּ דִּכְתִיב בְּיוֹם עֲשׂוֹת ה’ אֱלֹהִים אֶרֶץ וְשָׁמָיִם:

ברא אלהים God [midat hadin, the attribute of Divine Judgement] created — It does not state ‘ברא ה “The Lord [the Attribute of Mercy] created, because at first God intended to create it (the world) under the attribute (rule) of strict justice, but He realized that the world could not thus endure and therefore gave precedence to Divine Mercy partnering it with Divine Justice. It is to this that what is written in (Genesis 2:4) alludes — “In the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven”.

The idea here is that God would ideally like to have created a world based on מדת הדין. But it (or the people in it) wouldn’t have been able to last. So Hashem created this world, that we live in, as per the verse in Genesis 2, that is based on מדת הרחמים as well. The world that resembles the letter hei. And not only based on מדת הרחמים, but הִקְדִּים מִדַּת רַחֲמִים – preceding it to din, judgement.

The world of רחמים gets created first – or preceding the world of din – and that is the creation, of this world, in Nissan.

This world, the world of physical reality, is per R. Yehoshua, created in Nissan. Hence the blessing of the Sun being in Nissan. But the spiritual world reality we currently live in is also the world of the ה, the world based on the need for רחמים from Hashem and teshuva, repentance. It makes sense to say that the existing spiritual world was also created in Nissan.

However, the ideal, “perfected world” of מדת הדין, the world Hashem conceived “first”, that’s the world Conceived of beginning in Tishrei. “Conceived” is a much better translation of הרת! Like in the Bible where the beginning of pregnancy is often described using הריון , like “הנך הרה”, when Hagar is informed by an angel that she is pregnant, or ותהר חנה, respectively in Torah and the haftarah portions read on the first day of Rosh Hashanah. (Coincidence…? Probably not!)

Hence the continuation of the line היום הרת עולם in the machzor is היום יעמיד במשפט – which directly relates it to מדת הדין!

Now we can understand how we say that the world was conceived in Tishrei, even though we follow the halacha like R. Yehoshua that it was actually created in Nissan.

Tishrei is the Rosh Hashanah when Hashem conceived the ideal world, the world of the potential. The potential for humans to be able to live lives that would stand up to the challenge of מדת הדין, of Divine Judgement.

That is the Rosh Hashanah of Tishrei, the antipode of the creation of the World with rachamim in Nissan.

And this is the Rosh Hashanah where we focus on our own efforts to reach our own potential – to improve ourselves relative to the ideal(s) we hope to live up to.

Although Hashem may give us the opportunity to do teshuvah based on midat harachamim, Divine Mercy, we must still strive to achieve our potential as if we are judged by midat hadin, Divine Judgement, – as if trying to create an ideal world – that’s what judgement day is about! That’s the Rosh Hashanah of the world conceived in Tishrei.

May we all have a year, beginning now, in which we live up to our greatest potential that can be conceived.