Two Beginnings of Creation: Why the World Was “Thought” in Nisan but Born in Tishrei

The Sages disagreed on a fascinating question: Was the world created in the month of Nisan or in the month of Tishrei?

In practice, Judaism recognizes two beginnings of the year. The Torah commands: “This month [Nisan] shall be for you the first of the months” — and indeed, all months are counted from Nisan.
Yet the Festival of Rosh Hashanah is celebrated in Tishrei, which the Torah refers to as “the end of the year.” Even the cycles of Shemitah (the Sabbatical year) and Yovel (the Jubilee year) begin in Tishrei.

Why do we need two “heads” of the year?

Thought and Reality: Two Acts of Creation

The Sages taught: “In Nisan, it arose in thought to be created; in Tishrei, it was actually created.”

The Maharal of Prague explains this profound idea. The world contains two opposing dimensions, like two movements running side by side. On one hand, the world is structured and orderly, governed by natural law, and filled with struggle, labor, and challenge. On the other, it overflows with unexpected grace, beauty, abundance, harvest, joy, and renewal.

Our lives mirror this pattern: droughts and storms, hardship and collapse — and suddenly, spring arrives: flowers bloom, the earth gives fruit, and the world is full of hope again.

A Confusing World — Test or Gift?

Reality often confuses us. Is God testing us through difficulty and restraint? Or is He blessing us with goodness and ease?

The answer, says the Maharal, is both. The world truly operates on two planes. 

In thought, in the divine ideal, the world was intended to be a place of blessing and generosity — created in Nisan, the month of spring, renewal, and life. In that ideal vision, everything is green and full of grain; the air is mild, neither hot nor cold; nature invites us to joy and celebration.

This is why Nisan is called “the first of months.” It represents how we are intended to see the world in its perfection — the world as it should be.

The World as It Is

In reality, humanity sinned. Just as Adam sinned and was exiled from Eden, so too we live outside the Garden — imperfect, struggling, and far from the ideal.

Therefore, in actual creation, the world began in Tishrei — in autumn. The weather turns cold, the soil is muddy, and humanity must labor and sow the earth. It is also the Day of Judgment, when our deeds are weighed. This is the world as it exists in practice — the earthly New Year of responsibility and effort.

Remembering the Springtime of the Soul

We never forget the spiritual New Year — Nisan and Passover, the festival of spring and freedom. Their character symbolizes the future redemption, the eternal spring that awaits the world, of endless joy, light, and abundance.

When that time comes, the two creations — the ideal and the actual, the heavenly and the earthly, will finally unite. May we soon reach that eternal season of everlasting renewal and peace.