Nisan (month)
Nisan ( Hebrew ניסן, also Nissan ) is the seventh month according to the “civil” Jewish calendar and the first month according to the “religious” calendar. It always lasts 30 days. Compared to the Gregorian calendar , the beginning of the month of Nisan fluctuates, but falls in the period from mid-March to mid-April, which is related to the fact that the Jewish calendar is not a solar calendar like the Gregorian, but a lunisolar calendar .
Occurrence in the Tanach
In the Tanach the term "Nisan" is used twice ( Neh 2,1 LUT ; Est 3,7 LUT ):
“In the first month, that is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, the pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from one day to the next and from month to month, and the lot fell on the thirteenth day in the twelfth month, that is the month of Adar. "
In the feast calendars of the books Exodus and Deuteronomy, on the other hand, the month is referred to as "Aviv" - the month of spring.
The following feast days and days of remembrance fall in Nisan:
- Seder (14.)
- Passover (15th-21st, 22nd only outside Israel)
- the omer counting
- the Yom Hashoah (27)
origin of the name
The term is derived from the Akkadian word nisannu , which refers to the spring bloom . Nisannu is a month name in the Babylonian calendar . The name Nisan is used in Arabic- speaking countries of the Levant ( Lebanon , Syria , Jordan , Iraq ), in today's Turkish and in the Kurdish language for the month of April of the Gregorian calendar.
