Hebrew Month: Shevat

There are four new years:
The first of Nisan is the new year for kings and for festivals. The first of Elul is the new year for the tithe of beasts. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: the first of Tishri. The first of Tishri is the new year for years, for shmitta and jubilee years, for planting and for [tithe of] vegetables. The first of Shevat is the new year for trees, according to the words of Bet Shammai. Bet Hillel says: on the fifteenth of that month.

§ The mishna taught: On the first of Shevat is the new year for trees, according to the statement of Beit Shammai. The Gemara asks: What is the reason that the new year for trees was set on this date? Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Oshaya said: The reason is since by that time most of the year’s rains have already fallen, and most of the season, i.e., winter, is yet to come, as it continues until the spring equinox, which usually occurs in Nisan. The Gemara asks: What is he saying? The Gemara explains: This is what he said: Even though most of the winter season is yet to come, nevertheless, since most of the year’s rains have already fallen, it is considered the end of the previous year of rain, and anything that grows from then on is considered produce of the next year. The Sages taught in a baraita: There was once an incident involving Rabbi Akiva, who picked an etrog on the first of Shevat and set aside two tithes. This occurred in the second or the fifth year of the Sabbatical cycle. In the second and fifth years one sets aside second tithe, whereas in the third and sixth years one sets aside poor man’s tithe. Rabbi Akiva set aside both second tithe and poor man’s tithe because he was in doubt about the halakha.

On the first of Shevat is the New Year for the tree; the fruit of a tree that was formed prior to that date belong to the previous tithe year and cannot be tithed together with fruit that was formed after that date; this ruling is in accordance with the statement of Beit Shammai. But Beit Hillel say: The New Year for trees is on the fifteenth of Shevat.

On the twenty fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shevat, in the second year of Daryavesh, the word of the Lord came to Zekharya, the son of Berekhya, the son of ῾Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw in the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle bushes that were in the glen; and behind him were there red horses, sorrel, and white. Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said to me, I will show thee what these are. And the man that stood among the myrtle bushes answered and said, These are they whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro in the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle bushes, and said, We have walked to and fro in the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest. Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Yehuda, against which Thou hast had indignation these seventy years? And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words, words of comfort. So the angel that spoke with me said to me, Proclaim, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts; I am zealous for Yerushalayim and for Żiyyon with a great zeal. And I am very much displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was a little angry, but they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus says the Lord; I have returned to Yerushalayim with mercies: my house shall be rebuilt in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Yerushalayim. Proclaim further, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts; My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; and the Lord shall yet comfort Żiyyon, and shall yet choose Yerushalayim.

'And it was in the fortieth year in the eleventh month,' on Rosh Chodesh (the first day of) Shevat, [that Moshe] gathered the people and said to them, "The time of my death has arrived; and if there is from [among] you someone who heard a law and forgot it, he should come to me and ask me, and I will elucidate it. And anyone who has a doubt about a question, he should come, and I will explain it to him," as it is stated (Deuteronomy 1:5), "Moses undertook to expound this Torah, saying."

Rabbi Yoḥanan inquired of Rabbi Yannai: With regard to an etrog, when is its new year? Rabbi Yannai said to him: It is in Shevat. Rabbi Yoḥanan asked again: Are you referring to the lunar month of Shevat or to the Shevat of the solar season, which begins thirty days after the winter solstice, but on a different date each year? Rabbi Yannai said to him: I am referring to the lunar month of Shevat.