The Hidden Festival of the Concealed Month of Tishrei

Pesikta DeRav Kahana 23:6

Rabbi Berekhiah opened: "Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the concealment [keseh] for our feast day" (Psalms 81:4). None of the months is truly "the month," except the one of concealment. And none of the months is concealed, except for "our feast day." But surely Nisan is a month, and it is concealed, and it has a feast, and its feast falls on its own day? Rather, the meaning is: a month that is concealed and has a feast whose feast is on the very day of the new moon itself — and which is that? This is Tishrei. "Tishrei" — it is written Tishrei because of the words "may You forgive [tishrei] and pardon [tishbok] our debts." When? "In the seventh month" (Leviticus 23:24).

Themes