“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first of the month, shall be a rest for you, a remembrance by means of a blast, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24). “In the seventh month, on the first of the month” – that is what is written: “Forever, Lord, Your word stands in the heavens” (Psalms 119:89). It is taught in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: On the twenty-fifth of Elul, the world was created.
Rav’s statement is in accordance with what Rabbi Eliezer taught, as we learned in the tekiata of Rav:1This is a liturgical composition that is recited along with the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShana. This day is the beginning of Your works, a commemoration of the first day. “For it is a statute for Israel, [a law of the God of Jacob]” (Psalms 81:5). Regarding the countries, it will be said: Which is for the sword and which is for peace, which is for famine and which is for plenty.
The people will be remembered on it, to be ascribed for life or for death. In conclusion, you say: On the day of Rosh HaShana, in the first hour it entered His thoughts,2The thought to create man entered God’s mind, as it were. in the second [hour] He consulted with the ministering angels, in the third He gathered his dust, in the fourth He kneaded it, in the fifth He shaped it, in the sixth He made it into a lifeless body, in the seventh He breathed a soul into him, in the eighth He brought him into the Garden, in the ninth he was commanded,3Adam was commanded not to eat from the Tree of Life. in the tenth he transgressed, in the eleventh he was sentenced, in the twelfth he emerged with a pardon.
The Holy One blessed be He said to Adam: ‘This is a portent for your descendants. Just as you stood trial before Me this day and emerged with a pardon, so your descendants are destined to stand trial before Me on this day and emerge before Me with a pardon.’ When? It is “in the seventh month, on the first of the month.”