Ten Crowns for the First Day of Nissan

In 5785/20’25, the new moon that marks the 1st day of Nissan in the Hebrew calendar appeared on March 30.

In Exodus 12:1-2, the Jewish people received the basic commandment for their lunar calendar.[1] The lunar month in which Passover occurs in the spring (on Nissan 15) is the first month of the year. Rabbi Nachman Simon explains it in this short audio lesson:

The Ten Crowns of the 1st of Nissan

Numbers 7:12-83 lists the offerings that the princes of the 12 Tribes brought to dedicate the Altar of the Tabernacle. Each day, one prince brought his offerings, beginning with Nachshon ben Amminidav of the tribe of Yehuda.  The first day of the dedication offerings was the 1st of Nissan, on a Sunday.

In Artscroll’s Sapirstein Edition of Numbers, fn. 1 to Rashi  on 17:12 lists “ten crowns” that were take by that 1st of Nissan:[2]

i) the first day of Creation, for the first of Nissan was a Sunday, as was the first day of Creation [see Genesis 1:3-5];

ii) the first day of the offerings brought by the princes of the tribes in honor of the inauguration of the [exterior] Altar;

iii) the first day of the assumption of the kehunah (priesthood) by Aaron and his sons [see Leviticus 9:1-21];

iv) the first day of the regular Altar service [see Leviticus 9:17];

v) the first day that fire descended from Heaven onto the Altar (see Leviticus 9:24);

vi) the first day of the restriction that [certain Jewish] offerings be eaten on the grounds of the Tabernacle only;

vii) the first day of the prohibition against bringing offerings on altars located outside the grounds of the Tabernacle;

viii) the first day of the first month of the year [see Exodus 12:1-2];

ix) the first day that the Divine Presence rested among Israel in the Tabernacle [see Exodus 40:34 and Leviticus 9:23] ;

x) the first day that the Kohanim [Jewish priests] delivered the priestly blessing [see Leviticus 6:22-27 and 9:22].

Footnotes:

[1] For more explanation about the Hebrew calendar, click here.

[2] Quoting Seder Olam 7.