The Hebrew months

Spring (Mar–Apr) named in Esther 3:7

In the Torah this is the month of Aviv, “the month of the spring,” named as the first month of the year at the time of the Exodus (Exodus 12:2, 13:4). Its familiar name, Nisan, is not from the Torah itself: like most of the month names in use today it is of Babylonian origin, adopted after the exile and first appearing in the later books written under Persian rule (Esther 3:7).

Spring (Apr–May)

The Torah does not name this month at all. Its only biblical name is Ziv, “month of blossoms,” used once to date the start of Shlomo’s Temple construction to the second month of his fourth year as king (1 Kings 6:1). The modern name Iyar is itself post-biblical and never appears in the Tanakh.

Spring (May–Jun) named in Esther 8:9

Named in Esther 8:9, when Mordechai’s counter-decree was written in the third month, Sivan, during the reign of Achashverosh. In the Torah’s own count it is simply ‘the third month’ — the month in which Israel encamped at Sinai and received the Torah (Exodus 19:1) — and it holds Shavuot, one of the three pilgrimage festivals.

Summer (Jun–Jul)

The Torah gives no name to this month, and its only Tanakh appearance is not calendrical at all: Ezekiel is shown women at the Temple gate “weeping for Tammuz” (Ezekiel 8:14), a Mesopotamian god whose annual mourning rite the prophet condemns as idolatry. The month name in use today borrows that same god’s name from the Babylonian calendar — one of several Hebrew month names taken over from Babylon during the exile, this one keeping its pagan origin closest to the surface.

Summer (Jul–Aug)

The Torah does not name this month. It is the fifth month by the Torah’s own count, and Scripture places two great losses in it without naming the month itself: Aharon’s death at Mount Hor, dated to the first day of the fifth month (Numbers 33:38), and the burning of the First Temple, dated to the fifth month as well (2 Kings 25:8-9).

Summer (Aug–Sep) named in Nehemiah 6:15

Named in Nehemiah 6:15, which dates the completion of Jerusalem’s rebuilt walls to the twenty-fifth of Elul, fifty-two days after the work began. In the Torah’s own count it is the sixth month; tradition treats it as a season of preparation before the Days of Awe, though the Tanakh itself assigns it no festival of its own.

Autumn (Sep–Oct)

The Torah never names this month. Throughout the festival calendar of Leviticus 23 it is simply ‘the seventh month’ — the one that holds Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. Its one biblical name, Eitanim, appears once, dating the dedication of Shlomo’s Temple to the feast of the seventh month (1 Kings 8:2); the name in use today, Tishrei, is itself post-biblical.

Autumn (Oct–Nov)

The Torah does not name this month, and it is the only one of the twelve that carries no festival at all — a fact tradition itself marks by nicknaming it ‘Mar-Cheshvan,’ bitter Cheshvan. Its one biblical name, Bul, appears once, dating the completion of Shlomo’s Temple building to the eighth month of his eleventh year as king (1 Kings 6:38).

Autumn (Nov–Dec) named in Zechariah 7:1

Named in Zechariah 7:1, which dates a prophetic word to the ninth month, and again in Nehemiah 1:1, where Nehemiah hears of Jerusalem’s ruined walls while in Shushan. In the Torah’s own count it is the ninth month; Chanukah, which falls in it, commemorates events of the Second Temple period and lies outside the Tanakh itself.

Winter (Dec–Jan) named in Esther 2:16

Named in Esther 2:16, which dates Ester’s entry into the king’s house to the tenth month, in the seventh year of Achashverosh’s reign. It is the tenth month by the Torah’s own count, and Scripture also marks the start of Jerusalem’s final siege to the tenth day of this month (2 Kings 25:1).

Winter (Jan–Feb) named in Zechariah 1:7

Named in Zechariah 1:7, which dates one of the prophet’s visions to the eleventh month, in the second year of Darius. It is the eleventh month by the Torah’s own count; Tu BiShvat, the ‘new year of the trees’ that falls in it, is a later, rabbinic reckoning rather than a festival the Tanakh itself names.

Winter (Feb–Mar) named in Esther 3:7

Named repeatedly in Esther 3:7, where Haman casts lots from month to month until the lot falls on the twelfth month, Adar — the month his decree against the Jews was set for, and in which their deliverance came instead. It is the twelfth and last month of the Torah’s own count, and Purim, commanded to be kept “the fourteenth day of the month Adar” (Esther 9:21), falls within it.

Leap years only

Adar II exists only in the seven leap years of every nineteen-year cycle, added so the lunar calendar’s twelve months keep pace with the solar seasons; the Torah itself names no such second month. When a leap year falls, Purim moves to Adar II rather than the earlier Adar, so that it stays fixed to spring, one month before Pesach.