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Rosh Chodesh Nisan commemorates the start of the month of Nisan, and thereby inaugurates the beginning of the biblical new year.  Rosh Chodesh Nisan also marks the time to begin preparing for Passover.

Actually, this first month of the Hebrew calendar has three distinct names:

1. Rosh Chodashim - the head of the months, so named because it is the month of redemption, the month of the Exodus of the Jewish People from slavery in Egypt, which is considered so important that all the other months are ordered in relation to its ocurrence. This day is also sometimes called haChodesh HaRishon.
2. Chodesh HaAviv - The Spring-time month, so named because the Hebrew Calendar is set up so that the month must fall in the Spring when the fresh ears of barley were formed.
3. Nisan - a name of Babylonian-Persian origin.

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. (Exodus 12:2)

The Shabbat preceding Nisan 1 is called HaChodesh and is one of the special Shabbatot (special Sabbaths) intended to ready oneself for a festival or other event (in this case, Passover, which begins two weeks later on Nisan 14). In addition to the regular Torah reading for Shabbat, Exodus 12:1-20 is read and Ezekiel 45-46 is recited as Haftarah.

Of all the various Rosh Chodesh celebrations, Rosh Chodesh Nisan is the most significant, since it prepares us for the coming time of Passover and is the starting point for the biblical cycle of yearly festivals (mo'edim) which reveal great prophetic truths about the LORD God of Israel and His beloved Son, Yeshua the Mashiach, blessed be He.

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