NISĀN (from the Babylonian nisannu). - The first month of the year in Israel; in the oldest biblical literature, it is identified with ḥōdheṣ hā-'ābhībh, “month of ripening ears” (v. 'ABIB): Neh. 2, 1; Esth. 3, 7 (Vulgate, also Esth. 3, 12; 11, 2). On the first of n. the construction of the tabernacle was completed (Ex. 40, 17); from the 1st to the 12th, the altar was inaugurated by the offering of sacrifices on the part of the heads of the 12 tribes (Num. 7). On the 14th of n. the paschal lamb was offered (Ex. 12, 3-13). The feast of Passover (v.) lasted from the 15th to the 22nd of n.
On the 13th of n., Num. 8, 1-4 is read in the synagogue. After this reading, a prayer of a mystical character is recited, taken from the work of R. Isaia Levi Horovitz, Le due tavole della Legge. In the month of n. there is no fast and no manifestation of mourning. The firstborn fast during the morning hours of the eve of Passover. The Saturday preceding Passover is called the “great Sabbath,” a designation later applied to the Saturday preceding New Year, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.