Chronology of בריאת העולם BRIYAT HA-OLAM (creation)
Symbolic collage for the chronology of creation. AI-generated illustration for TJD, 2026-09-07.
בראשית BEREŜIT orders creation into six days followed by a seventh day of cessation, blessing and holiness. The sequence moves from the formation of the world to its living creatures and humankind, then to sacred time. The text numbers the days; their month and year assignments belong to later chronology within יהדות YAHADUT.1
First day
כ״ה באלול א׳ 25th 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 1Precision: day · Basis: traditional
The heavens and earth were created.
כ״ה באלול א׳ 25th 𝑜𝑓 Elul, AM 1: The heavens and earth were created.
There are three traditions. These are alternative placements of the same narrative, not separate creation events.3
The autumn tradition from ר׳ אליעזר בן הורקנוס R. ELIʾEZER BEN HURKANOS places creation in תשרי TIŜREI. This begins the week on כ״ה באלול 25th 𝑜𝑓 Elul and places the creation of אדם ADAM on ראש השנה ROŜ HAʾŜANA.
The spring tradition from ר׳ יהושע R. YEHOSUA places creation in ניסן NISAN. This sequence runs from כ״ה באדר 25th 𝑜𝑓 Adar through ב׳ בניסן 2nd 𝑜𝑓 Nisan.
To reconcile the two opinions, רבנו תם RABEINU TAM distinguishes divine thought in תשרי TIŜREI from creation carried out in ניסן NISAN.4
The autumn tradition is the most widely accepted. Its first five days fall in AM 1 and its last two in AM 2 under the year-counting convention used today. That numbering is part of the detailed dating that has developed over many centuries.5
