The Scarlet Cord - Moriel Ministries

Hebrew Feast
Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets)
(Hebrew
, literally “head of the
year”), is the Jewish New Year. It is the first
of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora’im
(“Days of Awe”) which usually occur in the
early autumn. Rosh Hashanah is celebrated
on the first two days of Tishrei. It is described
in the Torah as
( Yo m
Teru’ah, a day of sounding [the Shofar]).
Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding
the shofar and eating symbolic foods such
as apples dipped in honey.
Etymology
The term “Rosh Hashanah” does not appear
in the Torah. Leviticus 23:24 refers to
the festival of the first day of the seventh
month as “Zikhron Teru’ah” (“a memorial
with the blowing of horns”), it is also referred
to in the same part of Leviticus as
‘ ’ or penultimate Sabbath or
meditative rest day, and a “holy day to
God”. These same words are commonly
used in the Psalms to refer to the anointed
days. Numbers 29:1 calls the festival Yom
Teru’ah, (“Day [of] blowing [the horn]”)
and symbolizes a number of subjects, such
as the Binding of Isaac and the animal sacrifices
that were to be performed. (The term
Rosh Hashanah appears once in the Bible
in Ezekiel 40:1 where it means generally
the time of the “beginning of the year” or is
possibly a reference to Yom Kipur,[2] but
the phrase may also refer to the month of
Nissan in the spring, especially in light of
Exodus 12:2 where the month of Nissan is
stated as being “the first month of the year”
and Ezekiel 45:18 where “the first month”
unambiguously refers to Nissan, the month
of Passover, as made plain by Ezekiel 45:21.
The Hebrew Rosh Ha-Shanah is etymologically
related to the Arabic Ras as-Sanah,
the name chosen by Muslim lawmakers for
the Islamic New Year, reflecting the Islamic
immitation of older Jewish traditions. Pre-
Islamic mid-eastern cultures, besides the
Jews, did not use this unique name, e.g.,
Egypt, Persia or Babylon. Rosh Hashanah
Hasidic Jews performing tashlikh on
Rosh Hashanah, painting by Aleksander
Gierymski, 1884
marks the start of a new year in the Hebrew
calendar (one of four “new year” observances
that define various legal “years”
for different purposes as explained in the
Mishnah and Talmud). It is the new year for
people, animals, and legal contracts. The
Mishnah also sets this day aside as the new
year for calculating calendar years, shmita
and yovel years. Jews are confident, that
Rosh Hashanah represents either figuratively
or literally God’s creation ex nihilo.
However, according to Rabbi Eleazar ben
Shammua Rosh Hashanah commemorates
the creation of man.
Shofar blowing
Yemenite-style shofar
Laws on the form and use of the shofar
and laws related to the religious services
during the festival of Rosh Hashanah are
described in Rabbinic literature such as the
Mishnah that formed the basis of the tractate
“Rosh HaShanah” in both the Babylonian
Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud.
This also contains the most important rules
concerning the calendar year. The shofar is
blown in long, short and staccato blasts that
follow a set sequence:
• Teki’ah (long sound) Numbers 10:3
• Shevarim (3 broken sounds) Numbers 10:5
• Teru’ah (9 short sounds) Numbers 10:9
• Teki’ah Gedolah (very long sound) Exodus
19:16,19
• Shevarim Teru’ah (3 broken sounds followed
by 9 short sounds)
Duration and timing
• Rosh Hashanah occurs 163 days after the
first day of Passover (Pesach). In terms of
the Gregorian calendar, the earliest date
on which Rosh Hashanah can fall is September
5, as happened in 1899 and will
happen again in 2013. The latest date that
Rosh Hashanah can occur relative to the
Gregorian dates is October 5, as happened
in 1967 and will happen again in 2043.
After 2089, the differences between the
Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar
will result in Rosh Hashanah falling
no earlier than September 6.
• Rosh Hashanah will occur on the following
days of the Gregorian calendar:
• Current Jewish Year 5773: sunset September
16, 2012 - nightfall September 18, 2012
• Coming Jewish Year 5774: sunset September
4, 2013 - nightfall September 6, 2013
• Although the Jewish calendar is based on
the lunar cycle, so that the first day of
each month originally began with the first
sighting of a new moon, since the fourth
century it has been arranged so that Rosh
Hashanah never falls on a Wednesday,
Friday, or Sunday.
• The Torah defines Rosh Hashanah as a
one day celebration, and since days in the
Hebrew calendar begin at sundown, the
beginning of Rosh Hashanah is at sundown
at the end of 29 Elul. The rules of the Hebrew
calendar are designed such that the
first day of Rosh Hashanah will never occur
on the first, fourth, or sixth day of the
Jewish week (i.e., Sunday, Wednesday, or
Friday). Since the time of the destruction
of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70
CE and the time of Rabban Yohanan ben
Zakkai, normative Jewish law appears to
be that Rosh Hashanah is to be celebrated
for two days, due to the difficulty of determining
the date of the new moon. Nonetheless,
there is some evidence that Rosh
Hashanah was celebrated on a single day
in Israel as late as the thirteenth century
CE. Orthodox and Conservative Judaism
now generally observe Rosh Hashanah
for the first two days of Tishrei, even in
Israel where all other Jewish holidays
dated from the new moon last only one
day. The two days of Rosh Hashanah are
said to constitute “Yoma Arichtah” (Aramaic:
“one long day”). In Reform Judaism,
some communities only observe the
first day of Rosh Hashanah, while others
observe two days. Karaite Jews, who do
not recognize Rabbinic Jewish oral law
and rely on their own understanding of
the Torah, observe only one day on the
first of Tishrei, since the second day is not
mentioned in the Written Torah.
(Wikipedia)
Feast of Trumpets
30 Moriel Quarterly • September 2012