Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah - "head of the year,"
Hebrew: ראש השנה‎, is a Jewish holiday usually called the "Jewish New Year." It's celebrated on the 1st day of Tishrei, the 7th month of the Jewish calendar, as established in the Torah, in Leviticus 23:24. Rosh Hashanah is the 1st of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim which means the “Days of Awe”, or The Ten Days of Repentance which are days particularly set aside to concentrate on repentance that conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is the start of the civil year in the Jewish calendar. It's the new year for human beings, animals, and contracts. The Mishnah also sets this day aside as the new year for calculating calendar years and sabbatical and jubilee years. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of man considering that five days earlier, on 25 of Elul, marks the 1st day of creation.

The Mishnah, the center text of Judaism's oral Torah, includes the 1st acknowledged advertence to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of judgment." In the Talmud tractate on Rosh Hashanah it affirms that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, wherein the fate of the evil, the righteous, and those of an middle class are recorded. The names of the righteous are immediately recorded in the book of life, and they are sealed "to live." The middle class are allowed a adjournment of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to repent and become righteous; the evil are "blotted out of the book of the living.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated as a day of rest (Leviticus 23:24) and the activities forbidden on Shabbat are also forbidden on Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is defined by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram's horn, designed to arouse the listener from his or her "slumber" and warn them to the coming judgment. There are several supplements to the common Jewish service, most notably an lengthened alliteration of the Amidah prayer for both Shacharit and Mussaf. The customary Hebrew greeting on Rosh Hashanah is "shana tova", for "a good year," or "shana tova umetukah" for "a good and sweet year." On account of Jews are being judged by God for the coming year, a longer greeting interprets as "may you be written and sealed for a good year" (ketiva ve-chatima tovah). All along the afternoon of the 1st day the practice of tashlikh is celebrated, in which prayers are quoted near natural flowing water, and one's immoralities are figuratively thrown into the water. Many also have the custom to throw bread or pebbles into the water, to represent the "casting off" of sins.

Holidays Names and origins

The term "Rosh Hashanah" does not occur in the Torah, but is used in the Hebrew Bible in Ezekiel 40:1 in general advertence to the "beginning of the year." Leviticus 23:24 refers to the festival of the 1st day of the 7th month as "Zicaron Terua" ("a memorial with the blowing of horns"). Numbers 29:1 calls the festival Yom Terua, ("Day of blowing the horn") and defines the nature of animal sacrifices that were to be performed. The Hebrew Bible defines Rosh Hashanah as a one-day observance, and since days in the Jewish calendar begin at sundown, the beginning of Rosh Hashanah is at sundown at the end of 29 Elul. The rules of the Jewish calendar are designed such that the 1st day of Rosh Hashanah will never occur on the 1st, fourth, or sixth days of the Jewish week (ie Sunday, Wednesday or Friday).

Since the time of the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE and the time of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, normative Jewish law occurs 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 1st two days of Tishrei, even in Israel where all other Jewish holidays dated from the new moon (except Rosh Hodesh - the New Month, on which Rosh Hashanah falls) last only one day. The two days of Rosh Hashanah are said to constitute "Yoma Arichtah" (Aramaic: "one long day"). The observance of a second day is a later addition and does not follow from the literal reading of Leviticus. In Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism, some communities observe only the 1st day of Rosh Hashanah, while others observe two days. Karaite Jews, who do not recognize Jewish oral law and rely solely on Biblical authority, observe only one day on the 1st of Tishrei, since the second day is not mentioned in the Torah.

Laws on the form and use of the shofar and laws related to the religious services all along the festival of Rosh Hashanah are described in Rabbinic literature such as the Mishnah that formed the basis of the tractate "Rosh HaShana" in both the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud. This also includes the most important rules concerning the calendar year.

In Jewish liturgy Rosh Hashanah is described as "the day of judgment" (Yom ha-Din) and "the day of remembrance" (Yom ha-Zikkaron). Some midrashic descriptions depict God as sitting upon a throne, while books includeing the deeds of all humanity are opened for review, and each person passing in front of Him for evaluation of his or her deeds.

Rosh Hashanah occurs 163 days after the 1st 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 Rosh Hashanah can occur relative to the Gregorian dates is on October 5, as happened in 1967 and will happen again in 2043. After 2089, the differences between the Jewish calendar and the Gregorian calendar will result in Rosh Hashanah falling no earlier than September 6.

In History

In the earliest times the Hebrew year began in autumn with the opening of the economic year. There followed in common succession the seasons of seed-sowing, growth and ripening of the corn (here meaning any grain) under the influence of the former and the latter rains, harvest and ingathering of the fruits. In harmony with this was the order of the great agricultural festivals, according to the oldest legislation, namely, the feast of unleavened bread at the beginning of the barley harvest, in the month of Abib; the feast of harvest, seven weeks later; and the feast of ingathering at the going out or turn of the year (See Exodus 23:14-17; Deuteronomy 16:1-16).

It's probable that the new year was celebrated from ancient times in some particular way. The earliest advertence to such a custom is, probably, in the account of the vision of Ezekiel (Ezek 40:1). This took place at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month (Tishri). On the same day the beginning of the year of jubilee was to be proclaimed by the blowing of trumpets (Lev 25:9). According to the Septuagint rendering of Ezek 44:20, particular sacrifices were to be offered on the 1st day of the 7th month as well as on the 1st day of the 1st month. This 1st day of the 7th month was designated by the Law to be "a day of blowing of trumpets". There was to be a holy convocation; no servile work was to be done; and particular sacrifices were to be offered (Lev 23:23-25; Num 29:1-6). This day was not expressly called New-Year's Day, but it was evidently so regarded by the Jews at a very early period.

Holiday observance and customs

Rosh Hashanah is a day of rest (Leviticus 23:24): with some variations, the activities forbidden on Shabbat are also forbidden on all major Jewish holidays, including Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah is defined by the blowing of the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram's horn.

previous month

The Yamim Noraim are preceded by the month of Elul, all along which Jews are supposed to begin a self-examination and repentance, a process that culminates in the ten days of the Yamim Noraim acknowledged as beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with the holiday of Yom Kippur.

The shofar is blown in customary communities every morning for the entire month of Elul, the month preceding Rosh Hashanah. The sound of the shofar is designed to arouse the listener from his or her "slumber" and warn them to the coming judgment. Orthodox and some Conservative Jewish communities do not blow the shofar on Shabbat.

In the period leading up to the Yamim Noraim (Hebrew, "days of awe") penitential prayers, called selichot, are quoted.

Rosh Hashanah Eve

The day before Rosh HaShanah is acknowledged as Erev Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew. It falls on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Elul, the day before the 1st of Tishrei. Some communities have the customs to perform Hatarat nedarim - a nullification of vows - after the morning prayer services all along the morning of Erev Rosh Hashanah. The mood becomes festive but serious in anticipation of the new year and the synagogue services. Many Orthodox men have the custom to immerse in a mikveh in honor of the coming day.

Rosh Hashana Day

On Rosh Hashanah itself, religious poems, called piyyuttim, are added to the common services. Particular prayer books for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, called the mahzor (plural mahzorim), have developed over the years. Many poems refer to Psalms 81:4: "Blow the shofar on the month, when the is covered for our holiday".

Rosh Hashanah has several supplements to the common service, most notably an lengthened alliteration of the Amidah prayer for both Shacharit and Mussaf. The Shofar is blown all along Mussaf at several intervals. Biblical verses are quoted at each point. According to the Mishnah, 10 verses (each) are said regarding kingship, remembrance, and the shofar itself, each accompanied by the blowing of the shofar. A variety of piyyutim, medieval penitential prayers, are quoted regarding themes of repentance. The Alenu prayer is quoted all along the alliteration of the Mussaf Amidah.

There are four different sounds that the Shofar makes, Tekiah (one long sound), Shevarim (3 broken sounds), Teruah (many short sounds) and Tekiah Gedolah (a very long sound) All along the time when the Shofar is being blown we must listen carefully, not talk and do Teshuva (repentance). In many synagogues, even little children come and hear the Shofar being blown.

The customary greeting on Rosh Hashanah is "shana tova", Hebrew for "a good year," or "shana tova umetukah" for "a good and sweet year." On account of Jews are being judged by God for the coming year, a longer greeting interprets as "may you be written and sealed for a good year".

All along the afternoon of the 1st day occurs the practice of tashlikh, in which prayers are quoted near natural flowing water, and one's immoralities are figurativly thrown into the water. Many also have the custom to throw bread or pebbles into the water, to represent the "casting off" of sins. In some communities, if the 1st day of Rosh Hashanah occurs on Shabbat, tashlikh is postponed until the second day. The customary service for tashlikh is quoted individually and includes the prayer "Who is like unto you, O God...And You will thrown all their immoralities into the depths of the sea", and Biblical passages including Isaiah 11:9 ("They will not injure nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea") and Psalms 118:5-9, 121 and 130, as well as personal prayers.

Rosh Hashanah meals often include apples and honey, to represent a sweet new year. Various other foods with a symbolic meaning may be served, depending on local minhag (custom), such as tongue or other meat from the head of an animal (to represent the head of the year). Other symbolic foods are dates, black-eyed beans, leek, spinach and gourd, all of which are mentioned in the Talmud. Pomegranates are used in many traditions: the use of apples and honey is a late medieval Ashkenazi addition, though It's now almost universally accepted. Typically, round challah bread is served, to represent the cycle of the year. Gefilte fish and Lekach are usually served on this holiday. On the second night, new fruits are served to warrant inclusion of the shehecheyanu blessing, the saying of which would otherwise be doubtful.

Mentions in rabbinic literature

Philo, in his treatise on the festivals, calls Rosh Hashanah the festival of the sacred moon and feast of the trumpets, and explains the blowing of the trumpets as being a memorial of the giving of the Torah and a reminder of God's benefits to mankind in general ("De Septennario," § 22).

The Mishnah, the center text of Judaism's oral Torah, includes the 1st acknowledged advertence to the "day of judgment". It says: "Four times in the year the world is judged: On Passover a decree is passed on the produce of the soil; on Shavuot, on the fruits of the trees; on Rosh Hashanah all men pass before Him ("God"); and on the Feast of Tabernacles a decree is passed on the rain of the year.

R. Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that in earlier generations it was considered preferable not to reveal that it was a "day of judgment" so as not to mix any other feeling into "the day of the coronation of G-d". In later generations as people lost touch with the significance of the day it was necessary to reveal that it was also "the day of judgment" so that people would approach the holiday with proper awe and respect.

According to rabbinic tradition, the creation of the world completed on 1 Tishrei.

The observance of the 1 Tishrei as Rosh Hashanah is based principally on the mention of "zikkaron" (= "memorial day"; Lev 23:24) and the advertence of Ezra to the day as one "holy to the Lord" (Neh 8:9) seem to point. The passage in Psalms 81:5 referring to the solemn feast which is held on New Moon Day, when the shofar is sounded, as a day of "mishpat" (judgment) of "the God of Jacob" is taken to indicate the character of Rosh Hashanah .

In Jewish thought, Rosh Hashanah is the most important judgment day, on which all the inhabitants of the world pass for judgment before the Creator, as sheep pass for examination before the shepherd. It's written in the Talmud, in the tractate on Rosh Hashanah that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, wherein the fate of the evil, the righteous, and those of an middle class are recorded. The names of the righteous are immediately recorded in the book of life, and they are sealed "to live." The middle class are allowed a adjournment of ten days till Yom Kippur, to repent and become righteous; the evil are "blotted out of the book of the living" (Psalms 69:29).

The zodiac sign of the balance for Tishrei is claimed to indicate the scales of judgment, balancing the meritorious against the evil acts of the person judged. The taking of an annual inventory of accounts on Rosh Hashanah is adduced by Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac from the passage in Deut 11:12, which says that the care of God is directed from "the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year". 1 Tishrei was considered as the beginning of Creation.

It's said in the Talmud that on Rosh Hashanah the means of sustenance of every person are apportioned for the ensuing year; so also are his destined losses.

The Zohar, a medieval work of Kabbalah, lays stress on the universal observance of two days, and affirms that the two passages in Job 1:6 and Job 2:1, "when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord," refer to the 1st and second days of Rosh Hashanah , celebrated by the Heavenly Court before the Almighty. (Zohar, Pinchas, p. 231a)