Rosh
Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה
transliterated ro’sh hash-shānāh, "head
of the year") is the Jewish New Year. In
fact, Judaism has four "new years" which
mark various legal "years", much like in
the United States January 1 marks the
"new year" but the "fiscal new year"
starts on a different date. Rosh
Hashanah 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 and
sabbatical (shemitta) and jubilee (yovel)
years.
Rabbinic literature and the liturgy
itself describes Rosh Hashanah as "The
Day of Judgment" (Yom ha-Din), "The Day
of Rememberance" (Yom ha-Zikkaron) and
"The Day of the Blowing of the Shofar"
(Yom Terua). Some descriptions depict
God as sitting upon a throne, while
books containing the deeds of all
humanity are opened for review.
This holiday is the first of the Yamim
Noraim (Hebrew, "Days of Awe"), the most
solemn days of the Jewish year; the
Yamim Noraim are preceded by the month
of Elul, during which Jews are supposed
to begin a self-examination and
repentance, a process that culminates in
the ten days of the Yamim Noraim,
beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending
with the holiday of Yom Kippur.
Date
Rosh
Hashanah extends over the first two days
of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, even in
Israel where most holidays last only one
day. (Since days in the Hebrew calendar
begin at sunset, the beginning of Rosh
Hashanah is when sunset occurs at the
end of the 29th of Elul.)
The second day is a later addition and
does not follow from the literal reading
of the Biblical commandment, which
states that the holiday should be
celebrated on the first day. The two
days of Rosh Hashanah are considered "Yoma
Arichtah" (Aramaic: "one long day".
There is some evidence that Rosh
Hashanah was celebrated for only one day
in Jerusalem as late as the thirteenth
century. In Reconstructionist Judaism
and Reform Judaism, some communities do
indeed observe only the first day of
Rosh Hashanah, while others observe two
days. Orthodox Judaism and Conservative
Judaism observe both the first and
second days. The Karaites Jews who do
not accept the "oral law" but rely only
on Biblical scripture, observe only one
day on the first day of Tishrei, since
the second day is not mentioned
literally in the Torah.
Rosh Hashanah occurs 162 days after the
first day of Pesach (Passover). In the
Gregorian calendar at present, Rosh
Hashanah cannot occur before September
5, as happened in 1899 and will happen
again in 2013. After the year 2089, the
differences between the Hebrew Calendar
and the Gregorian Calendar will force
Rosh Hashanah to be not earlier than
September 6. Rosh Hashanah cannot occur
later than October 5, as happened in
1967 and will happen again in 2043. The
Hebrew calendar is so constituted that
the first day of Rosh Hashanah can never
occur on Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday.
The following table lists the two days
of Jewish Rosh Hashanah for some years.
Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on the
evening before the first day listed in
the table.
Jewish year Starts (before sunset)
Ends (after sunset)
5766 2005-10-03 2005-10-05
5767 2006-09-22 2006-09-24
5768 2007-09-12 2007-09-14
5769 2008-09-29 2008-10-01
Traditions and customs
This
holiday is characterized by the blowing
of the shofar (as per Leviticus 23:24),
a trumpet made from a ram's horn. In
fact, the shofar is blown in traditional
communities every morning for the entire
month of Elul, the month preceding Rosh
Hashanah. The sound of the shofar is
intended to awaken the listener from his
or her "slumber" and alert them to the
coming judgment (Maimonides, Yad, Laws
of Repentance 3:4).
In the period leading up to the Yamim
Noraim ("Hebrew, "Days of Awe") many
penitential prayers (called selihot) are
recited, and on Rosh Hashanah itself
religious poems (called piyyuttim) are
added to the regular services. Special
prayer books for Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur, called the mahzor (mahzorim pl),
have developed over the years. Many
poems refer to Psalms 81:4: "Blow the
shofar on the [first day of the] month,
when the [moon] is covered for our
holiday".
The traditional greeting on Rosh
Hashanah is "Shana Tova" IPA /ʃaˈna
toˈva/, Hebrew for "A Good Year".
Because Jews are being judged by God for
the coming year, a longer greeting
translates as "May You Be Written and
Sealed for a Good Year" (ketiva
ve-chatima tovah).
During the afternoon of the first day
occurs the practice of tashlikh, the
symbolic casting away of sins by
throwing either stones or bread crumbs
into flowing waters.
Rosh Hashanah meals often include apples
and honey, to symbolize 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
(to symbolise the "head" of the year).
Typically, round challah bread is
served, to symbolize the cycle of the
year. On the second night, new fruits
are served to warrant inclusion of the
shehecheyanu blessing, the saying of
which would otherwise doubtful (as the
second day is part of the "long day"
mentioned above).
Pomegranate
One takes a piece of this fruit
(watch out - pomegranate juice stains in
the worst way!) and says, "May it be
Your will that our merits be numerous as
(the seeds of) the pomegranate."
What's the deal? There are 613
commandments in the Torah for a Jew to
fulfill. An individual pomegranate
supposedly has 613 seeds. (Try counting
them.... I did once, and though we lost
exact count, there were more than 600
and less and 625 seeds - so it was
awfully close!) By eating the
pomegranate, we figuratively show our
desire and hope to fulfill all 613
commandments, and by doing so, we will
be able to accrue a nice amount of
merit.
In the Hebrew Bible
In the
earliest times the Hebrew year began in
autumn with the opening of the economic
year. There followed in regular
succession the seasons of seed-sowing,
growth and ripening of the corn 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 is likely that the new year was
celebrated from ancient times in some
special way. The earliest reference to
such a custom is, probably, in the
account of the vision of Ezekiel (Ezek.
xl. 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. xxv. 9). According to the
Septuagint rendering of Ezek. xlv. 20,
special sacrifices were to be offered on
the first day of the seventh month as
well as on the first day of the first
month. This first day of the seventh
month was appointed 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 special
sacrifices were to be offered (Lev.
xxiii. 23-25; Num. xxix. 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.
In rabbinic literature
Philo,
in his treatise on the festivals, calls
New-Year's Day 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
Law and a reminder of God's benefits to
mankind in general ("De Septennario," §
22).
The Mishnah, the core text of Judaism's
oral law, contains the first known
reference 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
the Pentecost, on the fruits of the
trees; on New-Year's Day all men pass
before Him ("God"); and on the Feast of
Tabernacles a decree is passed on the
rain of the year.
According to rabbinic tradition, the
creation of the world was finished on
Tishri 1.
The observance of the 1st of Tishri as
Rosh ha-Shanah is based principally on
the mention of "Zikkaron" (= "memorial
day"; Lev. xxiii. 24) and the reference
of Ezra to the day as one "holy to the
Lord" (Neh. viii. 9) seem to point. The
passage in Psalms (lxxxi. 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 ha-Shanah.
In Jewish thought, Rosh ha-Shanah 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 is written in the Talmud,
in the tractate on Rosh Hashanah that
three books of account are opened on
Rosh ha-Shanah, wherein the fate of the
wicked, the righteous, and those of an
intermediate class are recorded. The
names of the righteous are immediately
inscribed in the book of life, and they
are sealed "to live." The middle class
are allowed a respite of ten days till
Yom Kippur, to repent and become
righteous ; the wicked are "blotted out
of the book of the living" (Ps. lxix.
28).
The zodiac sign of the balance for
Tishri is claimed to indicate the scales
of judgment, balancing the meritorious
against the wicked acts of the person
judged. The taking of an annual
inventory of accounts on Rosh ha-Shanah
is adduced by Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac
from the passage in Deut. xi. 12, which
says that the care of God is directed
from "the beginning of the year even
unto the end of the year". The 1st of
Tishri was considered as the beginning
of Creation.
It is said in the Talmud that on Rosh
ha-Shanah the means of sustenance of
every person are apportioned for the
ensuing year; so also are his destined
losses.
Originally, only the 1st day of Tishri
was celebrated as New-Year's Day in the
Land of Israel prior to the time of
Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai. However, ever
since Jewish law has Rosh ha-Shanah
celebrated for two days.
The Zohar, a medieval work of Kabbalah,
lays stress on the universal observance
of two days, and claims that the two
passages in Job (i. 6 and ii. 1), "when
the sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord," refer to
the first and second days of Rosh ha-Shanah,
observed by the Heavenly Court before
the Almighty (Zohar, Pinehas, p. 231a). |
