ROSH HASHANA LESSON 1 -- Rosh Hashanah And The Jewish New Year
Below is a teaching from Rinah Shalom
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ROSH HASHANA - LESSON 1
Rosh Hashanah And The Jewish New Year
(Saturday ~ September 19 ~ 5770/2009)
Surprisingly, the holiday that we call Rosh Hashanah is never referred to as such in Torah. In fact, the Torah tells us very little about it. How did this holiday become the Jewish New Year that we are so familiar with, and how do we know that this is indeed a 'Day of Judgement'?
The laws of Rosh Hashanah are discussed only twice in the Torah, once in Numbers 23:23-25 and once in Numbers 29:1-6.
1) "On the seventh month, on the first day of that month, you shall have a shabbaton (a day of rest), a day set aside for gathering. Do not work... you shall bring an offering to YHVH." Leviticus 23:23-25
2) "On the seventh month, on the first day of that month, observe a 'holy convocation'. Do no work, it shall be for you a day of blowing the trumpets ~ Yom Teru'ah." Numbers 29:1-6
The Torah never refers to this holiday as "Rosh Hashanah". Instead, we are told to make a holiday on the first day of the seventh month (mid-year rather than new-year), without telling us why this day was chosen, even though we are provided with reasons for all the other holidays.
Two Calendars
In addition to the Biblical year that begins in the spring (Exodus 12:1-2) we find another calendar year in Torah relating to the agricultural cycle of the year. The Torah states that Succot (The feast of Tabernacles) falls at the end of the year.
"Three times a year celebrate for Me... The 'Gathering Holiday', when the year goes out, when you gather your produce from the Land." Exodus 23:14-17
The 'year that goes out' when we gather our fruit is the 'agricultural year', ending when the produce is harvested, and begins when the fields are first sown.
"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the produce of your Land, you shall observe a Holiday for seven days." Numbers 23:39
Here Succot is described in greater detail with the precise 'lunar' date for this 'gathering' holiday.
From these two scriptures we learn that the Torah teaches that there is an 'agricultural year' which ends in the seventh month (Tishrei). This is confirmed when we examine another agricultural commandment that requires a defined yearly cycle - the laws of the Sabbatical Year. The Torah describes a cycle of six years when we work the land, and the seventh year of rest. (Leviticus 25:1-7) This implies that there is a date when the year of 'rest' begins.
"And you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and then you shall sound a shofar on the seventh month, on the tenth of the month." Leviticus 25:8-9
Here we are told that the year of the Sabbatical cycle begins in the seventh month. The agricultural year begins and ends in the seventh month, with the final harvest and the rainy season.
Torah Studies: http://rinahshal.tripod.com
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ROSH HASHANA - LESSON 1
Rosh Hashanah And The Jewish New Year
(Saturday ~ September 19 ~ 5770/2009)
Surprisingly, the holiday that we call Rosh Hashanah is never referred to as such in Torah. In fact, the Torah tells us very little about it. How did this holiday become the Jewish New Year that we are so familiar with, and how do we know that this is indeed a 'Day of Judgement'?
The laws of Rosh Hashanah are discussed only twice in the Torah, once in Numbers 23:23-25 and once in Numbers 29:1-6.
1) "On the seventh month, on the first day of that month, you shall have a shabbaton (a day of rest), a day set aside for gathering. Do not work... you shall bring an offering to YHVH." Leviticus 23:23-25
2) "On the seventh month, on the first day of that month, observe a 'holy convocation'. Do no work, it shall be for you a day of blowing the trumpets ~ Yom Teru'ah." Numbers 29:1-6
The Torah never refers to this holiday as "Rosh Hashanah". Instead, we are told to make a holiday on the first day of the seventh month (mid-year rather than new-year), without telling us why this day was chosen, even though we are provided with reasons for all the other holidays.
Two Calendars
In addition to the Biblical year that begins in the spring (Exodus 12:1-2) we find another calendar year in Torah relating to the agricultural cycle of the year. The Torah states that Succot (The feast of Tabernacles) falls at the end of the year.
"Three times a year celebrate for Me... The 'Gathering Holiday', when the year goes out, when you gather your produce from the Land." Exodus 23:14-17
The 'year that goes out' when we gather our fruit is the 'agricultural year', ending when the produce is harvested, and begins when the fields are first sown.
"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather the produce of your Land, you shall observe a Holiday for seven days." Numbers 23:39
Here Succot is described in greater detail with the precise 'lunar' date for this 'gathering' holiday.
From these two scriptures we learn that the Torah teaches that there is an 'agricultural year' which ends in the seventh month (Tishrei). This is confirmed when we examine another agricultural commandment that requires a defined yearly cycle - the laws of the Sabbatical Year. The Torah describes a cycle of six years when we work the land, and the seventh year of rest. (Leviticus 25:1-7) This implies that there is a date when the year of 'rest' begins.
"And you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, and then you shall sound a shofar on the seventh month, on the tenth of the month." Leviticus 25:8-9
Here we are told that the year of the Sabbatical cycle begins in the seventh month. The agricultural year begins and ends in the seventh month, with the final harvest and the rainy season.
Torah Studies: http://rinahshal.tripod.com
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