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Rosh Hashanah

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Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה, Biblical: , Israeli: , Yiddish: ) is commonly referred as the Jewish New Year (literally translated as "head of the year"). The day falls on the first of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, Tishrei the first month being Nisan. Nowhere in the Torah is the holiday called Rosh Hashanah. In it is referred to as "the day of the blowing of the horns (Shofar)" (Yom Terua). In the day is referred to as "the beginning of the year" and not the first day of the year. Rabbinic literature and the liturgy itself describe Rosh Hashanah 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 containing the deeds of all humanity are opened for review, and each person passing in front of Him for evaluation of his or her deeds. All of these names are also referenced in the holiday's extensive liturgy.

This holiday is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("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 known as Asseret Yemei Teshuva - The Ten Days of Repentance, beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with the holiday of Yom Kippur.

Judaism has four "new year" observances which mark the start of various legal "years", much like 1 January marks the "New Year" of the Gregorian calendar, while other dates mark fiscal or other "new year" events. Rosh Hashanah is the start of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar. 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 and sabbatical (shmita) and jubilee (yovel) years.

==Date== According to the Tanakh Rosh Hashanah falls on the first of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, Tishrei, and is of one day duration. Since days in the Hebrew calendar begin at sundown, the beginning of Rosh Hashanah is at sundown at the end of 29 Elul. Rosh Hashanah was celebrated for only one day in the Land of Israel prior to the time of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple. However, ever since his time, normative Jewish law appears to be that Rosh Hashanah is to be celebrated for two days. There is some evidence that Rosh Hashanah was celebrated on a single day in Israel even as late as the thirteenth century CE.

However, Orthodox and Conservative Judaism now generally observe Rosh Hashanah for the first two days of Tishrei, even in Israel where most Jewish holidays 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 . In Reconstructionist Judaism and Reform Judaism, some communities observe only the first day of Rosh Hashanah, while others observe the two days. Karaite Jews, who do not recognise Jewish oral law, but rely solely on Biblical authority, observe only one day on the first day of Tishrei, since the second day is not mentioned in the Torah.

The Hebrew calendar is so designed that the first day of Rosh Hashanah will not occur on the first, fourth, or sixth days of the Jewish week (ie Sunday, Wednesday or Friday).

The following table lists the start day, in the Gregorian calendar, of Rosh Hashanah for some years. Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on the evening on the first day listed in the table. For those who observe Rosh Hashanah for one day, the holiday ends at sunset on the next day, and for those who observe it for two days, it ends at sunset of the day after.

Jewish Year Starts (at sundown)
5768 12 September 2007
5769 29 September 2008
5770 18 September 2009
5771 08 September 2010

Rosh Hashanah occurs 163 days after the first day of Pesach (Passover). 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. After 2089, the differences between the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar will result in Rosh Hashanah being no earlier than September 6. Rosh Hashanah can occur on October 5 at the latest, as happened in 1967 and will happen again in 2043.

Traditions and customs and food

Rosh Hashanah is a day of rest and the activities prohibited on Shabbat are also prohibited on all Jewish holidays, including Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah is characterized by the blowing of the shofar, 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. 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 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 (plural mahzorim), have developed over the years. Many poems refer to : "Blow the shofar on the [first day of the] month, when the [moon] is covered for our holiday".

Rosh Hashanah has a number of additions to the regular service, most notably an extended repetition of the Amidah prayer for both Shacharit and Mussaf. The Shofar is blown during Mussaf at several intervals. Biblical verses are recited 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 recited regarding themes of repentance. The Alenu prayer is recited during the repetition of the Mussaf Amidah.

The traditional greeting on Rosh Hashanah is "shana tova", Hebrew for "a good year," or "shana tova umetukah" for "a good and sweet 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, in which prayers are recited near natural flowing water, and one's sins are symbolically cast into the water. Many also have the custom to throw bread or pebbles into the water, to symbolize the "casting off" of sins. In some communities, if the first day of Rosh Hashanah occurs on Shabbat tashlikh is postponed to the second day. The traditional service for tashlikh is recited individually and includes the prayer "Who is like unto you, O God...And You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea", and Biblical passages including ("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 , 121 and 130, as well as personal prayers.

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). 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 is now almost universally accepted. 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 be doubtful (as the second day is part of the "long day" mentioned above).

In the Torah

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 (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 ; ).

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 (). 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 (). According to the Septuagint rendering of , 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 (). This day was not expressly called New-Year's Day, but it was evidently so regarded by the Jews at a very early period.

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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 core text of Judaism's oral Torah, 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 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. (B'Mechitzot Rabbenu)

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"; ) and the reference of Ezra to the day as one "holy to the Lord" seem to point. The passage in 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 is 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 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" ().

The zodiac sign of the balance for Tishrei 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 Hashanah is adduced by Rabbi Nahman ben Isaac from the passage in , 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 is 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 states that the two passages in and , "when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord," refer to the first and second days of Rosh Hashanah , observed by the Heavenly Court before the Almighty. (Zohar, Pinchas, p. 231a)

See also

References

External links



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