Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah. It is the first of the High Holy Days, as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25, that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins the Ten Days of Repentance, culminating in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. It is followed by the festival of Sukkot, which ends with Shemini Atzeret in Israel and Simchat Torah everywhere else.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. The holiday itself follows a lunar calendar and begins the evening prior to the first day. In contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the first month Nisan, the spring Passover month which marks Israel's exodus from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism, and is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, as well as the initiation of humanity's role in God's world. The Sages in the Talmud have characterized the day of Rosh Hashanah as the day that we so to speak crown God as king anew each year. This is effectuated through the Shofar blasts which symbolize the horns sounded at a coronation. It also initiates the ten days of repentance making it an opportune time for repentance.
Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar, as prescribed in the Torah, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to blast a on Yom Teruah. Eating symbolic foods that represent wishes for a sweet new year is an ancient custom recorded in the Talmud. Other rabbinical customs include attending synagogue services and reciting special liturgy centering around three main themes: Crowning God as king, Shofar blasts, and God remembering us in judgement, as well as enjoying festive meals. "Tashlich", which means "to cast" is a ritual performed any time between the first day of Rosh Hashanah and Hoshana Rabbah. Participants recite specific prayers by water, seeking divine forgiveness by symbolically shaking out their garments and casting away their sins into the depths of the waters. In many communities, this is done by throwing stones or pieces of bread into the water.
Etymology
is the Hebrew word for "head", is the definite article, and means year. Thus means "head of the year", referring to the day of the New Year.The term in its current meaning does not appear in the Torah. Leviticus 23:24 refers to the festival of the first day of the seventh month as . Numbers 29:1 calls the festival .
The term appears once in the Bible, where it has a different meaning: either generally the time of the "beginning of the year", or possibly a reference to Yom Kippur, or to the month of Nisan.
In the prayer books, Rosh Hashanah is also called Yom haZikkaron "the day of remembrance", not to be confused with the modern Israeli remembrance day of the same name.
Origin
The origin of the New Year is connected to the beginning of the economic year in the agricultural societies of the ancient Near East. The New Year was the beginning of the cycle of sowing, growth, and harvest; the harvest was marked by its own set of major agricultural festivals. Semitic speakers generally set the beginning of the new year in autumn, while other ancient civilizations chose spring for that purpose, such as the Persians or Greeks or Hindus; the primary reason was agricultural in both cases, the time of sowing the seed and bringing in the harvest.Some scholars posit a connection between the Babylonian festival Akitu and Rosh Hashanah, as there are some striking similarities. The Akitu festival of Ur was celebrated at the beginning of Nisanu, which lasted at least five days, and again in Tashritu, the seventh month, which lasted eleven days. Akitu was also strongly tied to the creation myth of Enuma Elish and the victory of Marduk over the sea monster Tiamat, and the creation of the universe from her corpse. Similarly, it is said that the world was created on Rosh Hashanah.
Another view is that the birth of mankind, and by extension the anniversary of the worlds creation, along with its significance as a day of coronoation of God, was a tradition passed down from Adam and Eve who were created on that day. They passed it down through the generations until it was finally recorded in the Talmud.
The Four "New Years"
Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the numbering of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. According to the Mishnah, four different New Years are observed: Rosh Hashanah, the first of Nisan, the first of Elul, and Tu BiShvat. Each delineates the beginning of a year for different legal or religious purposes. The Talmudic distinctions among the New Years are discussed in tractate Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is the new year for calculating ordinary calendar years, Sabbatical years, Jubilee years, and dates inscribed on legal deeds and contracts. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of humankind. In Jewish practice, the months are numbered starting with the spring month of Nisan, making Tishrei the seventh month; Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the new calendar year, is also actually the first day of the seventh month.The second of these "New Years", the first of the lunar month Nisan, is the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the months are numbered beginning with Nisan. It marks the start of the year for the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. Its injunction is expressly stated in the Hebrew Bible: "This month shall be unto you of months". Their injunction is expressly stated in the Hebrew Bible: "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast unto me... the feast of unleavened bread... the feast of harvest... and the feast of ingathering which is ". "At the departing of the year" implies that the new year begins here according to the Babylonian Talmud. It is also when a new year is added to the reign of Jewish kings.
The third New Year, the first of Elul, the new year for animals, began the religious taxation period for tithing animals in biblical times. Elul corresponds to the Gregorian August/September, after the spring birthings, when counting the number of animals in herds was relatively simple. However, the Halakha follows the second opinion that the day coincides with Rosh Hashanah itself, and therefore this third new year has no bearing in Halakha.
The fourth New Year, Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees, began the religious taxation period for tithing fruits and nuts from trees. Shevat corresponds to the Gregorian January/February, the end of the Mediterranean wet season when most of the year's rainfall had occurred. Taking fruit or nuts from a tree younger than three years old, with the birthday counted as Tu Bishvat, was prohibited.
Religious significance
Rosh Hashanah is described in the Mishnah as a day when "creatures pass before like sheep", receiving their judgment. The Talmud expands on this, with tractate Rosh Hashanah 16a:6 noting that Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah, both Tannaim from the second century CE during the Mishnaic period, agree that humanity is judged on Rosh Hashanah. Furthermore, the Talmud, citing the opinion of Rabbi Kruspedai—who in turn attributes his opinion to Rabbi Yochanan—in Rosh Hashanah 16b:12, states that three books of judgment are opened on Rosh Hashanah. The books are inscribed with the fates of the individuals' names: one for the completely wicked, a second for the wholly righteous, and a third for those in an intermediate moral state, all judged by God. The names of the entirely righteous are immediately inscribed in the book of the living and they are sealed "for life". The intermediate group is given ten days until Yom Kippur to reflect, repent, and become righteous; the wicked are "blotted out of the book of the living," teaches Rabbi Avin, referencing Psalm 69:29.Some midrashic descriptions depict God sitting upon a throne before open books containing the deeds of all humanity, with each person passing before God for evaluation of their deeds. Rosh Hashanah, along with Yom Kippur, was identified as an anniversary holiday to "reflect on the past only for the sake of the future" by Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth Ephraim Mirvis on 7 October 2024. The general understanding of the holiday's religious significance is that it marks a period when members of the Jewish community can atone for their personal sins from the past year. This period begins ten days before Yom Kippur, which is dedicated to communal reflection and repentance. This is reflected in the prayers composed by classical rabbinic sages for Rosh Hashanah, which are included in contemporary traditional High Holy Day machzorim The overarching theme of the prayers is the "coronation" of God as King of the universe, in preparation for the acceptance of judgments that will follow on that day. For instance, page 15 of the ArtScroll machzor for Rosh Hashanah reads:
According to Jewish mysticism, Rosh Hashanah is the day in which the life-force of the world is renewed. It is the day that God so to speak decides if the world should continue to exist for another year. The Shofar's blows symbolize our plea to God to renew the lease on the world.
Shofar blowing
The best-known ritual of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the shofar, a musical instrument made from an animal horn. The shofar is blown at various points during the Rosh Hashanah prayers, and it is customary in most communities to have a total of 100 blasts on each day. The shofar is not blown on Shabbat.While the blowing of the shofar is a Biblical statute, it is also a symbolic "wake-up call", stirring Jews to mend their ways and repent. The shofar blasts call out: "Sleepers, wake up from your slumber! Examine your ways and repent and remember your Creator." The blowing of the shofar is also seen as a reminder to God of the plight of humanity.
In modern times the Lubavitcher Rebbe made the Shofar blowing into the theme of a global campaign to encourage and facilitate the hearing of the Shofar in public areas and underserviced places such as prisons and hospitals.