Rosh Hashana (Yom Teruah)
Rosh Hashana is
the Jewish New Year. In Torah this festival is called a memorial of blowing
of trumpets (Zikkaron Teruah):
Lev 23:24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first [day] of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
and a day of blowing the trumpets (Yom Teruah):
Numb 29:1 And in the seventh month, on the first [day] of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.
Blowing of trumpets
(shofars) - it is the important in this
holiday!
It is the feast of the LORD.
"Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High
Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), or Asseret Yemei Teshuva (The Ten Days of Repentance) which are days specifically
set aside to focus on repentance that conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah)
''A principal moment of
Rosh Hashana is blowing of shofar (trumpet), a ram's horn. Its acute sound must
awake the Jewish soul...''
http://tikva-israel.com/pina_rosh.html
(in Russian)
When Jews received Torah on Sinai, people heard the voice of shofar.
Exod 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that [was] in the camp trembled.
(According to tradition, "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) During 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." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah)
The wall in Jericho fell down flat when the priests blew with shofar (the trumpets):
Joshua 6:20 So the people shouted when [the priests] blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
Some more about the sound of shofar in TaNaKh:
Jer 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, [saying], Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
Isaiah 18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isaiah
27:12 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the LORD shall beat
off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be
gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
Isaiah 27:13 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the great
trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the
land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the
LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.
Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand;
Joel
2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD
your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great
kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
Joel 2:14 Who knoweth [if] he will return and repent, and leave a
blessing behind him; [even] a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD
your God?
Joel 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
assembly:
Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be
afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done [it]?
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret
unto his servants the prophets.
How did Jews celebrate this holiday?
"And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that [was] before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that [was] before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people [were attentive] unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, [and] Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with [their] faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people [stood] in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused [them] to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which [is] the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day [is] holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for [this] day [is] holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day [is] holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them." (Neh 8:1-12)
The messianic meaning
of this holiday
1Thessal 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first:
Matt 24:30 And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Matt 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of
heaven to the other.
1Cor
15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed.
The traditions of Rosh Hashana
In the first night of Rosh Hashana Jews dip a slice of bread (khala) in
honey and eat it (Sephardic Jews do this in the second night). Then
they dip a sweet apple in honey too, say bracha (blessing), eat this apple
and ask G-d about a good and sweet new year.
Tashlikh
After prayer Mincha people go to a river, a sea etc. and shake by edges of clothes three times. Before this rite people read the verses of Tanakh, in particular these lines:
Mich 7:18 Who [is] a
God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he
delighteth [in] mercy.
Mich 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will
subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the
sea.
Too please read these lines:
Neh 5:13 Also I shook
my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his
labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and
emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the
people did according to this promise.
SHANA TOVA UMETUKAH!
HAG
SAMEAKH!