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This article is about the Jewish
holiday of Rosh Hashanah. For the tractate in the
Talmud with the same name, see Rosh Hashanah (Talmud).
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה, Biblical: ˈɾoʃ
haʃ:ɔˈnɔh, Israeli: ˈroʃ haʃaˈna, Yiddish: ˈroʊʃ
hɑˈʃɔnə) is literally translated as "head of the
year", and idiomatically refers to the Jewish New
Year. The term first appears in the Tanakh, in Ezekiel
40:1. There, however, it does not refer specifically
to the first day of the year, but to the "beginning"
of the year.
In fact, Judaism has four "new year" observances which
mark 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 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. |
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The
Torah refers to the day as "The Day of the Blowing of
the Shofar" (Yom Terua, Leviticus 23:24), and 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
(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 known as Asseret Yemei Teshuva - The Ten
Days of Repentance, 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 Jewish holidays
last only one day. Since days in the Hebrew calendar begin
at sundown, the beginning of Rosh Hashanah is at sundown 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 and Conservative Judaism observe both the first and
second days. The Karaite 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 in the Torah.
Rosh Hashanah occurs 163 days after the first day of Pesach
(Passover). In the Gregorian calendar at present, Rosh Hashanah
can occur September 5 at the earliest, 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 can occur on October 5 at the latest, 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 the first, fourth, or sixth days of the Jewish
week; the popular mnemonic is "lo adu rosh" ("Rosh
[Hashanah] is not on adu"), where adu has the numerical
value 1-4-6 (corresponding to the numbering of days in the
Jewish week, in which Saturday night and Sunday daytime make
up the first day).
The following table lists the two days of Jewish Rosh Hashanah
for some years. Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset on the evening
on the first day listed in the table.
Jewish New Year Starts (at sundown) Ends (at night)
5768 2007-09-12 2007-09-14
5769 2008-09-29 2008-10-01
5770 2009-09-18 2009-09-20
5771 2010-09-08 2010-09-10
Traditions and customs
A shofar in the Yemenite Jewish style. (Photo by Olve Utne
(Olve)
A shofar in the Yemenite Jewish style. (Photo by Olve Utne
(Olve)
This holiday is characterized by the blowing of the shofar
(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). Orthodox Judaism and some Conservative Judaic communities
will not blow the shofar on Shabbat. (There is an exception.
Jewish Law permits the Shofar to be blown in the presence
of a rabbinical court called the Sanhedrin, which had not
existed since ancient times. A recent group of Orthodox rabbis
in Israel claiming to constitute a modern Sanhedrin held,
for the first time in many years, an Orthodox shofar-blowing
on Shabbat for Rosh Hashana in 2006. [1])
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 (mahzorim pl), have developed over the years. Many
poems refer to Psalms 81:3: "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"
IPA [ʃaˈ na toˈ va], 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 Isaiah 11:9 ("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 Psalms 118:5-9, 121 and 130, as well
as personal prayers.
Rosh Hashanah table set with symbolic foods.
Rosh Hashanah table set with symbolic foods.
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 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 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 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.
R' Yaakov Kamenetsky explains that in earlier generations
it was considered preferable not to reveal that it was a "day
of judgement" 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 judgement"
so that people would approach the holiday with proper awe
and respect. (B'Mechitzot Rabbenu)
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 his time, 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 states 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, Pinchas, p. 231a)
See also
* High Holidays
* Jewish holidays
* Hebrew calendar
* Rosh Hashana kibbutz (Breslov)
* Shofar
* Ras as-Sanah
References
1. ^ TheSanhedrin.Org Shofar Blowing on Shabbat
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