Rosh Hashanah
Friday, September 15–Sunday, September 17, 2023 / 1st–2nd of Tishrei, 5784
Rosh Hashanah (literally, “Head of the Year”) is the Jewish New Year, a time of prayer, self-reflection, and . We review our actions during the past year, and we look for ways to improve ourselves, our communities, and our world in the year to come. The holiday marks the beginning of a 10-day period, known as the Yamim Nora-im (“Days of Awe” or “High Holidays”), ushered in by Rosh Hashanah and culminating with Yom Kippur (the “Day of Atonement”). Rosh Hashanah is widely observed by Jews throughout the world, often with prayer and reflection in a synagogue. There also are several holiday rituals observed at home.
Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of , which – because of differences in the solar and lunar calendar – corresponds to September or October on the Gregorian or secular calendar. Customs associated with the holiday include sounding the , eating a round , and tasting apples and honey to represent a sweet New Year.
History
The origins of Rosh Hashanah are found in the Bible. The Book of Leviticus (23:24-25) declares: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of rest, a memorial proclaimed with the blowing of the , a holy convocation.” Although this day eventually became Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, it was not originally known as such.
In ancient times, there were four different New Years on the Jewish calendar. Each had a distinct significance:
- The first of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the New Year of Kings, was the date used to calculate the number of years a given king had reigned.
- The first of the Hebrew month of was the new year for tithing of cattle, a time when one of every 10 cattle was marked and offered as a sacrifice to God.
- The first of the Hebrew month of was the agricultural new year, or the New Year of the Years.
- The 15th of the Hebrew month of Sh’vat, known as Tu BiShvat, was the New Year of the Trees.
Although the Torah refers to Nisan as the first month of the Jewish year, the first day of the month of Tishrei emerged as what we now know as Rosh Hashanah.
The Babylonians, among whom the Jews lived, marked a “Day of Judgment” each year. They believed that on that day, a convocation of their deities assembled in the temple of the god Marduk. These gods, they held, renewed the world and judged each human being, inscribing the fate of every individual on the tablet of destiny. The legend was a powerful one, and Jews most likely borrowed elements from it in shaping Rosh Hashanah. The meeting of many deities evolved into a belief that the one God judged every Jew on that day, immediately inscribing the completely righteous in the Book of Life and consigning the completely wicked to a sad fate. Those “in between,” however, had 10 days, concluding on Yom Kippur, in which to repent before the Book of Life was sealed for the New Year.
In addition to the biblical “holy convocation” and the transformed Babylonian “Day of Judgment,” the first of Tishrei also was associated with the anniversary of the creation of the world, Yom Harat Olam. For these three compelling reasons, the first day of the seventh month ultimately became the “official” Jewish New Year.
It was not until about the second century C.E. that the holiday acquired the name Rosh Hashanah, which first appeared in the Mishnah. Before then, however, the day had many other designations. The oldest name, found in the Torah (Numbers 29:1) is Yom T’ruah (“Day of Sounding the Shofar”). Two other names, undoubtedly reflecting Babylonian influence, were Yom HaZikaron (“Day of Remembrance”) and Yom HaDin (“Day of Judgment”). While those terms are still preserved in the liturgy and rabbinic literature, Jews all over the world today usually refer to Rosh Hashanah as the Jewish New Year.
Yom Kippur
Sunday, September 24–25, 2023 / 10th of Tishrei, 5784
Yom Kippur, which dates from biblical times, is referenced in three separate passages in the . The Torah refers to Yom Kippur as Shabbat Shabbaton, “a Sabbath of complete rest,” while the Talmud denotes Yom Kippur simply as Yoma, “The Day.”
The Torah portrays Yom Kippur primarily as a day centered almost exclusively upon the Temple in Jerusalem. It was on this day that the kohen gadol, the high priest, performed the complicated rituals and sacrifices that purified the Temple from the defilement that had attached to it as a result of the sins of the Israelite people. (They believed this defilement had caused God’s presence to depart from their midst.) There also was another aspect to the day: atonement, the spiritual cleansing of the people themselves. Their role was to serve as an attentive and expectant audience outside the Temple precincts, awaiting the hoped-for successful outcome of the high priest’s service. Their role, according to the Torah, was to abstain from work and to practice “self-denial.” Our tradition has defined “self-denial” as inuyim (afflictions): fasting and refraining from certain other activities that satisfy our physical needs.
History
Yom Kippur, which dates from biblical times, is referenced in three separate passages in the . The Torah refers to Yom Kippur as Shabbat Shabbaton, “a Sabbath of complete rest,” while the Talmud denotes Yom Kippur simply as Yoma, “The Day.”
The Torah portrays Yom Kippur primarily as a day centered almost exclusively upon the Temple in Jerusalem. It was on this day that the kohen gadol, the high priest, performed the complicated rituals and sacrifices that purified the Temple from the defilement that had attached to it as a result of the sins of the Israelite people. (They believed this defilement had caused God’s presence to depart from their midst.) There also was another aspect to the day: atonement, the spiritual cleansing of the people themselves. Their role was to serve as an attentive and expectant audience outside the Temple precincts, awaiting the hoped-for successful outcome of the high priest’s service. Their role, according to the Torah, was to abstain from work and to practice “self-denial.” Our tradition has defined “self-denial” as inuyim (afflictions): fasting and refraining from certain other activities that satisfy our physical needs.
After the Temple
With the Temple’s destruction, the second aspect of Yom Kippur, focused on atonement, came to predominate. The atonement we now perform is turned inward; it is an act of self-purification in which we cleanse our own lives from the stain of our misdeeds. Like the Israelites during the Temple period, we continue to fast, understanding this self-denial as a cleansing of our soul, an act of self-discipline, and a sign that on this day we rise above our most basic biological necessities to focus our attention on matters of the spirit.
Our prayers traditionally last all day, as did the service of the high priest. We recall the priest’s service in poetic form and the recitation of at the conclusion of Yom Kippur hearkens back to the time when the “closing of the gates” was a feature of the Temple’s everyday ritual. Finally, the drama of the ancient sacrifice has become an internal drama, which we experience as a grand spiritual and emotional sweep that carries us from the haunting melody of , through the recitation of the prayers, and , culminating in N’ilah, when we stand one last time before God in the fading moments of the year’s holiest day.
Content Courtesy of ReformJudaism.org