(To be read from the sunset of Friday 18th – Sunday 20th September 2020 [29 Elul 5780 – 2 Tishrei 5781])
As the sun has set on the 18th September 2020 on the Gregorian calendar, we enter into yet another special Sabbath day on the Jewish calendar: Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year).
This Sabbath is special as this two-day feast falls on the seventh day in the Jewish week – Saturday – as well as the seventh day in the Christian week – Sunday. This Sabbath also sets off the new year on the seventh month in the Jewish calendar – Tishrei – and begins a unique period of time known as the Ten Days of Awe: a total ten days of both jubilee and solemnity.
Every year these first two of the Ten Days celebrate a renewed cycle of the Jewish calendar and yet, simultaneously, sets in motion a solemn eight-day search for forgiveness from both God and one’s neighbour through the spiritual exercises of repentance, fasting and prayer.
Despite these latter days, the first two are celebrated not only as the start of a new year ( 5781 ), not only as the start of a new month (Tishrei), and not only as a coinciding Sabbath day between two adjacent faiths (Judaism & Christianity), but also as a commemoration of the Seventh Day of Creation (Yom Harat Ha’Olam) depicted in the Book of Genesis.
“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
(Genesis 2:1-3).
“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.”
(Leviticus 23:23-25)
As well as Rosh HaShanah, this Seventh Day of the Seventh Jewish month is more precisely known as Yom Teruah (The Feast of Trumpets) due to the daily blowing of trumpets (viz. the shofar – ram’s horn) by the Jewish community for forty days prior to this one.
Despite what it sounds like, this is not a boastful exercise, but rather one that calls believers to pay attention to the times, honestly reflect on one’s behaviour for the past year and return to God through sincere repentance (teshuvah) before the beginning of the new year. In other words, forty days of trumpet-blowing functions as a forty-day forewarning to be and stay mindful of God’s coming (Olam Ha’ba), as well as a forty-day alarm clock to wake and stay woke for God’s impending day of judgement (Yom HaDin).
The alarm call for God’s incoming judgement is enacted in the Jewish Book of Joshua against the city of Jericho and prophesied in the Christian Book of Revelation.
” ‘You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
(Read Joshua 6:1-20/21)
And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.”
“When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
(Revelation 8:1-6)
And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. […] Then the angel took the center, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.
So then seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”
In short, Yom Teruah (The Feast of Trumpets) is a Sabbath of Seven that sets off a series of solemnity. This solemnity anticipates the possibility of being judged unworthy to be written in the Book of Life.
“Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, ‘You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.
(Exodus 32:30-34/5)
[…]
‘Yet now, if You will forgive their sin – but if not, I pray blot me out of Your book which you have written.’
And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.
[…] in the day when I visit for punishment upon them for their sin.'”
However, on the reverse side, Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year) is simultaneously a time of jubilee anticipating the reverse possibility of being judged worthy to be written. These first Days of Awe are celebrated due to the opportunity for people to begin again by either choosing to cling or return to God.
” ‘I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have little strength, have kept my word and have not denied My name. […]
(Revelation 3: 8-12)
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on earth. […]
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God […] I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And *I will write on him* My new name.”
Everyone has the chance to choose life despite the prospect of death …
” […] then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is on the LORD’s side – come to me!’ And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him […] Then Moses said, ‘Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, that he may bestow on you a blessing this day […]”
(Exodus 32:25-29)
And no one is so entrenched in sin beyond salvation …
“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
(Joshua 24:14-15)
And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, […] But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
So, what do you choose – life or death?
L’Shanah Tovah Tikateiv V’techateim! (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!)
Bibliography
(Anon.). 1982. The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Eckstein, Y. 2020. Generation to Generation: Passing on a Legacy of Faith to Our Children. United States: IFCJ, Inc.
Help Them Celebrate the High Holy Days – https://help.ifcj.org/donate/6/19?s_src=EM1BN1&s_subsrc=EPX2008XXEX02&utm_medium=email&utm_source=engage&utm_campaign=hhd&utm_content=EM1BN1&emid=881867&sk=3c99e248-a5af-4326-9bff-ff64696f162c
What Are the High Holy Days? – https://www.ifcj.org/learn/what-are-the-high-holy-days/?s_src=EM1BN2&s_subsrc=EPX2008XXEX04&utm_medium=email&utm_source=engage&utm_campaign=hhd&utm_content=EM1BN2&emid=891917&sk=3c99e248-a5af-4326-9bff-ff64696f162c#headoftheyear
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelech: New Beginnings and Covenant – https://free.messianicbible.com/parasha/parasha-nitzavim-vayelech-new-beginnings-and-the-covenant-5780/
Forgiveness, Selichot, and Preparing for the High Holy Days – https://free.messianicbible.com/holiday/elul-preparing-for-the-high-holy-days/
Sy 'Adamah #SageSpeaks 