Times of Refreshing: Jewish Trumpets cumstoms

A Guide to the Christian Observance of the Biblical Sabbath, Feasts, and Holy Days

For a general introduction to the biblical Feasts and Holy Days, see the article Theme Times elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website. This webpage builds on concepts explained in that article. If you are not familiar with the cycle of these Feasts and Holy Days, you may find t helpful to read that article first.

Yom Teruah in the Bible

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.' " (Leviticus 23:23-25)

Yom Teruah in the 1st Century

The Day of Trumpets (Hebrew Yom=day, Teruah=noisy tumult, or trumpet blasts) is not listed in the Torah as one of the "pilgrim" festivals. In other words, not all Israelite males were commanded to go to Jerusalem for the observance. In the first century, those living throughout the land of Israel would have likely been finishing up their fall harvest at the time this observance fell, and getting ready to travel, bringing their tithes and offerings, to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage Feast of Tabernacles that started on the 15th day of the month. So although they would not have worked on the day, since it was a "day of rest," unless they happened to be in Jerusalem at the time, there were no commanded customs that they would have been required to observe.

At the Temple in Jerusalem, the local residents would likely have come to observe the series of special Holy Day sacrifices and offerings presented by the priesthood, and the ceremonial blowing of shofars--rams' horns. (See the article Reveille! elsewhere on this Times of Refreshing website for more information on shofars and other types of blowing instruments.) But there is no historical record of any other specific traditions connected with the day back at that time. So it is not clear what people living in other parts of the land would have done in celebration. Perhaps there would have been special synagogue services in each village or town, in which shofars were blown and special readings and prayers would have been done. But that is only speculation.

Yom Teruah in the 21st Century

After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Jewish rabbis began developing alternative ways of observance of the Feasts and Holy Days, including Yom Teruah. All observances were eventually transferred to the local synagogue, with Torah readings and other elements of ceremonial liturgy replacing the animal sacrifices. But the sounding of shofars would still be included. Click here to go to a webpage where you can hear the various types of blasts of the shofar.

The modern Yom Teruah celebration is a blend of these synagogue observances, and traditional customs that have grown up over the past 2000 years. Instead of the biblical term Yom Teruah, over time the Day of Trumpets has come to be commonly referred to among Jews by the Hebrew term Rosh Hashanah, which means "head of the year" or, as it might be called in English, "New Year's Day."

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday2.htm

You may notice that the Bible speaks of Rosh Hashanah as occurring on the first day of the seventh month. The first month of the Jewish calendar is Nissan, occurring in March and April. Why, then, does the Jewish "new year" occur in Tishri, the seventh month?

Judaism has several different "new years," a concept which may seem strange at first, but think of it this way: the American "new year" starts in January, but the new "school year" starts in September, and many businesses have "fiscal years" that start at various times of the year. In Judaism, Nissan 1 is the new year for the purpose of counting the reign of kings and months on the calendar, Elul 1 (in August) is the new year for the tithing of animals, Shevat 15 (in February) is the new year for trees (determining when first fruits can be eaten, etc.), and Tishri 1 (Rosh Hashanah) is the new year for years (when we increase the year number. Sabbatical and Jubilee years begin at this time).

Rosh Hashanah, even more than just a separate observance all its own, is viewed specifically in most Jewish settings as the beginning of the "Ten Days of Awe" leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. (Go to the article on Yom Kippur on this Times of Refreshing website for information on that observance.)

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday3.htm

The ten days starting with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur are commonly known as the Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim) or the Days of Repentance. This is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent before Yom Kippur.

One of the ongoing themes of the Days of Awe is the concept that G-d has "books" that he writes our names in, writing down who will live and who will die, who will have a good life and who will have a bad life, for the next year. These books are written in on Rosh Hashanah, but our actions during the Days of Awe can alter G-d's decree. The actions that change the decree are "teshuvah, tefilah and tzedakah," repentance, prayer, good deeds (usually, charity). These "books" are sealed on Yom Kippur. This concept of writing in books is the source of the common greeting during this time is "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."

Among the customs of this time, it is common to seek reconciliation with people you may have wronged during the course of the year. The Talmud maintains that Yom Kippur atones only for sins between man and G-d. To atone for sins against another person, you must first seek reconciliation with that person, righting the wrongs you committed against them if possible.

Synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah/Yom Teruah feature the blowing of shofars, special prayers, and scripture readings. One odd feature of the service: it may require the worshipper to purchase tickets for his family in order to attend!

http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=620&o=92945

Some congregations rely on the revenues generated by ticket sales for High Holiday [Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur] and services to fund their institutions and their various activities for the entire year. Unfortunately, in some communities, ticket sales have created an air of exclusivity surrounding these holy times.

This is contrary to the spirit of the holidays, in which unity and selflessness should be the dominant tendencies. Other congregations -- including most Chabad synagogues -- find alternative means to finance themselves and have an “open-door” policy for the holidays (sometimes it gets a bit crowded!).

In addition, one may find that a genuine request to a local rabbi or community leader may result in the waiving of existing ticket fees.

In addition to the specific group worship customs of the day, there are also some other traditions connected with observance of the day. Tashlikh (which means "casting off") is an informal custom on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah.

Jewish families--or sometimes whole Jewish communities--walk to a river or other flowing body of water and toss in bread crumbs, which symbolically represents the willing casting off--rejection--of their sins. Alternatively, some "empty their pockets" of lint or crumbs or other tiny bits of matter. In times centuries ago when people wore "robes," some would "shake out their robes" of any bits of lint and crumbs that might be clinging to them. This ceremony begins with the reading of Micah 7:18-20:

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.

Special foods connected to the day include pomegranates, and apples dipped in honey.

http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=619&o=19383

"The Talmud tells us that 'even the wicked amongst Israel are filled with good deeds like pomegranates [are filled with seeds].' On Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Judgment, we eat a pomegranate to remind G-d of all the good deeds we've done in the past year."

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday2.htm

"Another popular observance during this holiday is eating apples dipped in honey, a symbol of our wish for a sweet new year. This was the second Jewish religious practice I was ever exposed to (the first one: lighting Chanukkah candles), and I highly recommend it. It's yummy. We also dip bread in honey (instead of the usual practice of sprinkling salt on it) at this time of year for the same reason."

For useful overviews from a Jewish perspective of the Jewish observance of the Feast of Trumpets and the Days of Awe, see the two articles at the links below. The material above was in part adapted from these overviews.

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday2.htm

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday3.htm

Transliteration note:

The appearance of the Hebrew alphabet has nothing in common with the English alphabet. A number of Hebrew letters have sounds that are not distinctly connected to separate sounds in English. And even Hebrew itself is spoken in a wide variety of dialects depending on the cultural background of the speaker. Therefore attempts to transliterate (reproduce the sounds of a word or phrase in letters from one language to another) are always speculative at best. Even within the English-speaking community of Jews, there are wide variations in the way that Hebrew words are transliterated into English, with no central standard to draw from. In the articles in this series on Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs, as well as throughout this Times of Refreshing website in general, in order to follow some sort of systematic way of transliterating, an attempt has been made to choose those transliterations that are most typical on the Internet. For instance, the Hebrew term for the Feast of Tabernacles is transliterated on some websites as Sukkot (1,160,000), others as Sukkos (119,000), others as Sukkoth (76,600), still others as Succot (128,000) or Succoth (162,000). In this case, the most typical choice is obvious, so Sukkot is the spelling of choice on this site. In other cases, the variations in spelling are much closer in numbers, and an arbitrary decision has had to be made.

Easy Printing Information

All of the articles on this website are available in simple and convenient pdf format files that you can print out and share with friends. Go to the Easy Printing Page for details.

Send an email to the webauthor

Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs

Yom Teruah

(Rosh Hashanah)

The Feast of Trumpets

Many people who accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, whether they refer to themselves as "Christian" or "Messianic," observe the biblical Feasts and Holy Days as times of worship, fellowship, and celebration. They believe that these Feasts and Holy Days are shadows pointing to the reality of Jesus. And they believe that there are valuable spiritual lessons to be learned week by week and year by year through actually physically setting aside these times as "appointments with God."

The inclusion of this material regarding Jewish Feast and Holy Day customs on this website is not for the purpose of encouraging ... or discouraging ... anyone from adopting these customs for themselves. It is included for informational purposes only.

For a general introduction to the biblical background of the topic of the Feasts and Holy Days, and their relevance to Christians, see the article Theme Times.

Definitions and explanations for a number of Hebrew and English words and terms, such as Torah and firstfruits, used in this and other articles on this Times of Refreshing website are available in the site Lexicon.

There are a number of branches of Judaism. The Orthodox are very strict in exactly how they practice what they believe to be the requirements of their faith. If you have heard about Jews who will not even turn on a light or use a car or an elevator on the weekly Sabbath, they were likely members of this branch of Judaism.

Those who are part of the Conservative branch of Judaism are slightly less rigid in their practice, but still are very careful about such things as observing the Kosher laws regarding food, and not working on the Sabbath.

Those who are part of Reformed Judaism recognize very few strict requirements for daily living, and if they follow such practices as avoiding pork and shellfish, they may view their actions as merely part of a cultural way of life rather than as binding commandments from God.

Material in this series of articles on Jewish customs refers in particular to either Orthodox or Conservative Jewish practices. For simplicity, the customs are described as they are scheduled in Israel--outside that country, every annual holy day as described in the Bible (except for the "fast day" of Yom Kippur), is traditionally observed for two days in a row. For an explanation on the reasoning behind this practice, see:

http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday0.htm

If you have previously read the introductory material immediately below in other installments of this series on Jewish Feast and Holy Day Customs, use this link to skip these comments and jump to Yom Teruah n the Bible