Happy Hebrew New Year 5771!
Leviticus 23:23-24
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.
G-d outlines His appointed times in Leviticus chapter 23. Most scholars accept 7 total appointed times, also referred to as the Feasts of The Lord (although there is some disagreement as to which ones ‘count’ and when they are celebrated).
The weekly Sabbath (1 day per week=52) is to be kept holy (Lev. 23:3), a terrific idea. The spring appointed times are Passover, the feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of First fruits (7 days in close proximity), as well as Pentecost (1 day) celebrated fifty days after Firstfruits. The fall appointed times are the Feast of Trumpets (1 day), the Day of Atonement (1 day), the feast of Tabernacles (7 days), and the Eighth Day of Assembly (1 day). That adds up to a total of 70 appointed days during a Hebrew year!
The month of Elul (Aug/Sep of our calendar) is the final month in the Jewish year a time for prayer, self introspection, and repentance. This intense spiritual preparation is for Rosh Hashanah, which occurs during the first and second days of the month of Tishrei (Sep/Nov of our calendar). The celebration of this holiday is marked with solemnity. It is thought to be the birthday of the world, a day of Judgment, a day of Remembrance, a day of shofar blowing, and the start of a new year! It is also thought to be the time of year that Abraham offered Isaac to G-d and a ram was provided instead. This story foreshadows the coming Messiah who “takes away the sin of the world”. For these reasons, a shofar (ram’s horn) is blown on the Feast of Trumpets.
Torah readings: Day 1 Gen. 21:1-34 and I Sam. 1:1 to 2:10
Day 2 Gen. 22:1-24 and Jer. 31:1-19 and Numbers 29:1-6
Also helpful to read Romans 4:20-21, Hebrews 11:19, John 1:29, and Isaiah 53:7.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are considered the most important of the holy days. The New Year is celebrated with family gatherings, special meals, sweet tasting foods, synagogue services, and the blowing of shofars. As congregants leave the synagogue after services they will say to each other, “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life!”. Doesn’t that sound grand?
“Praise be to the G-d and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of G-d's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”
---Ephesians 1:3-10
"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable and will be changed."
---1 Corinthians 15:51
The Hebrew calendar is based both on the lunar year and solar year. A standard day is from sunset to sunset “…the evening, the morning…” as described in the Genesis Creation account. Our standard Gregorian calendar (which comes from the Julian calendar) is based on a solar year. For some fascinating insight on the Hebrew calendar see http://www.jewfaq.org
Toot! Toot! (that's me blowing my horn for the New Year.)
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