During their captivity in Babylon (586 to 537 BC) the Jewish people adopted the current calendar there and when they returned to Judah they continued using it. Because of this, the Jewish people proclaim this holiday as a celebration of the beginning of the year, or new year: Rosh HaShanah, which in modern Hebrew means “head of the year”.
In the Bible this holiday is also known as Yom Teruah or the Day of Trumpets. The word “teruah” means “to shout or make a noise,” so this holiday is marked by the blowing of the shofar or ram’s horn in Israel and around the world.
Yom Teruah falls on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishri on the Jewish calendar, which usually corresponds to September or October and
begins a ten-day period leading up to the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.“
Leviticus 23:24
The sounding of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a wake-up blast and a sobering reminder that the time is near for the Day of Atonement, a call to repentance and turning back to the LORD.
These ten days are ones of great introspection, heart-searching and self-examination so the primary theme of Rosh Hashanah is one of repentance.
A reminder to the church
Like all of the Lord’s appointed days in the Hebrew Bible, Rosh Hashanah points Christians to an even greater reality. For those who have placed their faith in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, we understand the true meaning of the call to repentance and of turning our hearts toward God.
The God of the Bible indeed has a Book of Life and a Book of Death. The Bible clearly warns us that on the Day of Judgment, which is yet to come, anyone’s name not found in the Book of Life will reside in the lake of fire for all eternity (Revelation 20:15).
For those who have placed their trust in the atoning work of Jesus through His life, death, burial, and resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:21), their names are already written into the Lamb’s Book of Life. And now, even we believers in Jesus listen for that trumpet call
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words” 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18.
“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:51
Rosh Hashana is one of the most important times of the year for the Jewish people, and the atmosphere of joy and expectation is already felt among the population.
However, due to the constant wave of terrorism that our city Sderot faces on the Gaza border added to the COVID pandemic, during these holidays many families feel hopeless because they cannot meet their most basic needs as they struggle economically and mentally.
For that reason our “City Of Life” team is already organizing the large distribution of special food sacks and gifts to bless the most needy in our region, including needy young families, widows, immigrants, single parents and Holocaust survivors, bringing them comfort and encouragement amid their precarious situation.
