Rosh Hashanah

Shana Tovah--Happy New Year!

Challah bread--the round shape symbolizes the yearly cycle and the cycle of life.

On the evening of October 2nd (when Rosh Hashanah started this year), we heard many shofars sounding from synagogues all over Jerusalem.  The streets were almost empty.  Everyone was at home or at a service celebrating.


Special Scripture portions were read at the Rosh Hashanah service we attended:

Genesis 21-23, where it talks about Isaac's birth.  Tradition states he was born on Rosh Hashanah.

1 Samuel 1:1-2:10, the birth of the prophet Samuel.  Tradition also states he was born on Rosh Hashanah.

Numbers 29:1-6, where God gives the command that the "first day of the seventh month" shall be a "holy convocation" and a day of "blowing the trumpets".

Jeremiah 31:1-19, the Haftarah portion.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, where it states that "the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God".

1 Corinthians 15:51-54, where it states that we shall be changed "at the last trumpet".  Yeshua will return when the last trumpet blast is blown on Rosh Hashanah according to the Father's time.

Apples dipped in honey is eating during Rosh Hashanah, hoping for a sweet new year.

These are Abraham dates, the largest ones in Israel.  They also symbolize a sweet new year.

Each pomegranate is said to have (an average of) 613 seeds, which is the same number of commandments in the Torah.

The name "Rosh Hashanah" came from the Babylonians; the Hebrew form is "Yom Teruah".  On that day the Babylonians believed Baal resurrects from the dead.  Baal is the god of rain.  He "dies" during the summer and resurrects when the season is over since there is almost no rain during that time.  The sounding of the shofars on Rosh Hashanah is a call to war against idolatry and pagan gods.

Shana Tovah!