Rosh HaShana and Scripture

Based on the Bible and various Commentaries.

Contents:
1. The Year has a Beginning and an End!
2. Objections to Rosh HaShanah and Biblical Feast Days
3. Different New Year Days.
4. We are now in a Sabbatical Year! Half the Farmers in Israel will be observing it!
5. Tishrei and the Ten Tribes.
6. Tishrei and a New Beginning
7. More Hints in the Biblical Text.
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1. The Year has a Beginning and an End!

Deuteronomy 11:
12 a Land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

This indicates that the year has a beginning and an end (Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 125;b). It also suggest a period of judgment from one end to the other.
A person is judged every second of his life BUT a general judgment also takes on the Jewish New Year.

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2. Objections to Rosh HaShanah and Biblical Feast Days

There are those non-Jews who study the Bible but seem to doubt the Biblical sanction of Rosh HaShanah (New Year). In some cases they have been taught, or otherwise received the impression, that the Religious Jews invented laws of their own and Rosh HaShanah is one of them. Ideological and religious opinions are also involved and it may be difficult to persuade opponents of Rabbinical Law that the truth is otherwise.
To some degree we may not necessarily want to.
The Jews have suffered much in their history. They have no wish to gratuitously antagonize other religious understandings. So long as the Jews are not victimized they are quite prepared to leave other faiths alone.
This is a complicated matter.
Brit-Am/Hebrew Awareness is charged with endeavoring to reveal the truth concerning who the Ten Tribes are. This is our calling. We are not really interested in anything else.
Nevertheless here and there we elaborate on matters regarding the Understanding of Scripture in general.

Leviticus 23 lists the Biblical Holy Days.

Leviticus (NASB) 23:
1 The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, The LORDs appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations My appointed times are these:

3 For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings.

4 These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.

5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORDs Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.

The verse above is speaking of Pesach (Passover) which occurs in what is called the first month. This is the month of Nissan, the month of Pesach, of unleavened bread. Rosh HaShanah however takes place on the First of Tishrei which is the 7th month.
Why then is the First of Nissan not considered the New Year's Day?

Nisan (or Nissan), is the month of the barley ripening and first month of the Spring season. It is called the "first of the months of the year" (Exodus 12:1-2), "first month" (Exodus 12:14), and the Month of Spring (Aviv, Exodus 13:4).

Let us consider all the feats together.

Leviticus 23 speaks of the Sabbath Day, then of Pesach, then of the waiving of the first sheaf of barley, and so on. This is followed 50 days later by Shavuoth (Pentecost).

23: 15 You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths.

After that we get to the 7th month (Tishrei):

Leviticus 23: 23 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a blowing of trumpets [i.e. a truah i.e. a trumpet -type blowing of shofars] , a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.

This is what we call Rosh HaShanah (New Year) which we shall discuss a little more further on below

Leviticus 23 continues and speaks of The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

23: 26 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 27 On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble yourselves and present an offering by fire to the LORD. 28 You shall not do any work on this very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God.

This is followed by the Feast of Booths ( Succot).

23: 33 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 34 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the LORD. 35 On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 36 For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall not do any laborious work.

23: 39 On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.

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3. Different New Year Days.

Just like in the Secular World in some places we have the Fiscal New Year for accounting purposes and taxation in addition to a Calendar New Year for general matters, so too in the Bible.
In fact the Talmud lists four different days each considered a New Year Day for specific purposes!

Getting back to Rosh HaShanah we saw that the 1st day of the 7th month (Tishrei) is a Holy Day.

Leviticus 23: 23 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a blowing of trumpets [i.e. a trumpet -type blowing of shofars] , a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD.

The 1st of Nissah (month of Pesach and of Spring) is referred to as the first day of the year. It is indeed for some matters such as numbering the Festivals considered the beginning of the year.
We therefore have two separate days (1st Nissan and 1st Tishrei) both of which are considered a New Years Day only each one marks a different beginning. One day is the official day on which the counting of months begins i.e. the first of Nissan in the Spring (Aviv).
The other day (in the seventh month) is a Day of Assembly, of blowing the shofar, and of remembrance.
This is Rosh HaShana or the New Year Day for the purpose of Judgment.

This day (Rosh HaShana) is set aside as the New Year for calculating calendar years and Sabbatical (Shemita) and Jubilee (Yovel) years.
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4. We are now in a Sabbatical Year! Half the Farmers in Israel will be observing it!
Every seventh year it was commanded that the Land be given a rest. This was the "Shmitta" which lterally mean abandoning or setting to rest. These years were computed from the month of Tishrei i.e. from each Rosh HaShanah.
This present year (which we have just begun), year 5782, is a Sabbatical Year (Shmittah). It applies within the Land of Israel but not outside it.

"You may plant your land for six years and gather its crops. But during the seventh year, you must leave it alone and withdraw from it. The needy among you will then be able to eat just as you do, and whatever is left over can be eaten by wild animals. This also applies to your vineyard and your olive grove." (Exodus 23:10-11, see also Leviticus 25:20-22,

One of the reasons the Israelites (both the Ten Tribes and later Judah) were sent into Exile was because they did not keep the Sabbatical Year. They had been warned to do so.

" I will scatter you among the nations, and keep the sword drawn against you. Your land will remain desolate, and your cities in ruins. Then, as long as the land is desolate and you are in your enemies' land, the land will enjoy its sabbaths. The land will rest and enjoy its sabbatical years. Thus, as long as it is desolate, [the land] will enjoy the sabbatical rest that you would not give it when you lived there." (Leviticus 25:1-7, cf. 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, See Also Leviticus 25: 20-22, 26:33-35, Nehemiah 10:31 ).

See Also:
Shmita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmita

Many of the Orthodox Jews will not eat any of the Produce of the Land of Israel for the Shemita Year.
On more than half the farms owned by Jews in Israel there will be no work! Numerous non-Religious Jewish farmers have decided that this year the Sabbatical Year will be kept and no work on the Land be done.
This is an unprecedented historical development! It has not been widely publicized but its implications are revolutionary.

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5. Tishrei and the Ten Tribes

According to one tradition during the month of Tishrei the Ten Tribes will return.

Isaiah 27:13 So it shall be in that day:
The great trumpet [Hebrew: Shofar] will be blown;
They will come, who are about to perish [Hebrew: "Ovdim" also translatable as "they who were being lost"] in the land of Assyria,
And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt,
And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Isaiah 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet [Hebrew: Shofar],;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.

Tishrei is the month of Ephraim according to the most accepted opinion (HaGra and Arizal) but the Hasidim and others go according to the Rabad (Rabbi Abraham ben David c. 1125 - 1198), who accorded the month to Benjamin.

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6. Tishrei and a New Beginning

Rosh HaShana begins on the 1st of Tishrei.
The word for year in Hebrew Is "Shana" from the root "ShNH" connoting change. "Tishrei implies "gift." Your whole life is a gift. The rest of your liefe has been giften to you to do as well as you can in the time you have.

Rosh HaShana in the Bible.
Very brief Notes Based on the Commentary "HaKetav ve-HaKabalah" by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg (1785-1865).

Leviticus 23:
23 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 '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. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD.'

The expression "a memorial of blowing of trumpets" is a translation from the Hebrew "zicaron-truah". The word "truah" connotes the blowing of a trumpet-like instrument which was usdually performed by a "shofar," i.e. a rams horn.

Thuis is therefore a day of remembrance and of shofar trumpet blowing.
The Hebrew word we understand to mean shofar trumpet blowing is "truah".
This word "truah" is from the root "RAH" connoting "breaking". Not only do the shofar sounds have to have a breaking pattern but we also need to break our pride before the Almighty.

The Torah spoke of this day as a Day of Remembrance and Breaking (Truah) to subdue our badness and cause us to think about the evil of our actions.

cf.

Psalms 89:
15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.

Psalm 47:
5 God has gone up with a shout [Hebrew: truah],
The LORD with the sound of a trumpet [Hebrew: shofar].

The word transalted as "joyful" sound in Hebrew is "truah". "Truah" implies submission to the Almighty and a broken heart full of repentance.

Consider this whole Psalm:

Psalm 47
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples!
Shout to God with the voice of triumph!
2 For the LORD Most High is awesome;
He is a great King over all the earth.
3 He will subdue the peoples under us,
And the nations under our feet.
4 He will choose our inheritance for us,
The excellence of Jacob whom He loves. Selah

5 God has gone up with a shout,
The LORD with the sound of a trumpet [Shofar].
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises!
Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King of all the earth;
Sing praises with understanding.

8 God reigns over the nations;
God sits on His holy throne.
9 The princes of the people have gathered together,
The people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
He is greatly exalted.

This Psalm 47 speaks of God ruling over all the earth, subduing peoples under Israel, giving Jacob his inheritance, choosing us anew, of truah, of sounding a shofar, of God sitting on his holy throne, etc.
This is all pertinent to the Day of Judgement, the shabaton (day of rest), the day of sounding a shofar, of remembrance and repentance, of an holy assembly.

Rabbi Mecklenberg continues to quote relevant verses.
He shows how the sounding of a truah was associated with the announcement of judgement.
The act of breaking was also linked with a new judgement and renewing a covenant.
He shows that not only are the people urged to remember but God Himself, as if to say, is also asked to remember.
Why should we want the Almighty to remember us on this day more than on other days?
Because this day is a Day of Judgment and Mercy.
Rabbi Mecklenberg shows grammatically that the expression "zicaron-truah" entails the duty to remember the truah.
This means breaking our pride, breaking the yoke of evil habits from off us, sounding the shofar to symbolize judgment, and remembering that there is a judgment.

The association of the 1st of Tishrei, the 7th month, with Judgment therefore fits the Hebrew Text. It is the beginning of a new judgment for the coming year.

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7. More Hints in the Biblical Text.

Rosh HaShanah is recalled in the Book of Psalms
Translated directly from the Hebrew:

Psalm 81:
3 Blow with a Shofar on the New Moon,
When the moon is not yet visible, on our Feast Day.
4 For it is a Statute for Israel,
A Judgment from the God of Jacob.

Note in English translations the expression we have translated as "when the moon is not yet visible" (Hebrew "be-caseh" i.e. covered over) is sometimes given as the full moon. This is not correct. From an astronomical point of view the New Moon begins when we cannot see it, when it is still covered over in darkness. This is the first day of the Lunar Month. [So too, there are other expressions above we have re-translated to accord more closely with the Hebrew text].

The Talmud (Rosh HaShanah 8;a) points out that the verse above is speaking of a Feast Day that takes place on a New Moon Day and that this can only mean Rosh HaShanah.
It says that this is a Day of Judgment and of the blowing of a shofar. The 1st of Tishrei (Rosh haShanah) is the day on which wee are commanded to blow the shofar (Levitucus 23: 23).

All this proves that Rosh HaShanah being a Day of Judgment and the 1st day of the Year is according to the Bible.

The Commentary "Torah Temimah" by Rabbi Baruch ha-Levi Epstein on Deuteronomy 11:12 discusses this. Rabbi Epsten (1860 - 1941), was burned to death by the Nazis while he was in hospital in Pinsk, Belarus)

Deuteronomy 11:
12 a Land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year.

We saw above how this verse concerns the Judgment given on Rosh HaShanah. Rabbi Epstein quotes the observation that the word for "beginning," in Hebrew "RAISHIT," in this verse is lacking the customary "A" letter. This allows us to rearrange the letters to say "Ba-Tishrei" i.e. in the month of Tishrei, the 7th month!

No one is saying that this is absolute proof but it is a point of interest and supportive evidence complementary to the other points already noted.

To Sum Up:
The Year has a beginning and an end.
The 1st day of the 7th month was a Holy Day linvolving the shofar. The shofar is associated with judgment.
Judgement takes place on the Feastday which is also a New Moon Day and linked with the Shofar. This is the 1st of Tishrei. This is Rosh HaShanah.

The Almighty wants things to go well with us.
Let us listen to HIM.