As Christians, we may not be as familiar with holidays celebrated in the Bible. We may know friends of the Jewish faith who celebrate Hanukkah or Passover. But what about the holiday of Rosh Hashanah? Do we know anything about that?
Rosh Hashanah is essentially the Jewish New Year. The name originates in the Bible to mean "a day of shouting." Let's explore some of the holiday traditions and origins.
What Is the Origin of Rosh Hashanah?
Like so many of the festivals on the Jewish calendar, this one originates in the Bible. God, in the Torah, ordained many feasts and festivals, and this one was no exception. Known also as the Feast of Trumpets, we get a glimpse at the origins of Rosh Hashanah in Leviticus 23:23-25: "The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of sabbath rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present a food offering to the Lord.’”
The seventh month in the Jewish calendar is known as Tishrei, which takes place in September and October in the Gregorian calendar.
During the Feast of Trumpets, the Israelites would set aside 10 days to consecrate themselves, perform sin sacrifices, repent, and avoid work. The event would be kicked off by the sound of trumpets, and this was one of three of the important autumnal festivals and feasts that would take place.
As stated in the GotQuestions article linked above, this festival can also remind Christians about Jesus' second coming. He will come on the clouds to the sound of trumpets. The trumpet, of course, being the trumpet used in the Bible, the shofar. According to GotQuestions, "Rosh Hashanah begins a ten-day period leading up to the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These ten days are called the yomim nora’im or Days of Awe in modern Judaism."
Revelation often uses harvesting imagery when talking about God collecting the saints (Revelation 14). So the feast of Rosh Hashanah would've foreshadowed the events still yet to come. For more passages on harvesting, check out Galatians 6:9, James 3:18, and Hebrews 12:11.
Now that we've established the origins of the Jewish New Year, let's explore when it will take place this year.
When Is Rosh Hashanah This Year?
Rosh Hashanah begins on September 6, 2021, and ends on September 8, 2021. For the future dates of Rosh Hashanah for the next few years, check out the list below and mark your calendars.
Rosh Hashanah 2022: September 25-27
Rosh Hashanah 2023: September 15-17
Rosh Hashanah 2024: October 2-4
Rosh Hashanah 2025: September 22-24
You can always expect the holiday to fall sometime in September or October, harvesting season.
What Are Some Rosh Hashanah Traditions?
Rosh Hashanah has evolved from the original commands in Leviticus. People do take days off and observe a Sabbath as well as a period of repentance. But what else happens during this holiday?
First, like many Jewish holidays, the food, in particular, has symbols. As you can see in the cover picture of this article, foods such as honey and apples make an appearance. Let's explore some of these foods and their symbolic meaning.
Honey or sweet foods: These symbolize the want for a person to have a sweet year ahead. Some of these foods can include Challah or honey cake. This can also include apples dipped in honey, a common holiday tradition.
Heads of fish: According to Chabad.org, "Many people eat parts of the head of a fish or a ram, expressing the wish that “we be a head and not a tail.”
Pomegranates or new fruits: Eaten on the second night, people partake in a fruit that they haven't eaten in a while to kick off the new year. As the pomegranate has more than 600 seeds, like the Old Testament Torah commandments, this can remind people of the law found within the Pentateuch.
Dates and Beets and Punny Foods: According to My Jewish Learning, many foods have puns (there is a lot of wordplay throughout the Bible). "Many of these prayers are based on Hebrew puns involving the food in question. For instance, the prayer before eating a date (tamar in Hebrew) includes the phrase “yitamu hataim”— may the wicked cease. Before eating pumpkin or squash (k’ra’a in Hebrew), Sephardic Jews say “yikaru l’fanekha z’khuyoteinu“– may our good deeds call out our merit before you."
Apart from the foods, what else takes place during this holiday? Of course, we have the shofar-blowing, but what else happens?
Candle Lighting: More than just Hanukkah involves the lighting of candles. In fact, most Jewish festivals have this play a role in the festivities. A woman lights the candles and says the appropriate blessing.
Tashlich: According to the Chabad.org article linked above, it's customary to go to a river or a body of water and symbolically cast sins into it. This plays into the holiday's objective for a period of repentance heading into the new year. Sometimes this includes throwing breadcrumbs to symbolically represent the sins. Think of this as a version of New Year's resolutions.
Trying New Things: In addition to eating fruit you haven't had in a while, you may test out a new hobby or buy something new. The holiday is all about newness and fresh starts.
Torah Readings and Prayers: As the Feast of Trumpets leads up to Yom Kippur, it makes sense that both of these elements would take part during the days of Rosh Hashanah. Discussions of the meaning of repentance often takes place within family circles on these days.
Cards: Not all people participate in this, but many people will send cards to loved ones and family during this time. A family picture may also be taken. Think of the Christmas photos you may send out as cards to other loved ones as a similar analogy to this.
There are, of course, many other customs a family may choose to do or not do. For a great detailed explanation of some of these, check out this article here.
What Can We Learn from Rosh Hashanah?
Even if we don't celebrate the holiday, we know that Jewish festivals and feasts have rich symbolism that everyone can learn from.
First, we can learn about the importance of repentance. Rosh Hashanah is a fresh start for everyone. Repentance leads to a newness of life. We can, as Christians, value the gravity the holiday places on repentance and exercise gratitude ourselves for the grace God has bestowed on us in our own lives.
Second, we can remember the second coming of Christ: Christ will usher in a newness: a New Jerusalem, New Heaven, New Earth, an eternal kingdom. We can go into the holiday remembering that Christ, too, will come at the sound of the trumpet.
Third, we can remember all the good things God has given us: Harvest season tends to make us think of the sower. God has planted so many blessings in our lives, and on this holiday, we can celebrate how we've reaped them throughout our lives. We can remember the sweet apple-dipped-in-honey blessings God has given us and make our gratitude known.
Photo credit: ©GettyImages/Alexander Donin
Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
