Rosh Hashanah 5785 Thoughts

 Considering Rosh Hashanah is a “high” holiday, there is certainly very little said about it in the scriptures.  The command for the day is only a couple lines long and tells us in Leviticus 23.24-25. ACTUALLY - it the directions for Rosh Hashanah are only 4 words long. 

• שבתון - Have a complete rest.  (no formal gathering is spoken of)

• תרועה - Make a blowing / blasting / teruah  of (something).  Shofars aren’t actually mentioned.

• זיכרון - Have a Zikaron - a remembrance.

• אשה - An offering by fire.  (Would an eight pound brisket be OK?)

“Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet Nehemiah 8:10" ... so we did!

Rosh Hashanah is only mentioned once more:  When the people return from captivity and read the scriptures for the first time in at least a generation.  They wept at what lousy Jews they were. But they were told to rejoice and feast instead because “the JOY of the Lord is your strength”.   Nehemiah 8.10 (would four different desserts be a good start?)

Born in Darkness, Giving Rise to Renewal and Light. 

The major Jewish holidays are either on a "rosh chodesh" head of the month, a full moon, or near full moons, evenings lit by the moon 

Passover, Sukkot and Shavuot***.   But Rosh Hashanah is a holiday of no moon, the darkest night of the seventh month.  (which of course means it is not the "NEW" year, it is the farthest month from the new year that can be).     It is a time where God’s plans, wrought in darkness, as far from "new" as can be, are about to be revealed. 

On Rosh Hashanah... 

These events occurred on Rosh Hashanah, according to traditional rabbinic Jewish writings.    I offer them as context.

• Barren women became pregnant on Rosh Hashanah

• Sarah (mother of Isaac) , 

• Rachael mother of Joseph and Benjamin

• Hanna, mother of Samuel the prophet

• Liberation:  Joseph was rescued from darkness of his prison, and becomes prime minister of Egypt, all in a day.   We think of the release of the kidnapped Israelis in Gaza and pray for their return,  

• Creation:   

• The anniversary of God creating Adam Creation of humanity is on Rosh Hashanah, 

• Some have proposed that it is the anniversary of the creation of the world itself.     Let us just say, it is the birthday of creativity itself.  

The darkest moment is when the change comes, from barrenness to fruitfulness, from darkness to light, from nothingness, to limitless new life.  

Tashlich

My favorite part of these ימים נוראים,  the “yamim nora’im, the ten days of awe" is "tashlich" the “casting away” of sin and injustices.  You go to a stream or river and symbolically toss bread in the waters, and read Micah 7.17-20, speaking out about God who is unchanging in love and who "casts away" our sins and injustices into the depths of the sea (thus the water). I did so, spoke it out loud and even though it is symbolic, a palpable sense of renewal and purpose has stayed with me. 

18 Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity

And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in unchanging love.

19 He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, You will cast all their sins

Into the depths of the sea.

20 You will give  truth to Jacob

And unchanging love to Abraham,

Which You swore to our forefathers

From the days of old. Micah 7:17-20

Somehow this year, the sense of renewal lingered with me the whole day. Just an afterglow, or a foreshadowing?  

Scriptures of Return and Renewal

21 Restore us to You, O LORD, that we may be restored;

Renew our days as of old, Lamentations 5:21

השיבנו יהוה  אליך (ונשוב) [ונשובה] חדש ימינו כקדם

1 “Come, let us return to the LORD.

For He has torn us, but He will heal us;

He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

2 “He will revive us after two days;

He will raise us up on the third day,

That we may live before Him.

3 “So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.

His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

And He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rain watering the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11  Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a willing spirit. Psalms 51:10-12

A surprising part of Rosh Hashanah is its timing and the notion of renewal and creativity, born in darkness, bursting into the light.  

From a Dark Night, Plans for the Future.  

All of the Jewish major Jewish holidays are during either a full moon or near full moon

Passover, Shavuot ***, Sukkot,  and Purim.     But Rosh Hashanah is a holiday of no moon, the darkest night.   It is a time where God’s plans, wrought in darkness, are about to be revealed. 

__________

*** Passover and Shavuot are, by definition, 49 days apart. Shavuot means "sevens" or "weeks"... seven times seven days from Passover to Shavuot.   So Shavuot is seven days till a full moon, still a festival lit by the moon.    We make an event out of counting down the days with the "counting of the Omer" tradition. The lunar cycle would be 28 x 2 = 56 days. 

As an aside, the Jewish calendar is a lunar 28 day month, a lunar calendar, which adds an extra month, called Adar II, every 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 years, makes the lunar cycle for these days vary close to a new moon.   I have read that these two holidays are considered "full moon" holidays.    Shavuot is not, technically.   It's 2/3rd moon.