The Significance of Rosh HaShana
Today, we are looking at the meaning of the Jewish holiday known as Rosh HaShana, or the Jewish New Year. Where is it in the Bible? What is its spiritual meaning? And what can we learn from it as Christians?
First, Rosh HaShana is a special case of a recurring monthly holiday called Rosh Chodesh or the beginning of each lunar month. In Genesis 1:14, God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs (otot) and seasons (moadim), and for days and years.” One of these lights is the moon, and indeed the most important Jewish holidays are determined by the moon. This is why we call them “movable feasts”, because they fall each year on a different date according to our solar calendar.
The moon serves not only as a sign (ot) but also a moed – a Hebrew word best translated as “appointed time”. This is the time God himself determined for an appointment with mankind. And what powerful appointments they are: Just think of it – the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai, and Jesus dying on the cross: all of these seminal events happened exactly on the days appointed by God.
Now the significance of every Rosh Chodesh is mainly to determine the beginning of the month when the new moon appears. Without it we could not determine the date of the full moon, which marks the beginning of Passover and Succot.
Every month, Rosh Chodesh is a time of drawing near to God, of blowing the trumpet, a time of gladness and joy. The Scripture says in Numbers 10:10 that it shall be a memorial (zikaron) for you. It means remembering the past so as to learn a lesson for today. At Rosh HaShana, this theme comes out prominently: the day is also called Yom ha Zikaron, the Day of Remembrance, and biblically the Day of Trumpets, or more precisely, the Day of Blowing on the Shofar (Yom Teruah).
|
