Torah: Devarim (Deuteronomy) 29:9 — 31:30; Haftarah: Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 61:10 — 63:9
Shabbat Selichot
As of September 4 we have entered into the month of Elul, which is the sixth month of the Biblical year, and the last month of the modern Jewish calendar. Several Hebrew names are ascribed to this month. It is called the month of RACHAMIM — meaning MERCY, in anticipation of God's Judgment, which, according to rabbinical Judaism, takes place in the month of Tishrei. It is also called YEMAI HA-SELICHOT — DAYS OF PROPITIATORY PRAYERS or DAYS OF REPENTANCE. According to the Sephardic Minhag (custom), these Selichot prayers begin on the first of the month and continue until Rosh haShanah. In the Ashkenazic Minhag these penitential prayers begin Saturday at midnight and early Sunday before Rosh Hashanah - this year, September 29, therefore, this Shabbat is called Shabbat Selichot.
Elul is an appropriate time to reflect on our actions and attitudes of the previous year and resolve to correct our shortcomings as we approach the fall Holy Days. After prayers each morning, it is customary to blow the shofar.
May you be inscribed for a good New Year!
This year Rosh haShanah falls on Thursday, October 3/Tishrei 1, the Torah reading talks about the birth of Isaac, the promised son, and the Halftarah reading talks about the birth of Samuel, the prophet, both miraculous births. Traditionally, it is believed that on this day Sarah conceived Isaac. She was ninety years old and this is to show not only that the conception of life is in God’s hands, but also that the birth of the Jewish nation was not by accident but a sign from God with which He decreed that this nation would be His chosen messenger of His ethics to humanity.
But why it is called Rosh haShanah? This designation of the holiday as Rosh haShanah (literally Head of the Year) is not Biblical but Talmudic. The words Rosh haShanah together appears only once in the Bible in Ezekiel 40:1 but it is not clear what “beginning of the year” is referring to. But in Mishnah the name is connected to the 1st of Tishrei. The rabbis have calculated that the world was created on Rosh haShanah and that there are four New Years. Therefore, according to their interpretation Nisan is the New Year for Festivals, and Tishrei is New Year for Years.
But in the Torah we read, Leviticus 23:23 "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Shabbat, a memorial of blowing, Zikaron Teruah, a holy gathering. You shall do no labor in it.’"
The seventh month of the Biblical calendar is Tishrei, and God said to have a holy gathering, to do no work in it and to have a memorial of blowing of the Shofarim. Therefore, this holyday is also known as Yom haZikaron (memorial) Yom Teruah (blowing). Since the Torah is not clear what the word “memorial’ refers to, it may recall Israel's forebears as God's people, it may refer to the giving of the Torah, or it may refer to a public commemoration of the dead. Some interpret it as to recall one's deeds for personal introspection because this day is also known as Yom haDin, the Day of Judgment, based on the Biblical passage from Psalm 81:4 "Blow a Shofar at the new moon, at the hidden moon on our feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a judgment of the God of Jacob." Rabbinical tradition tells that the Book of Life is opened on Rosh haShanah and sealed on Yom Kippur. In this book the fate of the righteous, the wicked, and those uncertain are recorded. The first are inscribed for life, the second are blotted out from the book of the living, and the third are given respite to repent.
Preparations for this holyday began in the preceding month of Elul. The period of forty days, from the first of Elul until the tenth day of Tishrei. (Yom Kippurim), commemorates the second stay of Moses on Mount Sinai, to invoke God’s abundant mercy for complete atonement, and in which God inscribed the second set of stone tablets. These days are marked as a special period of Divine grace, during which, the tradition says, the sincere prayers are sure to find favor in the eyes of God.
It is customary on the day before Rosh haShanah to cut your hair, to give tzedakah and to visit and pay respect at someone’s grave. Also, right before the holiday begins to have a Mikveh ceremony.
The traditional greeting is: “L’Shanah Tovah Tikatevu” May you be inscribed for a good year, that is because of the tradition that the book of life is opened on Rosh haShanah. The rabbis concluded that every deed is inscribed in the book of life based on the Psalm 69:28 "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous."
On the eve of Rosh haShanah a festive table is set. The lady of the house lights the holiday candles with the additional She-he-chi-yanu prayer (to reach this season), the Challah is round symbolizing the passing of the year, and after the father recites the Kiddush, each family member takes a piece of Challah and dips it not in salt as on Shabbat, but in honey to symbolize the abundance of the blessings and a sweet new year, no pickles or anything sour are allowed. Also, the head of a fish is eaten and the parents bless the children with the words: May you be the head and not the tail.
The Rosh haShanah synagogue service is not one of merrymaking, but of quiet self-inventory, repentance, and resolving to be guided by the teachings of the Torah in the year to come. The highlight of the service is the blowing of the Shofar, the ram’s horn. Throughout the service the Shofar is blown in three sets of 100 blasts.
Tekiah, Shevorim, Tekiah
Tekiah, Teruah, Tekiah Gadolah.
It is incumbent for one to blow or at least to hear the Shofar.
The blowing of the Shofar may recall the sound of the Shofar of God at Mount Sinai, the day when God would drive out the powers of darkness by giving us His Torah. The Shofar was also used as a rallying call to all Israel to battle for the Kingdom of God. The Shofar also reminds the worshipers of God's providence, of the ram that was substituted for the sacrifice of Isaac, thus, to remind us about the substitutionary sacrifice of Yeshua at His first coming. And the Shofar is to presage the second coming of Moshiach Yeshua, whose arrival will be heralded by the “Great Shofar.”
There are four different sounds associated with the blowing of the Shofar:
1. TEKIAH - a pure, unbroken sound that calls man to search his heart, forsake his wrong ways, and seek forgiveness through repentance.
2. SHEVORIM - a broken, staccato sound, consisting of three short blasts. It typifies the sorrow that comes to man when he realizes his misconduct and desires to change his ways.
3. TERUAH - a succession of nine tremulous sounds of alarm calling upon man to stand by the banner of God.
4. TEKIAH GADOLAH - the prolonged, unbroken sound typifying a final appeal to sincere repentance and atonement.
On the afternoon of Rosh haShanah the worshipers perform a ceremony called Tashlich. They go to a running body of water and symbolically throw their sins into water by emptying their pockets filled with breadcrumbs. Tashlich means “you shall cast” based on Micah 7:18;19 "Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger for ever, because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion upon us; he will suppress our iniquities; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." This custom is first mentioned in 14th century literature. That was the time of the Black Plague and the Jews were accused of poisoning the wells of the Gentiles, because fewer Jews died of the plague. The cause of less Jews dying may have been the ritual hand washing that saved them from the plague but, unfortunately, not from the sword.
Rosh haShanah is celebrated two days in Diaspora by the Orthodox but not the Reform, and one day in Israel.
How about the Messianic believers? Rosh haShanah is likened to the rapture of believers to meet the Lord coming down to fight for Israel. 1 Corinthians 15:51: "Hinei! I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep the sleep of the dead. But we will all be changed. In a moment, in the wink of an eye, at the last Shofar blast. For the Shofar will sound, the dead ones will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." So, I think it is a good day to celebrate and rejoice in it and blow the Shofarim.
In the Jewish tradition Rosh haShanah begin the Ten Days of Owe or the Yamim Noraim, in which the individual is given the opportunity to prepare for the Yom Kippur. The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called Shabbat Shuvah – the Shabbat of Return or repentance, that is because the Haftarah reading from Isaiah which contains this plea to return to the Lord.
L'Shanah Tovah Tikatevu!
Shabbat joy, peace, and blessings! Shabbat Shalom!
