During this High Holy Day I have been studying about Rosh Hashana and I have found many wonderful truths that we, as Christians, can gain from in our own lives at this time in history. Rosh Hashana can be a time for us to reflect back on our lives as to what we have done or have not done for the land of Israel this year and make the needed changes. We will therefore allow the miracle hand of God once again to extend to Israel, its people and its friends for His glory.
The primary theme of Rosh Hashana is repentence. On Rosh Hashanah, we relate to God as the Ultimate Judge. The Book of Life is opened before the Divine Being and we become advocates for our personal inscription into this book. We review the choices we have made over the past year, our actions and our intentions, as we attempt to honestly evaluate ourselves. Ultimately we hope our names are inscribed in the Book of Life, an image that speaks clearly of securing our destinies in a positive way for the coming year.
Rosh Hashana was first held on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri (our October) which began the civil year of the Jews and still is to this day. It corresponded to our New Year’s Day, and on it, from morning to evening, horns and trumpets were blown, intended to symbolically awaken the listeners from their “slumbers” and alert them to the coming judgment. Read Leviticus 23:22-32 to find the first Rosh Hashanah mentioned in the Bible. Rosh Hashana is the first of the High Holy days or Yamim Noraim (“Days of Awe”), or Asseret Yemei Teshuva (Ten Days of Repentance) which are days specifically set aside to focus on repentance that conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur.
The traditional Hebrew greeting on Rosh Hashanah is שנה טובה shana tova [ʃaˈna toˈva] for “[a] good year”, or shana tova umetukah for “[a] good and sweet year.” Because Jews and the world are being judged by God for the coming year, a longer greeting translates as “may you be written and sealed for a good year” (ketiva ve-chatima tovah). It is customary that during the afternoon of the first day (second day if the first coincides with Shabbat) the practice of tashlikh is observed, in which prayers are recited near natural flowing water, and one’s sins are symbolically cast into the water. Many also have the custom to throw bread or pebbles into the water, to symbolize the “casting off” of sins.
Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples and honey, to symbolize a sweet new year. Various other foods with a symbolic meaning may be served, depending on local minhag (“custom”), such as cooked tongue or other meat from the head of an animal or fish (to symbolize the “head” of the year). May we explore the heritage of our Christianity by learning from Bible history.
Empowering you as a friend of Israel,
Rev. Lisa Marie Ives
