Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah)

NOTE: Some of the Jewish traditions associated with the Day of Trumpets are steeped in Kabbalah beliefs.  More information on the Kabbalah aspects of the Day of Trumpets can be found here at Chabad.org.

For the Jewish people, the Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) is traditionally celebrated beginning at sundown following the 1st day of the 7th month and lasting until after nightfall of the 2nd day of the 7th month.

Yom Teruah is also traditionally believed by Jewish people to be the day Adam and Eve were created.

Rosh Hashanah – The Jewish New Year

The Jewish people refer to the Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) as the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah).  This comes from their interpretation of:

• Ezekiel 40:1 In the twenty fifth year of our exile, in the beginning of the year (Rash Hashanah), in the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, on that same day the hand of YAHWEH was on me, and He brought me there.

The word “Rosh” (or “Rash”) means “head”.  So, the phrase “Rosh Hashanah” can be translated as “head of the year”.   While the Jewish people interpret this to mean the start of a new year, it could also (and probably should be) interpreted as the “head” or “peak” in the middle of the year (such as with a mountain, where you start at the bottom on one side, get to the peak in the middle, then return to the bottom on the other side). 

Because of their interpretation, the Jewish people follow two calendars.  One being the “religious” calendar from the Torah that starts in the Spring (14 days before Passover), and the other being a “civil” calendar that starts on Rosh Hashanah in the Fall.

The Night Before Rosh Hashanah

Typical traditions include:

• Greeting with “Leshana tovah tikatev v’tichatem” for men and “Leshana tovah tikatevee v’tichatemee” for women, meaning “May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) and sealed for a good year”.

During the Day of Rosh Hashanah

Typical traditions include:

• Blowing the shofar (ram’s horn) on both mornings of the holy day (except on Shabbat).  Generally, this is done in synagogue as part of the day’s services.
• Greeting with “G’mar chatimah tovah”, meaning “May your name be inscribed (in the Book of Life)”.
• In the afternoon (except on Shabbat), it is customary to go to a body of water (ocean, lake, pond, etc.)  and perform the Tashlich ceremony and short prayer – where Jewish people ceremonially cast their sins into the water (from Micah 7:19).
• Special Rosh Hashanah prayers, found in a machzor (Holy Day prayer book) are read in a synagogue.
• Enjoying New Years’ feasts that include round challah bread (studded with raisins) and apples dipped in honey, symbolizing a wish for a sweet year.
• Eating pomegranates, symbolizing a wish that “our merits be many like the [seeds of the] pomegranate.”
• Eating portions of the head of a fish or a sheep, symbolizing the desire to be “the head, not the tail” (from Deuteronomy 28:13).
• Eating “tzimmes” (a sweet carrot-based dish) because of its Yiddish name (merren) which means both “carrot” and “increase,” symbolizing a wish for a year of abundance.
• Sephardic communities eat a Rosh Hashanah Seder (special meal with prayers) that also includes dates, small light colored beans, leeks, beets, gourds and apples cooked in sugar and honey in addition to the foods mentioned above.
• Avoid eating nuts (which tend to increase saliva and phlegm, making prayer difficult), vinegar-based foods and sharp foods (such as the horseradish traditionally eaten with gefilte fish) to avoid a bitter year.
• Desisting from creative work during the day.

The Day After Rosh Hashanah

The day following Rosh Hashanah is the Fast of Gedalia, when the Jewish people mourn the death of Gedaliah, the leader of the Jewish people in Israel following the destruction of the First Temple in 3338 (423 BCE).

The Shabbat Following Rosh Hashanah

The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is called “Shabbat Shuvah” (Shabbat of Return).  The name derives from the Haftarah (reading from the prophets) for this Shabbat, which opens with the words, “Return O Israel unto the Lord your God.”

In addition to the Shabbat Hagadol (the Shabbat preceding Passover), this is one of the two times a year when it is customary for rabbis to deliver long speeches on timely topics.

As on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish people dip their challah in honey at the start of the Shabbat meals.

Start of the Days of Awe

Rabbinic belief is that on Rosh Hashanah the righteous are written into the Book of Life and the wicked are written into the Book of Death, while most people won’t be written into either book.  Instead, most people are given the 10 days until the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) to examine themselves and show repentance. Then, on Yom Kippur, everyone has his or her name inscribed into one of the two books.

The 10-day time period beginning with Rosh Hashanah on the 1st day of the 7th month is referred to as the Days of Awe (Yamim Nora’im).  The Jewish sages believe this period is a time when “the gates of heaven are open, and I (YHVH) will listen to your prayers.”  This comes from their interpretation of the scripture:

• Isaiah 55:6 Seek YAHWEH while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

In the Rabbinic teachings of Maimonides (the Laws of Teshuva), he writes, “For these reasons, it is customary for all of Israel to give profusely to charity, perform many good deeds, and be occupied with observance of God’s commandments from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur to a greater extent than during the remainder of the year.”

During this time Jewish people decrease their involvement with worldly matters, and increase their Torah study and charitable giving. Some are careful to settle all debts so that they come to Yom Kippur with a “clean slate”.  And all Jewish people are extra careful with following all their mitzvah (commandments from the Torah and teachings from the Talmud) observances.

During the Days of Awe, the following prayer traditions are observed:

• During morning services, after the Yishtabach blessing, it is customary to say Psalm 130.
• Three times a day, in the Amidah (standing prayer), they substitute the phrases “haEl hakadosh” (the holy God) with “hamelech hakadosh” (the holy king), and “melech ohev tzedakah umishpat” (king who loves righteousness and justice) with “hamelech hamishpat” (the king of judgement). There are a number of other insertions that were instituted by the medieval sages which can be found in the Siddur (Jewish prayer book).
• Following the Amidah, and the subsequent Tachanun (supplicatory prayers), they add the full Avinu Malkeinu prayer (a special Days of Awe prayer).
• Psalm 27 is recited everyday (until the 7th day of the Feast of Tabernacles) following morning and afternoon (or evening) prayers.
• In the Kaddish (mourner’s prayer), some have the custom to say, “l’eila ul’eila” (above and beyond), in reference to God’s greatness, instead of the usual “l’eila” (beyond). For some others, the extra words are reserved only for the Neilah prayer (“closing of the gates” prayer) during the 5th service on Yom Kippur.
• There is a widespread custom is to recite special selichot (penitential prayers) before dawn. For some, they are said only on the Fast of Gedaliah (a dawn-to-dusk fast observed on the day after Rosh Hashanah, commemorating the tragic death of Gedaliah, governor of Judea).

More details on the Jewish traditions surrounding the Days of Awe can be found here at Chabad.org.

More details on the Jewish traditions surrounding the Day of Trumpets can be found here at Chabad.org.