What is Rosh-HaShanah?

Let’s take a deeper look at the Jewish New Year, Rosh-HaShanah, with some notes and articles from three passages in the Complete Jewish Study Bible. We’ll look at the historical background, the traditional observance, and the anticipated prophetic fulfillment associated with this Holy Day of the Jewish calendar.

Leviticus 23:23–25

“ADONAI said to Moshe, ‘Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘In the seventh month, the first of the month is to be for you a day of complete rest for remembering, a holy convocation announced with blasts on the shofar. Do not do any kind of ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire to ADONAI.’”

Rosh-HaShanah: Historical Background

One of the fascinating facts about the holy day of Rosh-HaShanah is that it is considered the New Year, yet it’s not called that in the Bible. The truth is, this day comes in the seventh month of the calendar year and was given a different name. The biblical new year starts in the spring with the month of Nisan (Exod. 12:2), the beginning of the new agricultural year. However, the sages gave such significance to the first Shabbat of the fall holidays that they eventually considered it as the “spiritual” new year, hence the name change as well. Biblically known as Yom Teruah (the Day of Sounding/Festival of Trumpets), this day became Rosh-HaShanah, the Head of the Year.

The purpose of this holy day is summed up in one word: regathering. Since the fall holidays call Isra’el to regather to a pure faith in God, Rosh-HaShanah came to represent the day of repentance. It is the day when the people of Isra’el take stock of their spiritual condition and make the necessary changes to ensure that the upcoming new year will be pleasing to God. So important was this day of Rosh-HaShanah that, in fact, the entire preceding Hebrew month of Elul takes on a holy significance of its own. The sages stressed that the forty-day period from the first day of Elul through the tenth day of Tishri (Yom-Kippur) was to be a time of special spiritual preparation. This was based on the belief that it was on the first of Elul that Moshe ascended Mount Sinai in order to receive the second set of Tablets of the Law and that he descended on Yom-Kippur (Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer 46).

Micah 7:18–20

“Who is a God like you, pardoning the sin and overlooking the crimes of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in grace. He will again have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities. You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will show truth to Ya‘akov and grace to Avraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors since days of long ago.”

Study Notes

He does not retain his anger forever. This is one of the most beautiful and well-known assurances of God’s pardon, his continual care, and the knowledge that sins forgiven by him are also forgotten (v. 19). This passage is recited during the High Holidays each fall at the celebration of Tashlich, on the day of Rosh-HaShanah, where either bread or stones are thrown into a body of water. The bread or stones represent sins committed during the year, and throwing them into the water reminds the people that these sins will be both forgiven and forgotten.

Rosh-HaShanah: Traditional Jewish Observance

In synagogues, the shofar, or ram’s horn, is sounded daily to alert the faithful that the time of repentance is near. Many observant men partake in a special water immersion to symbolize cleansing their ways. Since the theme of Rosh-HaShanah is regathering for repentance, the observance takes on a somber character, yet always with a hint of hope because of God’s forgiveness. In the traditional Jewish home, the evening starts with the festival dinner that includes many customary dishes. Then it is off to synagogue for the evening service. A good part of the next day is also spent in worship.

The liturgy, music, and prayers emphasize the recurring theme of repentance, turning to God, our king. In traditional groups, the afternoon of Rosh-HaShanah is spent at a body of water (ocean, lake, or stream) observing the ancient service of Tashlich. The word derives from Micah 7:19 where the prophet promises, “You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.” To illustrate this beautiful truth, people cast breadcrumbs or pebbles into the water and rejoice in God’s promise of forgiveness.

With these themes in mind, it is customary in the Jewish community to send holiday cards to family and friends with wishes for a blessed New Year. But the most memorable custom is the blowing of the shofar, the ram’s horn mentioned in the biblical text. The shofar is sounded in the synagogue with four different notes: tekia (blast), shevarim (broken notes), teruah (alarm), and tekia gedolah (the great blast). These notes provide some spiritual lessons. The shofar was used in the ancient world to hail a king. So, too, at Rosh-HaShanah, all Isra’el is said to appear before the King of kings in anticipation of personal judgment. Also, in the Bible the shofar was often sounded as an alarm, to gather the troops together for battle (see Josh. 6). In this case, the shofar is our “wake-up call”—an alarm to call us to our appointed time.

Matthew 24:31

“He will send out his angels with a great shofar; and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Study Notes

With a great shofar. Shofar means “ram’s horn” or, loosely, “trumpet.” The ram’s horn is blown at the season of the Jewish High Holy Days, Rosh-HaShanah (New Year), also called the Feast of Trumpets, and Yom-Kippur (Day of Atonement). In the future, the Day of Judgment will be announced by blasts on the shofar.

Rosh-HaShanah: Prophetic Fulfillment

Many classical rabbis saw a connection between Rosh-HaShanah as the holy day of regathering and the Messiah who would be the agent of regathering. For example, a work in the eighth century C.E. states: “Messiah ben David (son of David), Elijah and Zerubbabel, peace be upon him, will ascend the Mount of Olives. And Messiah will command Elijah to blow the shofar.…The second blast which Elijah will blow will make the dead rise” (Ma’ase Daniel, qtd. in Patai 143).

There is rich prophetic truth associated with this Feast of Trumpets. As it characterizes a time of ingathering and spiritual preparation, a future fulfillment of Rosh-HaShanah is also alluded to. In speaking of the future regathering of the believers in Messiah, Sha’ul (Paul) makes an interesting connection to the holy day: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a rousing cry, with a call from one of the ruling angels, and with God’s shofar” (1 Thess. 4:16).

Not surprisingly, the signal of the gathering will be the sound of the shofar. In fact, the reference here is to a particular note sounded at Rosh-HaShanah. The word normally translated “shout” or “cry” in verse 16 comes from the Hebrew teruah, better translated in this context as the “alarm” blast of the shofar. Similar references to the shofar can be found elsewhere in the New Testament (see 1 Cor. 15:50–58; Rev. 4:1).

Another important fulfillment of Rosh-HaShanah is the regathering of the Jewish believing remnant at the second coming of Messiah. As far back as the seventh century B.C.E., the prophet Isaiah wrote: “On that day ADONAI will beat out the grain between the Euphrates River and the Vadi of Egypt; and you will be gathered, one by one, people of Isra’el! On that day a great shofar will sound. Those lost in the land of Ashur will come, also those scattered through the land of Egypt; and they will worship ADONAI on the holy mountain in Yerushalayim” (Isa. 27:12–13).

It is clear that this passage is referring to a latter day regathering of the believing remnant. Likewise, Messiah Yeshua, when asked about the future of Isra’el, confirmed this as a latter day promise in his own teaching: “He [the Son of Man] will send out his angels with a great shofar; and they will gather together his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31). The sound of the shofar is a reminder of the blessed hope every messianic believer possesses: to enter Messiah’s presence at any time (Titus 2:13).

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