Celebrating the world's birthday

SHARON KANON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

On the secular calendar, the dates to circle for Rosh Hashanah are Sept. 7 and 8, 2002; on the Hebrew calendar, 1 Tishrei, 5763. (Bear in mind that the Hebrew day starts the evening before, at sundown on Sept. 6.) The good news is that the first day of the New Year coincides with the Sabbath, making it a doubly festive event.

How do we know the date? A terse directive was given by God in Emor, Leviticus 23:24, the 31st chapter of the Torah that deals with festivals: "In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a rest day for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy convocation." The name Rosh Hashanah is not mentioned.

It may seem odd that the New Year occurs in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, but in the Bible, the Hebrew months are referred to primarily by numbers. Later, when the Mishnah gave Babylonian names to the months, the seventh month was called Tishrei; its root, seru, meaning "to begin."

Coincidently, the agricultural year also begins at this time, with the fall harvest. The name Tishrei marks the beginning of the Hebrew calendar year, the New Year for Years (the counting of the seventh sabbatical year – shmitta – and for judgment). The sign of the zodiac associated with Tishrei is a scale, symbolizing judgment.

According to divine logic, which sees the big picture of the world's history, the year begins with Nissan, the first month: "This month shall be for you the beginning of the months, it shall be for you the first of the months of the year." (Exodus 12:1) Nissan marks the redemption of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery, the Exodus, the formation of the Jews as a nation. (Pesach occurs on the 15th of the month of Nissan.) During the Exodus, the miracles God performed were seen by the multitudes, whereas the miracles of the Creation were not seen – another good reason for numbering the months from the Exodus.

"Today is the birth day of the world. Today all creatures of the world stand in judgment...." These are the verses sung each time the shofar is blown during the Rosh Hashanah service. However, Rosh Hashanah does not mark the first day of creation. The first day of creation was actually five days earlier, on the 25th day of Elul. A universe without humans was not a cause for celebration. Only with the creation of Adam and Eve on the sixth day was the total creation purposeful and commemorative. The proclamation of God as King, His coronation, takes place on Rosh Hashanah.

According to the sages, the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob were also born on Rosh Hashanah. Just as many bad events occurred on Tisha B'Av, so many happy events occurred on Rosh Hashanah. Three barren women (Sarah, Rachel and Hannah) were made fertile enabling them to bear children Isaac, Joseph and Samuel the Prophet. Jewish slave labor in Egypt stopped on the first day of Tishrei.

The New Year occurs on Rosh Chodesh (head of the month), another reason for biblical celebration, and the reason it is a two-day festival even in Israel. All the other festivals fall in the middle of the month.

The name Rosh Hashanah (head of the year), the New Year of Years, was first used by the rabbis in the Mishnah. They also designated three other functional new years on the Hebrew calendar, similar to the school year, the tax year, the fiscal year.

The first of Nissan was known as the New Year of Kings, because the king's reign was counted from that date. In ancient times, legal documents (deeds of sale, bills of divorce, loan agreements and marriage contracts) were also dated by the year of the current monarch's reign. The New Year of Tithing Animals (putting aside one-tenth as a sacrifice) occurred in the month of Elul and the New Year of the Trees on Tu B'Shevat, the 15th of Shevat.

When Ezra, on the return from Babylon in the fifth century, read out the law to the people on the first day of Tishrei, it also became known as a Day of Judgment. Aware of their shortcomings, the people were in despair, until Nehemiah emphasized the positive side of the festival: "Go your way, eat rich viands and drink the sweet beverages, and send portions to him who has none prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord; do not be sad; for joy in the Lord is your refuge." (Nehemiah 8:120)

Thanks to Nehemiah, we celebrate and enjoy Rosh Hashanah even as we stand in awe of its message. Human beings are judged as individuals and as part of a group, as individual "sheep" and as a "flock."

"On Rosh Hashanah it will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur it will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die ... who will rest and who will wander ... who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted." These are the words chanted in the musaf prayer.

If we read on, however, we find that we are granted a 10-day period when we can appeal our fate (which has been written down in pencil). The liturgy gives three specific ways to avert the decree: "Repentance, prayer and charity remove the evil of the decree." In other words, we can change our fate, start a clean slate and begin anew.

The process of teshuvah (repentance) begins during the previous month of Elul when the Selichot prayers are said asking forgiveness, and continues during the 10 days before Yom Kippur.

The three main themes of Rosh Hashanah are God's kingship, remembrance (of the covenant and the sacrifice of Isaac) and the shofar. The shofar heralds the day as the anniversary of God's coronation as king. The shofar, a ram's horn (a symbol of mercy, a reminder of the ram offered by Abraham instead of Isaac) is blown 100 times each day (six times 10, plus 40 at the end of the daily services) during the two-day festival. This year, it will not be blown on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, as it falls on the Sabbath.

The first and the last shofar blasts are long and strong, like the sound that accompanied the revelation at Sinai, while the middle notes are short, sad and sombre, expressing trepidation in the process of judgment.

"There is definitely a dual nature to the holiday," said Phil Chernofsky, educational director and Torah Tidbits editor for the Orthodox Union Israel Centre in Jerusalem. "Fortunately, though, the last note sets the tone for a triumphant march into the New Year."

Sharon Kanon is with the Israel Press Service.

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