Trutharchivist

So, umm... hi! Here again, with another Jewish holiday. I know, I know, it's barely a week since the last one, but I did warn you on advance this is our holiday season - by which I meant that there are four different holidays in this month. And this is the third - Tzom Gedaliah doesn't count. So, there's going to be another SU next week. After that... well... I kind of want to talk about Shabbat the week after - it truly is perfect timing for that - and then there's Rosh Hodesh, which is a few days after that. Those two occur on a regular basis (one once a week and the other once a month), though, so I guess I can delay them. If you have an opinion on the matter do leave a comment. Anyway, after those the next holiday update should be at Hanukkah.

Well. After that opening, we can start talking about Sukkot, or the leaf-hut festival! I stole this last one from a Jewish prayer book - a Mkhzor, as it's called - for Sukkot with a German translation. It's a pretty accurate one, too - but let's start from the beginning. Not going too early this time, promise!

It all goes back to the Exodus. The thing is, after the Mt. Sinai event, G-d gave the people of Israel many commandments - among them ones about three holidays, known as the Three Pilgrimage Days - three times the people of Israel are told to go to the Temple in Jerusalem, to be seen before G-d. The third of those is Sukkot. The first time it appears it's called the holiday of collecting - because you know, those three double up as agricultural festivals. But to go forward - somewhat later, we are commanded to sit in Sukkot - basically huts - for a week during this time of year, to remember how after the Exodus G-d gave us such huts to stay at.

That, of course, leads to a couple of question. What huts did G-d give us? There's a place called Sukkot which the Israelites stayed at right after the Exodus, is that it? Why at this time of year, then, instead of the time of Pesach? And, since it's Judaism, what those huts should look like?

By complete happenstance, those questions (more or less), were asked by the Tur - a Jewish rabbi from the middle ages named rabbi Yaakov Bar Asher, who wrote a halachic book for which he's known. I'm mostly saying that because I studied this part of his book lately - since the answers he gives come mostly from the Sages of the Mishnaic and Talmudic eras. Not to get into all the disagreements, the widely accepted answer for the first question is: those were the clouds G-d sent to protect the people of Israel from the sun and rain while at the desert.

This is where things can get weird, because those clouds aren't... exactly... mentioned in scripture. There's the Cloud Pillar, leading the Israelites, but it isn't said to protect the Israelites from sun or rain - it's said to protect them from arrows, if anything. So we have to go to the Midrash again, which tells us that while travelling through the desert the Israelites were surrounded by six clouds - plus one pillar in the front, making it seven. Now, I bet that's not how you pictured the Israelites travelling through the desert - unless you're a Jew, in which case you were probably fed with that from a young age. Those are 'Anenei HaCavod, lit. Clouds of Honor (more or less, Cavod is a hard word to translate). Honestly, sometimes the Midrash can seem like an endless source for Fantasy stuff. I didn't even get to the part where it defended them from enemies, did their laundry and was given to them for the sake of Aharon.

Anyway, yeah, that's it for that. The question regarding the place Sukkot doesn't have a very interesting answer as far as I know, so let's go forward to the question of time. Why now, instead of Pesach? Well, the Tur has an interesting answer for it: he says that during the spring, most people like to go out to sit in huts, so the Israelites doing that would seem as if they merely care for their comfort. That, in his opinion, is why we do it when the rain season is just about to start in Israel - because no one in their right mind would do that, so everybody knows we only do that because G-d told us.

The Gra - Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, who lived in Lithuania about 200 years ago (I'll get to him in my HoJ essays at some point) and died at around this time of year - has another interesting explanation to that - one that also gives us a historical event, so yay! Because otherwise, Sukkot is left as the only Jewish holiday that even the Sages of the Mishnah and Talmud didn't find a historical event for. Anyway, the Gra says that after the Golden Calf fiasco (we've just mentioned it last week, remember?), the Clouds were taken from the Israelites. Then, G-d gave Moshe the Second set of Tablets, and he returned with them... and with the commandments related to building the Tabernacle, the Mishcan. There's this whole disagreement about whether the Tabernacle commandments came before the Golden Calf or after, but that doesn't really matter now - what does is, Moshe came down from Mt. Sinai at the tenth of Tishrey. At the 11th he gave the people of Israel the commandments for the Tabernacle. During the 12th, 13th and 14th they brought in the materials, at the 15th they started building... and the Clouds returned. And that, according to the Gra, is why we celebrate Sukkot at this time if year. So it's true, there technically isn't a very impressive event that happened at Sukkot, it still has some interesting history - even without the Gra, since both Temples' Inauguration Ceremony was at around this time of year. So, I think you get that this is related.

There are many rules to how the Sukkah (singular of Sukkot) should look like; most prominently, is should be covered with leaves or wood - though not too wide wood and not tools made of wood, nor with fruits. One should be able to see the stars from it, but it should have more shade than sunlight. It shouldn't be too small or too tall (how wide it is only has a lowest limit). It should have at least three walls that should be able to withstand winds (normal winds, not storms). Beyond that it gets complex, and there isn't much need to get into that. During this week (which started yesterday, sorry for being late!), we do most everything in the Sukkah - we eat, drink and sleep in it. Technically, doing such acts outside the Sukkah is forbidden - but not as strictly as, say, eating leavened bread during Pesach. If it's not a meal, but merely a snack - one is allowed to eat it outside the Sukkah - though it's somewhat preferable not to. If you're sick, there's rain, or you're inconvenienced too much by staying in the Sukkah you don't have to be there. Women don't have to stay in the Sukkah at all. Still, outside of all those conditions, we basically live in a hut covered by leaves that's by our houses for a week.

And that's only the first of the holiday's commandments - and not everything about it. It's traditional to add ornaments to the Sukkah. My family hangs an onion with feathers from the roof - it's a rather silly wordplay on something from the daily evening prayer, not getting into it right now. It's also traditional to invite the Ushpizin (literally meaning "guests", from Aramaic), seven Biblical people, each in a different day. And I may have forgotten something.

The other commandment of the holiday comes as some sort of an aside in the Torah. Basically, we take the branches of a Palm tree, a willow and a myrtle, along with a citron fruit - it looks somewhat like a lemon, but it's a different tree - bind the branches together and shake them together with the citron. That's one of the weirder commandments, I admit it - and it's not completely clear why we're doing it. Maimonides (Rambam, a Jewish rabbi from 12th-13th century's Egypt) says in his Guide for the Perplexed (Moreh HaNevochim) that it's as thanks for the end of our stay in the desert were such plants weren't to be found - but it's kind of problematic, considering the commandment was given before the wandering through the desert ended and without the caveat of "when you come to the Promised Land". There are more symbolic explanation - a reconnection to nature, or symbolising different body parts or types of people. Maybe it's somewhat related to the agricultural aspect of the holiday - it is mentioned in that context - and that may go well with Rambam's explanation. Again, as per usual for Jewish stuff there are many laws on what type of palm, willow and myrtle it must be and what exactly they should look like, but I'm not getting into that - and those are Arba'at HaMinim - the Four Types of plants shaken. The commandment is also called "Netilat Lulav" - Shaking the Lulav - after the palm branch, which is the most prominent.

The shaking of the Lulav is done during the mourning prayer during this week - in which there are additional prayers, like the Hallel (remember it? We didn't say it during Rosh Ha'Shana or Yom Kippur, since those are days of Judgement, but we said it during Shavuot and before it - Pesach), or Mousaf - a prayer added in place of special sacrifices. The first day of the holiday was a Yom Tov, meaning most types of work were forbidden - this year it was also on Shabbat, so the regular part of allowing to prepare food wasn't present, though for those who live abroad it's present today. Oh, yeah, and it's still a Yom Tov for them. The other six days are what's called Chol HaMo'ed - lit. the mundane part of the holiday, more or less - which means they're almost like regular days, but with some prohibitions on work. 

I haven't really touched everything, because I truly can't. Didn't mention the Hosha'not, or Hosha'na Rabah (which is the seventh day), or the sacrifice of water on the altar - a slightly odd ritual done in the Temple, when it existed, with very little basis in scripture. Also, this holiday is called the time of our joy - and indeed, it's a joyous holiday in its own way. Oh! And then there's the part where Ashkenazi Jews read Ecclesiastes at the Shabbat that occurs in it! And the portion of the Prophets we've just read from the end of Zacharias, where he said all the peoples of the Earth will come to celebrate this holiday! And...

Let's just say I'm not really done, fine? But at least I've talked about some of this. 

To summarise: I've talked about Sukkot, the holiday during which we live at leaf-covered huts for a week and shake a bunch of branches and a fruit. I've talked a little about why we do it and the background for the holiday, too.

Thank you for reading, and have a joyous week! Hope to see you all in Jerusalem next year (have a look at the end of Zacharias 14 if you want to get what I mean here)!

Next week: Simchat Torah and the yearly round of reading the Torah.

Tomorrow is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

This day is considered to be the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, more or less. And quite frankly, with how I handled explaining Rosh Ha'Shana, I'm scared I might fail to explain things here.

In the Torah, this day has a rather unique set of commandments: for one, it's the only day during which the Torah commands to fast - it actually uses an interesting word for which I honestly am not sure how much I trust the translations. From it, five prohibitions are deduced: not to eat or drink, not to wash or lubricate our bodies, not to wear shoes made of leather and not to commit intercourse. You may remember those from Tish'a b'Av (the 9th of Av), of which I talked in its own time. In addition to that, it's a Yom Tov - meaning all the regular prohibitions on doing everything considered a Melacha, meaning more-or-less work, are present, too. Now, in a regular Yom Tov (unlike Shabbat), it's allowed to do things for food. Yom Kippur, naturally, is different - though heating food the same way that's allowed on Shabbat is fine, in order to feed children. So it's more like Shabbat than a regular Yom Tov. And unlike regular fast days, it starts upon sunset, not sunrise.

But that's only one part of its uniqueness; because in addition to all that, there's a special procedure including many special sacrifices, done exclusively by the Cohen Gadol, the High Priest, in the Temple - including entering the Holiest of Holies, Kodesh ha'Kodashim, multiple times. It's a whole thing, on which I'm not going to elaborate - especially since none of it is happening today, without the Temple. In essence, it's all done to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. One thing you may have heard of is the scapegoat: two goats are brought before the High Priest and he casts lots over which one is sacrificed on the altar - and the other is being sent later to a place called Azazel, in the desert. According to the Sages, the goat sent to Azazel was pushed from a cliff and did not survive it.

This entire sequence is kind of weird, and is more or less the only important action on Yom Kippur that occured outside the Temple and was carried out by someone other than the High Priest. It's probably symbolic in nature - the goat carrying all the sins of the Israelites is being torn apart at the edge of the desert. I'm not going to comment a lot on it, though - I have heard that some Christians claim that Jesus replaced this; I obviously don't believe in any such thing, and I don't think it needs much explaining why.

The work of the High Priest was a very big part of Yom Kippur. So, in its absence, what are we doing? The answer is simple. We pray.

This idea comes from a verse in Hosea (14, 2) which says "we offer our lips as sacrifices of bulls" (more or less), which is taken to mean that when unable to make sacrifices - we may repay them instead in prayers. This idea actually is a part of a couple of things in Judaism - prayers in general are understood this way: the morning and afternoon prayers in place of the Tamid offering, two lambs that were sacrificed every day in the Temple; a prayer is added during holidays (specifically ones from the Torah) and at the first day of every month in place of special additional sacrifices. And in Yom Kippur... well, if during the days of the Temple it was a day full of work and offerings in the Temple all done by the High Priest, now it's a day full of prayers for everyone. Basically: if every holiday in the Jewish calendar changes the prayers somewhat but has a separate special Thing, then prayers are Yom Kippur's Thing. 

But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. That's what we do on this day, but the purpose is also important to remember. Plus, I didn't even get to the question of historical event! So, let's start from that: is there a historical event for Yom Kippur?

Well, as happened with most of the holidays so far, the Torah does not mention any such thing. Nor does the rest of the Tanakh, unless you include certain prophecies that were given this day - but they were given way later than the time the day was instituted, so I'm not talking about that. Instead, I intend to go back to the Talmudic math. 

Remember Shavuot? Remember how I told you back then the next time I post one of those SUs it'd be 40 days later, a promise I've fulfilled (more or less)? Well, the reasoning I gave back then actually extends to now, in a way. You see, after the Golden Calf fiasco, Moshe went to Mt. Sinai for forty more days of prayer, asking G-d to forgive His Chosen People. Then, after forty days, G-d relented - though somewhat reluctantly. Since the 17th of Tamuz is the day in which Moshe came down from Mt. Sinai the previous time, an additional amount of forty days brings us to the end of Av. But here's the thing: according to tradition, which is somewhat supported by scripture in Deuteronomy, Moshe went up to the mountain for forty more days on the first day of Elul - the month after Av. At the end of those forty days he went down from the mountain with the Second set of Tablets - and G-d forgave the people of Israel in a more complete way, and agreed to lead them Himself to the Promised Land. And since the lunar month is just about 30 days, these forty days end at the 10th day of Tishrey (often transliterated as Tishri, G-d knows why), which is, incidentally, Yom Kippur! So, from then on, this is a Day of Atonement for the people of Israel, during which we are purified of our sins. And the day's prayers are, quite naturally, about that. The most repeated part of the prayer is the Viduy - confession, during which we say a list of sins that we may have committed. (Adding sins you know you've committed is possible, I think - though they are most likely included under one of the categories already mentioned.) Saying it like that sounds awfully systematic, really - which I don't see as very positive - but this is how Jewish prayers go, and one can still actually confess, regret and repent while saying those prayers. I know I have.

Confession, in and of itself, is not really enough to atone for one's sins. One must regret, stop committing said sin (obviously) and repent so strongly that the Knower of Hidden Things would be able to testify on them they'll never commit this sin again - according to Rambam, AKA Maimonides. In the case of sins committed against other people, the Day of Atonement does not atone unless you apologize and your apology is accepted. The Talmud says that a person shouldn't be too hard and refuse to forgive, but this saying should not be taken to the extremity it sometimes is taken to - that if a person refused to accept an apology after three times the sin is passed to them. In addition, if a person sins with the belief that this day will atone for him - the Day of Atonement does not atone for their sins. Also, there is no indication that this day wipes out court proceedings; it's only in the Heavenly Court that it matters.

This day is also the culmination of all the days in which we said the Selichot; so naturally, there are many prayers of this sort, and the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are said multiple times. This doubles back to the historical event - because in addition to giving the Second set of Tablets to Moshe, during those forty days G-d taught him those Attributes - and according to tradition, He taught him how to pray - by reminding G-d of His infinite mercy.

One more part of the prayer is a complete retelling of the High Priest's work during this day; plus, in addition to the four regular prayers of a Yom Tov, this day has a fifth prayer called Ne'ilah - lit. Locking up. It's at the end of the day, and while the gates of Heaven are said to be open for prayers for the entire day (moreso than usual) - this is the time they supposedly lock up.

I hope all that helped highlight the two seemingly contradictory sides of the day - of what a happy day it is, to be rid of our sins and atoned, and how serious and intense it can get, with all the prayers and confessions. If not, well, maybe you can reread some things with that in mind.

During this day there's a tradition to wear white. No, we do not go to kill a king - rather, to dress like his messengers do, meaning angels. During this day we are likened to them in our cleanness from sins (I think). And one more thing I wanted to mention - eating during the day before.

There is (apparently) a saying that Jewish holidays are mostly "they tried to kill us, they failed, let's eat", with fast days being "they succeeded, let's not eat". This is not true during Yom Kippur either way - but the interesting part is that the sages say: "well, the verses say that we start fasting at the evening of the 9th day. But what it actually means is: if you eat during the 9th and fast during the 10th, it's as if you've fasted both days." No, seriously. This is why, on the day before Yom Kippur, we eat a lot. Technically, this is the only day of the Jewish year during which, as inferred from the Torah by the Sages, there's an active commandment to eat. Well, that's kind of over-glorifies it, since all the Yamim Tovim and Shabbat have an obligation to eat, too, according to the Sages, but this day tends to be more pronounced.

There are still more traditions attached to this day: I mistakenly mentioned Kapparot at Rosh Ha'Shana, while they belong to the day before Yom Kippur (I think the similar root should've made that obvious), and man traditionally go to the Mikveh - which is a pool, more or less, for special religious purposes, not getting into it right now.

So, long story short: the Day of Atonement is a fast day, full of prayers asking for G-d's forgiveness. It's often considered the holiest Jewish holiday. I... umm... am not sure what should be added to this shortened version. I really hope I did justice to this day.

I didn't talk about what portions from the Torah and Prophets we read at this day, and I don't think I will - though this is an interesting topic unto itself.

Thank you for reading, and gave a good day! And, if I have offended anyone here during my time on the Shard, I'm sorry, I would like it if you PM me during the next 24 hours so I could apologize properly.

גמר חתימה טובה! (Oh, gah, I forgot explaining this part... nevermind.)

Rosh Ha'Shana is over. We have this past us. So that must mean the day of judgement has passed and we're starting the year, right?

Wrong. Oh so very wrong. But I'm not here to talk about that yet - maybe I'll get to it here, maybe next week. Today, though, is a fast day - and that's what I want to talk about. 

Now, since next week is Yom Kippur, which is also a fast day, I think it's time to clarify a few things. In the Hebrew calendar, there are six basic fasting days during which most everyone is supposed to be fasting (unless ill). There are a couple more days during which some people fast, but those are a different story. Out of thse six, four are to commemorate the Temple's Destruction (together with the destruction of the land of Israel and the exile), one is Yom Kippur and comes directly from the Torah, and the other has... somewhat unclear origins. We already talked about two of the four Destruction fasts - 17th of Tamuz and 9th of Av. Today is a third - Tzom Gedaliah, the Fast of Gedaliah - and the fourth is around Christmas, usually after. Before you ask, yes, it's not long after Hannukah. I'm not going to spell it in every possible way, so I hope you gathered my meaning.

So, the fast of Gedaliah. What's the story? Who is this Gedaliah guy, and why is there a fast day named after him? To answer this, we'll have to go back to the days of the First Temple - to be more accurate, to the days after the First Temple. Note that this event has no Second Temple equivalent - and that's we're still moving forward in the timeline. Next time won't be this way.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Judeah after one rebellion too many and destroyed it. We went over that already. He took most of the people and exiled them, taking them back to Babylon to serve as slaves and to live there. But here's the interesting part: he didn't actually take everyone. Sure, he killed the king and didn't leave anyone from that line in charge again - he learned his lesson after two rebellions - but instead he put on some guy who probably had some experience with this kind of things but wasn't likely to rebel: Gedaliah, son of Aḥikam, son of Shafan - the latter was a scribe for king Yoshiahu (Josiah) a while back. Either that or Shfan was a popular name at the time, but I rather do think they were related. Anyway, this guy was left in charge - possibly he was known to have been of the faction opposing rebellion, which makes sense considering Jeremiah continually preached surrender to Babylon, and Shafan's family tend to appear as his supporters in scripture.

So, while Gedaliah is organising stuff, a couple of Jewish army officers arrive with their soldiers. Gedaliah welcomes them with open arms and reccomend they join him and live with the Chaldean (Babylonian) occupation. Among those officers are two people you need to know about specifically - Ishmael son of Nathaniah and Yohanan (Johanan) son of Kareaḥ. Yohanan's brother, Yonatan (Jonathan), is also there, but IIRC he doesn't serve this large a role.

Anyway, things seem fine. At least to Gedaliah they seem fine. Yohanan comes to him, though, telling him theat Ishmael isn't really that innocent - he was sent by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, to murder Gedaliah - possibly because Baalis didn't like the Babylonian Empire much. Ishmael himself, BTW, is a descendant of David's line of kings - well, not exactly, I think he's a distant cousin to the last king, but he is related. So, Yohanan offers to... take care of this situation, as he believes killing Gedaliah would scatter the people and leave them leaderless - not to speak of how angry Nebuchadnezzar will be once he finds out what happened. Gedaliah refuses to believe Yohanan, though, and in the 7th month, supposedly on Rosh Ha'Shana itself, Ishmael goes forward with the plan and offs Gedaliah.

What follows is a very unpleasant story. Ishmael kills a bunch of people who came to Gedaliah, only leaving a couple alive because they promise him a treasure. Seriously. Then, on his way to take everyone he found with Gedaliah to the land of Ammon, he bumps into Yohanan and his people. Most everyone who was with Ishmael immediately chooses to go with Yohanan instead, and Ishmael runs away with eight people to Baalis.

And now for the grand finale. Because, you know, Gedaliah dying wasn't the end. Well, maybe "epilogue" is more appropriate - one would assume the showdown between Yohanan and Ishmael is the finale. So, Yohanan and the rest of the people left in Judea start walking towards egypt - since Nebuchadnezzar's retribution is probably on its way, and chances are he won't look favourably at the people left in Judea, or believe them that they tried to stop the assasination. They stop on their way, though, to consult with the residing prophet - Jeremiah. They ask him to pray to G-d and tell them what to do - though they truly were already on their way to Egypt, so...

And, sure enough, when Jeremiah tells them that G-d told him they should remain in Judea and settle things with Nebuchadnezzar, Yohanan and co (who promised to listen to what he says - unlike literally anyone else Jeremiah prophesized to prior) accuse him of lying and of being influenced by his student, Baruch son of Neriah, to say what he did. Jeremiah promises them ruin if they go to Egypt, they don't care.

The story isn't completely over there - but no story truly is, so we'll settle here. That's how the last of the Jews in Judea left the land empty and went to exile. Now, the question is: is this really an event worth fasting over? So far, we had the breaking of the walls of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple. Is anything happening afterwards really important?

Well, the apparent answer is "yes". It's the why that's the problem, really. Why is this such a big event? Well, there may be many answers to that, but the simplest one is: this is the last nail in the coffin called exile. Up until then, there were still Jews in Judea - or Israel, if you want to call it that way. The land was ruined, but maybe something could begin anew. Maybe, after some convincing, Nebuchadnezzar might even allow rebuilding the Temple - though I admit it's far fetched. Still, this is the epilogue to the story of the Kingdom of Judea: the sad ending where everything is ruined and nothing remains.

It's not the end of the Jewish story, of course; but that's just how history works, things keep happening. So, seventy years later, the Persians allow people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild it, in what's called "the Return to Zion", following the declaration of Cyrus the Great. But that's another story - one I'm not sure I'm ever going to tell here, so maybe go over Ezra and Nehemiah from the Old Testament if you want more details on that, or Hagai, Zacharias and Malachi for the prophets of the time.

To go back to today, though: it's a regular fasting day, no eating or drinking while there's daylight. There are additions to the prayers - but except for the reading from the Torah and Prophets during the afternoon prayer it's actually things that are already added to the prayer for over a week now - that has to do with Rosh Ha'Shana, Yom Kippur and the ten days in between (actually seven, but we include Rosh Ha'Shana and Yom Kippur themselves). Those are called the Ten Days of Repentance - " 'Aseret Yemei Teshuvah". It's exactly what it says - ten days to repent one's sins from the previous year. Said additional prayers are called "Selichot" - lit. appologies or forgivenesses (not getting too much into semantics here), and include mostly the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy from Exodus 34 verses 6-7, plus prayer poems written throughout the ages. This kind of prayers is said on fast days and around Rosh Ha'Shana - and today is both, which means nothing actually changes.

That's it, basically. I have half a mind to start writing stuff about the Tanakh in general instead of just going over holydays, but whether or not I do it depends on demand. So, if you really want that from me - a Jewish look at the Scriptures of the Tanakh (meaning the Old Testament) - make sure to say that in the comments down below! (Am I starting to sound like a YouTuber? Oh no.)

Anyway, short summary to those who want it: today is a fast day over a politically motivated murder from 25 hundred years ago, as depicted in the book of Jeremiah chapter 40. Said murder resulted in the finality of Jewish exile (meaning, literally everyone went into exile - more or less), and we mourn it to this day. Also, Rosh Ha'Shana was just the start - brace yourselves, because this month is full to the brim.

Thank you for reading, and have a good day!

So, this Saturday and Sunday is Rosh Ha'Shana. So it's time for the next Jewish holidays SU! So, let's start at the beginning.

Well, at (the) beginning, G-d has created the heaven and the Earth... 

Whisper, whisper

-What do you mean, it's not related? That's -

Whisper, whisper

-Oh, you want me to start from that beginning. Then why didn't you say so?

Anyway, yeah. Fast forward about two thousand, four hundred and forty eight years, and G-d is giving the commandments to the People of Israel. Among them, He commands them to observe a holiday at the first day of the 7th month - the first month being the month of the Exodus, the month of Pesach, nowadays called Nissan. If you'll count you'll find it's been about five and a half months since Pesach - and since it's in the middle of the month, then the next month is the 7th. This day is called in the Pentateuch Yom Teru'ah/Zichron Teru'ah, meaning a Day of Blasting a horn, or commemoration of blasting a horn (though I would say something was lost in the translation). So, the most central commandment of this day is sounding a horn - called in Hebrew a Shofar. It's not just any horn that can be used for that - it can't be one of a bull (so as not to remind of the Golden Calf), and is preferably from a ram (to remind of the Binding of Isaac, I'll hopefully get to that).

So, what does this tell us about this day? Now, usually I go at this point to the sages of the Mishnah and Talmud to explain. I want to pause here for now this time, though. I would say that Rosh Ha'Shana is more like Shavuot - most of the atmosphere of the holiday comes from what the Sages told us of it, but while in Shavuot it was based on "hey, it occurs at around the time this event happened, so it's related!', here one could say it all came from this one identifying commandment - and perhaps from its irregular time in the month.

So, what is the meaning of sounding a horn? In the ancient world, it served as an alert and call to arms - see, for example, Amos 3, 6 (one verse before that one all the LDS people grew on): "Will a Shofar sound in the city and the people will not tremble?" (if you'll check NIV it says trumpets. Trust me, though, the original Hebrew says Shofar). On another thing, it's also sounded in times of celebration - and in four public coronations: one of Shəlomo (Solomon), one of Yehu (Jehu), and the other two are rebellions that ultimately failed - Absalom and Sheba son of Bichri. In all cases the previous king was still alive, and there was a need for a public declaration of coronation due to that. 

So, sounding the Shofar is used as an alert, and as a way to make something public - to make everyone hear it. It somewhat fits with the idea that Rosh Ha'Shana is the day of crowning G-d as king over us. This goes with the tradition that the creation of the world was at this day (at least according to R. Eliezer) - hence the opening. This also leads to another function of Rosh Ha'Shana - that it's a judgement day. As an aside I'll say it fits with how Pharaoh's birthday is presented in Genesis, and that this can show the difference between calling one's flesh-and-blood king a god and having G-d as the one true king.

This - the judgement part - is actually most prominent in this day. It can come from many angles: the doubt in G-d's kingship over us comes from our Yetzer Ha'Ra, our evil inclination personified, who is also called a king (in Ecclesiastes 4, 13 according to traditioal interpretation), and so He judges us this day over that and we crown Him king by blasting the Shofar; this is the day we were created, so this is the annual time to chack if we were worth the trouble. We pray a lot in this day, for longer than is usual even for a Yom Tov, and even though it's the first day of the month during which it's traditional to say the Hallel, a couple of Psalms (from 113 to 118) - we don't say it. That makes it, together with Yom Kippur, the only Yamim Tovim (plural of Yom Tov) when the Hallel isn't said. All that is due to this same reason - this is a judgement day, not a day of celebration.

Or is it, now? Here's the funny thing. With all that going on, next thig you hear is that we fast, right? We do in Yom Kippur, after all. All this was describing a pretty solemn day. Well, surprise surprise: this is actually the only day of the year that the Tanakh says outright we shouldn't fast at! In the book of Nehemiah (8, 10) it's said of this day that one should be happy during it, eat and drink. It could be taken in multiple directions - one, that if this needs saying it means there is a reason to be solemn in this day; or two - that the day of crowning G-d king is a day of cheering (another translation of Teru'ah), a day to be happy at. That even at the time of being judged - we should be happy for that.

What else can I say about Rosh Ha'Shana? It's supposedly the first day of the year. Which is odd, because as I said - the Tanakh calls this month the seventh. Part of the explanation was made above - it's by tradition the day the world was created. In addition to that, it's more-or-less the beginning of the agricultural year in the land of Israel. In actuality, only one day in the Tanakh is called "Rosh Ha'Shana" (lit. Head of the Year), and that is Yom Kippur - and that's an entire thing unto itself. 

There are plenty of biblical events said to have happened at this day - at least according to R. Eliezer. There is no one I can call exactly "first and foremost", but one of the more important ones is the Binding of Isaac. Short summary in case you're unfamiliar with the story - G-d tol Abraham to sacrifice his only child from his wife Sarah - Isaac - on one of the mountains G-d will show him in the land of Moria (it was called that way before Tolkien decided this name meant "black pit"). The mountain G-d shows him is the Temple mount according to Jewish tradition - also known specifically as the Moria Mountain - and on it he builds an altar, binds Isaac and prepares to slaughter him. G-d stops him at the last moment, though, and instead Abraham sacrifices a ram he finds there. G-d then reasserts his previous promises to Abraham, this time basing them as a reward for being willing to sacrifice his son.

In the prayers for Rosh Ha'Shana, we mention this many times as a reason for G-d to take pity on us and judge us favourably, to life and not to death. This is also, as mentioned above, why a ram's horn is preferrable for a Shofar - this specific ram's horn is said to be the one that sounded on Mt. Sinai and the one that will sound at the end of days.

Rosh Ha'Shana is supposed to be one day, but we celebrate two. The reason for that is related to how the Jewish calendar works - it's related to the fact that outside of Israel all holidays are celebrated for two days, though it's not for the exact same reason. Basically, the month starts with the renewal of the moon as seen and testified on by two adult Jewish men, and since this is the first day of the month there is some doubt on when it will be. Nowadays we work by a set calendar, but we still keep practicing it.

During the holiday we read from the Torah the Banishment of Ishmael (day 1) and the Binding of Isaac (day 2). From the Prophets we read about the Birth of Samuel (day 1), and one of Jeremaiah's nicer prophecies from chapter 31 of his book (day 2).

Additional practices include: eating an apple with honey, a pomegranade, a fish's head (or a sheep's), plus various other fruits and vegetables, with prayers that are mostly wordplay on said food's name or something else related to it (apple with honey - may we have a sweet year, head - may we be heads and not tails [unrelated to cointoss], the pomegranade thing is kind of complicated to explain); and saying a special prayer called Tashlich, in which we supposedly throw our sins to a water source - usually it was a river, but in a city like Jerusalem it gets kind of weird.

Additional things not mentioned: the chicken used for something called Kapparot (lit. atonements); the untying of vowes (since those are taken very seriously in Judaism, and not all of them can actually be untied by this ritual); Selichot, a type of prayers added every day from about a week before at the very least (and Sepharadi Jews take a month); the addition of Psalm 27 twice each day to the regular prayers; what's going on in the days between Rosh Ha'Shana and Yom Kippur; and many, many more things I've probably forgotten. Brace yourselves, 'cause this is going to be a tough ride - Monday is one of the Fast days, and then the Monday after is Yom Kippur, and then four days later it's Sukkot... this is the time period a Jew will think about when talking about the holidays. So get ready.

Thank you for reading, and have a happy, good and sweet new year! Or, well, for the gentiles of you it's rest of the year, I guess.

As is my wont, I just published another blog entry - one that's less of a continuation and more of an interlude in my series about the Age of Enlightenment, explaining my limits regarding wht periods I'm going to write about.

Here's a finely crafted link, hope you'll enjoy reading it even though it's not a full on update.