Our Yeshua (Immanuel)

The calendar days, months, and years that we place with our articles are from the Gregorian calendar and from the Jewish calendar.

The Gregorian calendar counts the months and years from the 1^st day of its 1^st month, which is called "January".
The Jewish calendar calls the 1^st day of the Hebrew First Month - which according to the Jewish calendar is called "Nisan" – “Biblical New Year” and counts the months from this month. The years are counted from the 1^st day of the Hebrew Seventh Month - called "Tishrei/Tishri" according to the Jewish calendar. This day is called “Rosh HaShanah”. But what does the Bible call this day?

When it is the first day of the seventh month according to the Jewish calendar, which is תִּשְׁרֵי Tishrei or תִּשְׁרִי Tishri, "Rosh HaShanah" [New Year's Day] is celebrated within Judaism. It lasts for two days and in the period leading up to it, people send each other cards and emails wishing "shanah tova [a good year]." Rosh HaShanah is celebrated at home with a festive meal, which does not lack round challes and honey cake in token of a sweet, uninterrupted year. In the synagogue, the service is long (4.5 hours), and the synagogue is dressed in white. A white curtain hangs in front of the ark, where the torah scrolls are kept, and the torah scrolls are also enveloped in white robes. The chazan [cantor at Jewish prayer services] and others involved in the service wear a white linen robe, similar to the shroud used at a Jewish funeral. The white is symbolic of complete surrender to God. In the synagogue, the shofar [ram's horn] is blown 100 times, producing a sharp sound. The last tone is held as long as possible, to reflect on the coming days of repentance. These days run from Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur [Great Day of Atonement] in which you correct or atone for bad deeds toward other persons or toward God. The ten days end with Yom Kippur on which reconciliation with God is completed. On the eve of Rosh HaShanah, a piece of apple dipped in honey is eaten at home or in the synagogue.

If we look at the TaNaKH/Bible, we find "Yom Teruah" written on this day. This is the day when priests [not the high priest] blew silver trumpets [chatsotserot kesef] and other designated persons blew shofars and the rest of the people called/shouted to יהוה, our God, in remembrance. What we would like to know is where "Rosh HaShanah" comes from and what we can find in the Bible about it.

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• Yom T^eruah יום תרועה
• Rosh HaShanah ראש השנה
• How Yom T^eruah was declared Rosh Hashanah
• Is it "against God's Word" or is it a good tradition to celebrate
• The construct (word pair) t^ekufat hashanah [תקופת השנה]

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Yom T^eru’ah יום תרועה

We find some mention of Yom Teruah [יום תרועה] in our Bibles in Leviticus 23:24 and in Numbers 29:1. The Hebrew Bible says here "zichron teruah" and in our Bible translations this is translated into "a memorial of sound", or "a day of remembrance announced by the sound of trumpets".

The word "t^eruah" means “call (shout/call out); shout; alarm; signal; sound of storm/flood; a shout or explosion of war/ ... of alarm/ ... of joy”.
"T^eruah" comes from the root word "ru'a רוע", which means "to call out; to lift a sound; to shout out; to give an explosion".

When the "t^eruah" was blown by the priests on the chatsotserot, it meant that the camp was to be broken up (Numbers 10:5-6). When the priests blew a "t^eruah" before יהוה our God, they did so when the Israelites had gone to war. This resulted in the enemies being given into the hands of the Israelites (or in other words, our God thus delivered His people from their enemies. Numbers 10:9; 2 Chronicles 13:13-18).

The word "zichron" [זכרון] means “memorial; memory; remembrance; reminder (but also: naming)”.

Yom T^eru’ah is a day of calling/crying God's Name in joy; a day of alarm; a day of calling to vigilance; a day of calling to gathering; a day of calling to repentance/return ... teshuvah. The quoted Bible verses states that on this day previously mentioned should be remembered, brought to mind, or lived in remembrance. On this day no work is to be done; it is a day of rest. A day in which one keeps "mikra kodesh". Literally, this means "holy/set apart reading". The bottom line is that one studies Torah [Instruction/Teaching] on that day. "Mikra kodesh" is translated in our Bible translations into "holy convocation/meeting". Also, a fire offer had to be brought to יהוה our God on that day.

Today we cannot live this day literally, not in its entirety.
We are perfectly capable of living this day as a day of rest; we are perfectly capable of commemorating/remembering all that has happened in our lives and in history; we are also capable of crying out God's name with joy, as well as crying out to Him in sorrow; we are also capable of sounding an alarm or giving a signal by means of a trumpet call, as long as we know who the designated persons are who may blow the shofars. But we are not able to literally march up to Jerusalem to offer a fire sacrifice before our God in His Temple. There are no priests to blow the chatsotserot. What we can do is bring a sacrifice in our hearts to Him, a sacrifice full of love and surrender.

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Rosh HaShanah ראש השנה

Rosh HaShanah [ראש השנה] is indeed mentioned in the TeNaCH/Bible and it is in Ezekiel 40:1. However, this is the only place in the Bible where the Hebrew words ראש (rosh) and השנה [hashanah] are in sequence. In our Bible translations it is translated into "at the beginning of the year". The prophet of יהוה, our God, reports on an event in his prophetic life and that is that on that day the hand of יהוה, our God, was on him and took him somewhere.

"Rosh" [ראש] means “boss/chief/leader; head; top; upper part; total/whole; sum/amount; height; front/forward; beginning/start”.

Now that we know this, we can note that with "Rosh HaShanah" is actually meant, "Head of the year", or "beginning/start of the year". Exodus 12:2 quoted from New International Version:

This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

If we read this verse in its context, we find out that this is on Passover/Pesach and not on Yom Teruah. Compared to the Gregorian calendar, the Seventh Month coincides with late September through early October. The First Month - which is also the head of the months - coincides with the end of March through the beginning of April with the Gregorian calendar.

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How Yom T^eruah was declared Rosh Hashanah

The transformation from "Day of Calling/Shouting/Blowing (on shofar & chatsotserot) [Yom T^eruah] to "New Year's Day" (which, incidentally, is not the meaning of 'rosh hashanah') is the result of pagan Babylonian influence on the Jewish people. The first stage of transformation was to adopt the names of months. In the Torah, the months are numbered: First Month, Second Month, Third Month, etc. (Leviticus 23; Numbers 28). During their stay in Babylonia, the Jews began to use the names of pagan Babylonian months, as also stated in the Talmud:

"The names of the months came with them from Babylonia". (Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 1:2 56d)

Within Babylonian culture, the names of months are embodied by the fourth month, called "Tammuz". In Babylonian religion, Tammuz was a god of grain, whose annual death and resurrection brought fertility to the world.

In Ezekiel 8:14, the prophet describes how he saw Jewish women sitting in the Temple, weeping over Tammuz. The reason they did so is that according to Babylonian mythology, Tammuz had been killed, but had not yet been resurrected. In Babylonian times, early summer was the time to weep for Tammuz, when the rain stops throughout the Middle East and the vegetation begins to wither from the burning sun.

Now it just so happens that till this day the Fourth Month, known within the rabbinic calendar as the month of Tammuz, is still a time for weeping and mourning (fasting 17 Tammuz). This is because on the 17^th of the Fourth Month Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the fortress walls of the city of Jerusalem, resulting in the destruction of the 1^st Temple in the ninth day of the Fifth Month [Av].

Later in the Old Testament/TaNaKH, some of the Babylonian month names are rendered, but always with the names of months as they are rendered in the Torah (the first 5 books of Moses). For example, read Ester 3:7. In Ester's time, the Jews lived within the borders of the Persian Empire. In the beginning, the Jews used both the names of the months of Babylonia, which Persia also took over, in addition to those found in the Torah, but over time, those of the Torah were no longer used.

Rabbis were influenced by the pagan Babylonian religion. Although many Jews returned to their native land in 516 before common era [BCE], the rabbis' ancestors remained in Babylonia, where rabbinic Judaism was gradually established. Many rabbis, such as Hillel I were born and taught in Babylonia. Babylonia remained the heartland of rabbinic Judaism until the fall of the Geonim in the 11^th century common era [CE].

One of the influences of the Babylonian religion, was the celebration of New Year's Day on Yom Teruah. From very early on, the Babylonians had a lunar-solar calendar, very similar to that of the Bible. As a result, Yom T^eruah often fell at the same time as the Babylonian New Year festival of "Akitu." Akitu was on the 1^st day of the Babylonian month "Tishrei", which coincided with the 1^st day of the Seventh Month; the day of Yom T^eruah. The name of the Babylonian month Tishrei comes from the Akkadian tašrītu "beginning" and from šurrû "beginning." When the Jews adopted the names of the Babylonian calendar, it paved the way for changing Yom Teruah to the Jewish New Year's Day. And the fact that no reason was actually given for celebrating Yom T^eruah surely made it easier for the rabbis to name this day a Jewish New Year's Day from now on.

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Is it "against God's Word" or is it a good tradition to celebrate

For Babylonians, it was quite normal to celebrate Akitu [New Year's Day] on the 1^st day of the 7^th month. They celebrated Akitu twice a year; on the 1^st day of the 7^th month, which they called "Tishrei" and again 6 months later on the 1^st day of the month they called "Nissan". Just as the 1^st Akitu coincided with Yom T^eruah, so the 2^nd Akitu coincided with the actual New Year's Day in the Torah on the 1^st day of the First Month. Although the rabbis proclaimed Yom T^eruah a New Year's Day [Rosh HaShanah], they also recognized the 1^st day of the First Month as New Year's Day since they could not avoid it (Exodus 12:2). This day was, and is, called "Biblical New Year's Day", but is not celebrated. This is, because it is not stated in the Bible that New Year’s Day had to be celebrated.

Tradition has it that יהוה, our God, created man on the first day of the Seventh Month, which today is called "Tishrei”. About the creation of all is read in the book of the Bible, Genesis. In Hebrew, this book is called "Bereshit". It is explained that this refers backwards to the Seventh Month, which in Babylonian culture, and now in rabbinic Judaism, is called "Tishrei" and this is done by reading the name of this first book "Bereshit" [בראשית] backwards.

The word "be ב" is a preposition, which in Hebrew is attached to the noun. "Bereshit" [בראשית] consists of the preposition "be" [ב], which means “in, with” and sometimes “by” and of the noun "reshit" [ראשית] which means first, beginning”” and also “first fruits”. When one wants to spell the word בראשית [bereshit] backwards, one first removes the preposition ב [be] before it, and then places it backwards, which should then make ראשית [reshit] into תשרי, which would then miraculously read "Tishrei".

However, as you can see for yourselves, this is not correct. The Hebrew letter alef א is missing. ראשית spelled backwards makes תישאר and Google translates this into "remain." In the TaNaKH, this word does not appear.
I should note that the spelling בראשית indicated here has an edge: ב' רבתי לפי נוסחים מקובלים Google translates this to: In accordance with accepted versions. This is in my TaNaKH JPS [Jewish Publication Society]. My app on my smartphone "My Tanakh" also uses this spelling, as does Westminster Leningrad Codex [WLC].

Furthermore, one explains that the Flood (after which mankind was redeveloped by Noah's sons) did have to occur in the Seventh Month, because that is when the rainy season begins. In doing so, they also refer to the number seven "Sheva", which is a sacred number, referring to the seventh day.

Although well thought and interestingly plotted (except for the fact that man [haAdam] was supposedly created on this day; I can't deduce that from the TaNaKH), it remains a tradition. But is it against God's Word?

In Exodus 25:8-10 we read that in the 49^th year the priests were to blow the Shofar again on the 10^th day of the Seventh Month [Babylonian Tishrei]. That year and in that month the Shofar is blown twice. The first time is on Yom T^eruah, which is on the 1^st day of the Seventh Month, and the second time on Yom Kippur: the Day of Atonement/Great Atonement Day. This is on the 10^th day of the Seventh Month.

If with the 1^st day of the Seventh Month [Babylonian Tishrei] the new year begins, then this must mean that the 50^th year begins around the same time; the Jubilee Year! This would mean that a year earlier the Shofar was blown as an announcement for this Jubilee Year. But Scripture - the Word of God - is clear that the First Month, which is also called Month of Aviv (barley ripe for harvest is called Aviv), is the head of the year. More plausible, therefore, is that in the Seventh Month of the 49^th year, on the 10^th day, the Shofar is blown throughout the land, because about 6 months later the Jubilee Year begins and thus there are 6 months left for each to return to his inheritance.

Exactly two weeks later than the first day of the Seventh Month (the day of Yom T^eruah), Sukkot [Feast of Tabernacles] begins. This feast is referred to in Exodus 23:16 as "the going out of the year."

Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field.
Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

Proclaiming the first day of the Seventh Month as "New Year's Day" and then reading that two weeks later is "the going out of the year," or "the end of the year," is the same as according to the Gregorian calendar, which has the first day of its month of January as New Year's Day, appointing exactly two weeks later the 15^th day of the month of January as "the going out of the year," or "the end of the year”.

In Exodus 34:22, many translations read about a turning of the year; a turning point of the year. New International Version has “turn of the year” written here. In Hebrew, it says "t^ekufat hashanah".

The Hebrew word תְּקוּפַ֖ת t^ekufat is from t^ekufah תּקוּפה and means "to come round; circuit of time or space; a turning point; circuit", and as an adverb it means "on the circuit". This means that the roundabout, rotation or turning point is still going on. Not that it just has been. In Exodus 34:22, t^ekufah has been placed in a word pair with hashanah הַשָּׁנָֽה [the year], making a slight change.

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The construct (word pair) t^ekufat hashanah [תקופת השנה].

Hashanah is a feminine singular noun, definite (article 'ha').
T^ekufah is a feminine singular noun, not definite (no article).

In this pair of words, t^ekufah is in a building relationship with hashanah, which is called a "possessive relationship". Because of this, the word "of" must be added directly after the first noun when translated. This has a building relationship with the second noun, which is the absolute noun and is the focus of the translation. This changes the vowel from the first, building noun “t^ekufah” into “t^ekufat”.
Since the absolute noun is definite, the first building noun must also be translated into definite. The entire construct (word pair) is read in definite. Thus, "t^ekufat hashanah" is translated, "the circumambulation of the year". Why not "a circumambulation of the year"? Because 'a' is not definite.

My conclusion is that the Seventh Month - the Babylonian Tishrei - cannot be the month of the new year, but it is symbolically a turning point in our lives.

“… and it was evening, and it was morning …”

The words that appear in Exodus 34:22 before "t^ekufat hashanah" are “v’chag ha'asif”. Literally (word for word): "and festival - the collection". Again, these are word pairs. “Asif” is a noun and so is “chag”. However, “asif” is in definite ⇒ “ha'asif” and it means "the collection". The translation is therefore, "and the festival of collection", which means Sukkot, which begins the 15^th day of the Seventh Month. That's 14 days later than Yom T^eruah, or the so-called ‘Rosh Hashanah’!
"... v’chag ha'asif t^ekufat hashanah. ... and the festival of collection [on] the round/turn of the year." __ Exodus 34:22b

The first day of the Seventh Month cannot be called rosh hashahah (head of the year) at all, because 15 days later is the feast of the collection of the great harvest, which is at the back of the year ⇒ Exodus 23:16. Apples are also harvested during this collection of the great harvest.

As mentioned earlier, it is believed that man [haAdam] was created on this day. However, this is a tradition that is originated in Babylon by the rabbis who lived there until the 11^th century CE. Today, people still celebrate New Year’s Day on the 10^th of the Seventh Month instead of Yom Teruah. This is partly because the silver trumpets may only be blown by the priests and the shofars are only blown by those who are designated for this purpose. The Temple is no longer there, and the descendants of the priests have no service/function (which could only be done if they were actually anointed priests). And, as mentioned earlier, because Yom Teruah does not specifically give a reason for celebration as, for example, Pesach, Shavu'ot [Feast of Weeks] and Sukkot [Feast of Tabernacles] do, it is easier to add something to it. However, this is against God's Word. In fact, something has been added to the TaNaKH that was not there before and according to God's Word that is a sin:

Deuteronomy 4:2
Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

Deuteronomy 12:32
See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

Proverbs 30:6
Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

On the first day of the Seventh Month, the designated persons blows the shofar, emphasizing the 10^th day that is coming: Yom Kippur. That day is an important day. It was the day when atonement was made for us by the high priest [Cohen haGadol]. I myself believe that in accordance with Psalms 110 this is still done, and it is done by Yeshua HaMashiach [the Anointed One], but I realize that not everyone shares this opinion. And let us move the delicacies to the 15^th day of this month, when the great harvest has been (or is still in progress) and we celebrate, thanking our God and being merry before His face.

Psalmen 81:3 [4]
Sound the shofar on the New Moon, on the appointed time for the day of our festival.
תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֜כֶּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ

Leviticus 23:24
Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first of the month, it shall be a Sabbath for you, a remembrance of [Israel through] the shofar blast a holy occasion.
דַּבֵּ֛ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ יִֽהְיֶ֤ה לָכֶם֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן זִכְר֥וֹן תְּרוּעָ֖ה מִקְרָא־קֹֽדֶשׁ

Joel 2:1
Sound a shophar in Zion and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; all the inhabitants of the land shall quake, for the day of the Lord has come, for it is near.
תִּקְע֨וּ שׁוֹפָ֜ר בְּצִיּ֗וֹן וְהָרִ֙יעוּ֙ בְּהַ֣ר קָדְשִׁ֔י יִרְגְּז֕וּ כֹּ֖ל יֹֽשְׁבֵ֣י הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־בָ֥א יֽוֹם־יְהֹוָ֖ה כִּ֥י קָרֽוֹב

1 Thessalonians 4:16
Because the Master Himself shall come down from heaven with a shout t^eru’ah, with the voice bat kol of a chief messenger sar hamalachim, and with the trumpet of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first.
[Exodus 19:16, 19]

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