FEAST OF TRUMPETS or otherwise called Rosh HaShanah or Yom Teruah
It is considered the Birthday of humanity. It is also considered to be the Coronation Day of the King of the Universe, which is God.
The fall feasts begin with Rosh HaShanah on 1 Tishri. It is celebrated for the first two days of Tishri, which is the seventh month of the Jewish Biblical Calendar. It is considered the Jewish New Year of the civil calendar. It usually occurs in September or October of the Gregorian calendar.
It is traditional to greet others with L’Shana Tovah Tikatevu! Meaning “May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year!” The respondance being gam lekha – “same to you.” It has been shortened to Shana Tovah, meaning “Happy New Year!”
Scripture:
Leviticus 23:4 These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim in their appointed times. … 23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying; 24 Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation: 25 You shall do no regular work, and you shall offer a food offering made by fire to the Lord.
It is called Yom HaZikkaron for it is the day of Remembrance or a Memorial by the blowing of trumpets. It is considered as the day where God is declared as the King of the Universe
This day of blowing of the trumpets is called Yom Teruah or Rosh HaShanah in Hebrew. In the English language, we know it as the Feast of Trumpets. This is the feast on the first day in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar where trumpets are blown to be a memorial for the nation of Israel.
Numbers 29:1 In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you will have a holy assembly. You will do no ordinary work. It is a day of blowing the trumpets for you. 2 You will offer a burn offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord; one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish;
On this Feast day, there is no ordinary or laborious work to be done. It is to be a day of rest; a sabbath. That is the whole purpose of the feast season: entering into God’s rest and protection. It is the day of Rest and worship of the Lord God of Israel. It is a day of contemplation, prayer, and commitment to God. It is a solemn occasion to celebrate our relationship with God as His children
Numbers 29:1 (TLV) On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a sacred assembly. You are to do no laborious work. It is for you a day for sounding the shofar.
It is the Day of Sounding of the Shofar. This blowing of the shofar or trumpets is a call of repentance. As Rambam (an Israelite rabbi) puts it, the shofar calls out: “Awake, you sleepers, from your sleep! Repent with contrition! Remember your Creator!”
The shofar or teruah (ram’s horn) is symbolic of the ram in the thicket with the story of Abraham and Isaac. Because of God’s provision, Abraham offered this ram to God in Isaac’s place (Genesis 22:1-19).
Psalm 81:1 Sing aloud unto God our strength; make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 2 Lift up a melody and sound the tambourine, the pleasant lyre with the harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the New Moon, at the full moon on our feast day. 3 For this is a statute for Israel, a decree of the God of Jacob.
One using the shofar (teruah) is shouting or raising a rejoicing noise toward our God; the God of Jacob.
Numbers 10:2 Make for yourself two silver trumpets. Of a hammered work you will make them, and you will use them for summoning of the assembly and directing the breaking up of the camps. 3 When they blow both of them, all the assembly will assemble themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. ,,,
10 Also in the day of your gladness, and at your appointed days, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices for your peace offerings that they may be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.
The blowing of the ram’s horn (the shofar) or the silver trumpets signaled the beginning of the civil new year. It is the Head of the Year (Rosh HaShanah).
In the post-exilic period, Torah (the first five books of the Bible) was generally read in an atmosphere of rejoicing and celebration. The people were reminded of God’s mercies, which would sustain them through the new year if they obeyed His covenant.
It is also called Yom HaKesh, meaning the Hidden Day. It is the Day of Hiding. Why is it called that? God is hiding it from satan. It is the day and hour that no one knows, only the Father. Because it is the only feast day at the beginning of the month. This day is not acknowledged until there are three stars spotted in Israel. Therefore, this feast day signifies the Rapture, according to the Messianic Jews.
The rapture is the picture of catching the Bride of Messiah or Christ to come to her wedding feast with her Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:51 Listen, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
(calling up the new creation)
According to Jewish tradition, Elul 25-Tishri 1 is when the Lord God created the Universe including the earth. He created all the inhabitants of the earth (animals and humans) on the sixth day of Creation. Adam and Eve were created on Tishri 1, which is Rosh HaShanah.
Elul is the sixth month before Rosh Hashanah. It is a month where there is an atmosphere of repentance. There are special prayers of forgiveness called selichot that are recited in the early hours of the morning. It is traditional to change the parokhet or ark cover in the synagogue to a white cloth, meaning purity.
According to Jewish tradition, on Rosh HaShanah, the destiny of everyone is decided. This is when all of the people come to the Lord God to see where their names are written. If they are righteous, their names are written in the Book of Life; or Sefer Ha Chayim (Revelation13:8). If they are wicked, their names are written in the Book of Death. Their fates are sealed for a year on Yom Kippur, the tenth day of this same month, Tisheri.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been judged for our sins through the sacrificial offering of Jesus on the Cross at Calvary. The binding of Isaac was the type or picture of Jesus on the cross. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for all sins in the world. Therefore, our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. If anyone’s name is not written in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire. (Revelation 20:15)
The Liturgy for Rosh HaShanah is in Genesis, telling the story of Isaac’s birth and his binding. The New Testament readings are about the Rapture.
Elul shofar is blown every weekday morning after services, but not on Sabbath and Elul 30 (day before Tishri 1). The Shofar for Rosh Hashanah is blasted at least 100 times. Why? Because it symbolizes the piercing wake-up call for the people to take an accounting of themselves, responsibilities, and their future commitments.
These are the blasts and the explanation for them:
1. Tekiah = long single blast (sound of the King’s coronation)
2. Shevarim = 3 short wail-like blasts (repentance)
3. Teru’ah = 9 staccato blasts of alarm (to awaken soul)
4. Tekiah Ha-Gadol = great long blast as long as can blow (The Last Trump)
To prepare for Rosh HaShanah:
We prepare by turning to God, turning to others we have harmed or offended and ask for forgiveness, and turning to those in need. We do this because of the idea of 1 Corinthians 12:26 which states: If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, ll then all parts rejoice with it.
These are the customs of the Feast of Trumpets
1. Candle lighting and the Kiddush (a prayer) is said over the wine
2. Dipping apples or challah bread in honey, which represents the sweetness of the year. Having black-eyed peas (rubia) represents the future wealth
Praying and asking God to increase our merits
No sour foods, for it represents a sour year
3. Round challah loaves represent a crown for the kingship of God and the crown of righteoursness that believers receive if they obey the Lord God.
4. Tashikh = casting off sins into body of water
Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion upon us. He will tread down our iniquities, and cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea.
Psalm 27 is recited after the morning and the evening service
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom will I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom will I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me to eat my flesh – my enemies and my foes – they stumbled and fell. 3 Through an army should encamp against me, my heart will not fear; through war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 3 One thing I have asked from the Lord, that will I seek after – for me to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble, He will hide me in His pavilion, in the shelter of His Tabernacle He will hide me; He will set me up on a rock. 6 Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies encircling me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His Tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Be gracious to me and answer me. 8 When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face, Lord, I will seek. 9 Do not hide Your face far from me; do not thrust Your servant away in anger; You have been my help. Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 If my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in an upright path, because of my enemies; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait on the Lord; be strong, and may your heart be stout; wait on the Lord.
This feast inaugurates the ten-day period of judgment and repentance, which is called the Ten Days of Awe. It is a time of prayer, self-examination, and repentance. This period ends on the Day of Atonement, which is Yom Kippur.
Shana Tov = Happy New Year