Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)

Guest Blogger: Imelda Quibin

The Jewish New Year always falls in September, either early or late in the month. In Hebrew, "Rosh" means "Head." So the literal meaning of Rosh Hashanah is “Head of the Year.” In this blog, I would like to discuss two important aspects of Rosh Hashanah: Food and the Blowing of the Shofar.

FOOD

Like other countries, Jews celebrate a merry New Year with special food on the table. Americans must have their turkeys and the Chinese twelve round fruits. In the Philippines, where I was raised, we also ate foods different from the ones we ate the rest of the year. Here is a list of foods Jews must have on their table during Rosh Hashanah:

~ Dates: The Hebrew word for “dates” is “tamar.” The Hebrew word for “taste” is “taam.” Dates remind people that whatever they tasted of during the previous year is finished, behind them.
~ Sugar Beets: Because of these beets’ dark color, they symbolize hatred being driven out of peoples' hearts.
~ Pumpkin: The Hebrew word for “pumpkin” is "karet," which means “to cut.” Evil thinking should be cut out their minds.
~ String Beans: These beans are long, reminding people that their rights are long.
~ Carrots: When carrots are eaten, people are reminded to forgive their enemies.
~ Pomegranates: Because of the many seeds, the pomegranate represents the fruitfulness of the people.
~ Head Beef Meat or Head of Fish: This food reminds the Jews that they are the head and not the tail.
~Apples Dipped in Honey: Apple trees represent success and honey is sweet. This symbolizes that a person’s New Year will be successful and sweet.

After the blessing of the food, and specific prayers are recited, we eat the regular meal. The main course is sweet chicken cooked with honey and raisins. (Sometimes, beef is used instead of chicken, but it is always cooked with sweet foods.) So, the base, or essence, of the New Year is sweetness.

BLOWING OF THE SHOFAR

During my first year here in Israel, I was really frightened when I heard the sound of the shofar. In the Philippines, when I hear a trumpet sound in our barangay (village), it means that someone has died. Also, before cell phones and computers were in use, the trumpet was used to tell people that a meeting was about to begin. (We use the caribou horn for a trumpet.)

My employer's granddaughter told me that in synagogues, the importance of Genesis 22:13-14 is emphasized. This is the first biblical reference to a ram’s horn. "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.”

Exodus 19:16 references the blowing of the rams horn at Mount Sinai: “And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceedingly loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.”

During Rosh Hashanah, the ram’s horn sounds many times. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is the next feast after Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur reminds Jews of their past mistakes and sins and their need of God's forgiveness. They use the word "shlikot," which means to be sorry for their sins.

There is a New Testament fulfillment for the blowing of the ram’s horn. Along with many other verses, Matthew 24:31 makes reference to the ram’s horn, or trumpet: “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

This is the next feast of the Lord for New Testament believers. This really makes you tremble and reminds us that Jesus will return just as He has promised. We will be changed “in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump” (I Corinthians 15:52). We must stay faithful to HIM! No matter what happens along the way, as we devote ourselves to God's business, we will profit in eternity. Stay awake!

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (I Thessalonians 4:16-17).