Today is Friday (or Rosh Hashanah)

It's true today is Rosh Hashanah. It says so on my calender. So as I was fervently rubbing the sleep out of my eyes this morn I was struck with a familiar sense of curiosity. Curiosity, has a feminine voice mind you, she said to me, "what is Rosh Hashanah - for that matter, what are all these holidays that I never celebrate?"

So since she has such a seductive voice - Curiosity that is. I decided to oblige and follow up. After class, I ran home in the drizzle and logged on to Wikipedia. I found out that Rosh Hashanah is simply New Years in the Jewish tradition. So I was a little bummed that it was so bland - oh but then I found the "fun nugget" I'd been looking for:

"In fact, Judaism has four 'new years' which mark various legal 'years'."

Okay, so basically whats going on here is the Jewish calender is absolutely crazy - well crazy to me, an average Joe who abides by the simple 12 month, 365 day variety. There are four new years, as I mentioned. Before we move to that however, the Jewish calender is somewhat different than the typical American one. It includes 12 months of 30 days each. (The previous statement isn't completely true because some months contain 29.75 days, and other fractional differences). But in the long run the year rounds out to a full 360 days. This is significant because their calendar is envisioned as a circle and how many degrees are in a circle? You got it - 360. 360 degrees in a circle, 360 days in the rotunda-ish calendar of the Jews.

The first month on this circular calendar is Nisan, the word Nisan itself is Babylonian and is translated as "spring." It is rooted in the Sumarian "nisag" which literally means "first fruits." Nisan is a spring month consisting of 30 days and usually falls in the March-April range. It is the first month of the calendar because, "The LORD told Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 'this month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you...' " (Exodus 12:1-2)

So, Moses and Aaron listened and now Nisan is the first month on the ecclesiastical calendar (month seven on the civic calendar) - and therefore 1 Nisan = New Year's Day.

The second New Year celebration is the first day of Tishrei, literally - "beginning" derived from the Akkadian surru - "to begin." Rosh Hashanah - literally, "head of the year" (which is today - lest you forget) is the civic New Year. That being said, there are huge ecclesiastical calendar implications on this "civic" holiday. Why? Well, this celebration is derived from Leviticus 23:24, "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to the people of Israel,' saying, 'In the seventh month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation' " - the line, "with blast of trumpets" is literally translated as, "The Day of the Blowing of the Shofar."

In tradition, during the month of Elul (literally "to search") which is right before Tishrei, the Shofar (a musical instrument made from a ram's horn) is blown every morning, 'to awaken the listener from his/her slumber and alert them of the coming judgement.' Rabbinic literature (and even the liturgy) refers to Rosh Hashanah as the day of judgement. Therefore this month of Elul is similar in many respects to Lent (for Christians). The 'day of judgement,' in Christianity is Holy Saturday when Jesus rest in the tomb and in spirit performed the 'harrowing of hell' by descending to the depths and breaking free the bondage of those held captive by sin. The next day, Easter, marks the grace and mercy shown by God as Jesus ascended to Heaven. In Jewish tradition, however Rosh Hashanah is pictorialized as "God sitting upon a throne, while books containing the deeds of all humanity are open for review, and each person passing in front of Him for evaluation of his or her deeds." Then for the next ten days Jewish tradition observes the Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe") known as Assaret Yemei Teshuva ("Ten Days of Repentance"). The Yamim Noraim culminates on 10 Tishrei with the celebration of Yom Kippur - Yom Hakkipurim - "The Day of Atonements." For obvious reasons this is the holiest day of the year and is marked by a 25 hour fast and very intensive prayer throughout the day.

This celebration is markedly different from the fiest that takes place on 1 Nisan. The latter is a celebration of the idea of a year, whereas the former celebrates the turning of a page in the lives of the Jews. It is a celebration of all the greatness of the past year; and alternatively a celebration of the forgiveness of sin from the previous year. The Yamim Noraim obviously is a huge, huge part of the Jewish year. The other New Year celebrations, on the other hand are not. The next New Year - Elul, the twelfth month of the ecclesiastical calendar is held as the New Year for animals.

Tu Bi'Shevat, or the fifteenth day of Shevat is marked as the New Year for trees. (Tu) is the American translation for some squiggly lines that in Hebrew mean 15, and (Shevat) is the eleventh month of the Jewish calendar. The day is known as Rosh Hashanah La'llanot ("Head of Year of the Trees.")


- These holidays do not begin until sun down - if you look at your calendar it should say, "Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown" that is because the day changes at sundown, not at the American usual of midnight.

So tonight, when the sun goes down and the chill of fall rests in the air, you may want to dig into a meal of apples and honey to symbolize a 'sweet new year,' and some challah to symbolize the wheel of life (round calendar) that just took one more spin. As you do, hear this, "ketiva ve-chatima tovah (may you be written and sealed for a good year)."