Official feasts used to be an important part of the human community. People would gather together to remember something sacred, express their faith and hope for the future, and / or just be together formally, recognizing each other as being part of a shared community. Few things express a desire for shared companionship and social intimacy more than dining together. Sadly, the gathering together for feasting is increasingly a relic of the past – at least here in the West.
It need not be so! Today we will remember the ancient feasts.
The Feast of Trumpets
The Feast of Trumpets, more well-known today by another name, Rosh Hashanah, is a Jewish and sometimes Christian religious celebration of the Jewish New Year.
What is The Feast of Trumpets?
(via wiki)
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, Rōʾš hašŠānā, literally “head of the year”) is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, Yōm Tərūʿā, lit. “day of shouting/blasting”). It is the first of the High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm, “Days of Awe”), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25,[1] that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins ten days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur, as well as beginning the cycle of autumnal religious festivals running through Sukkot which end on Shemini Atzeret in Israel and Simchat Torah everywhere else.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. In contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the first month Nisan, the spring Passover month which marks Israel’s exodus from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism, and is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, as well as the initiation of humanity’s role in God’s world.
Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a hollowed-out ram’s horn), as prescribed in the Torah, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to “raise a noise” on Yom Teruah. Its rabbinical customs include attending synagogue services and reciting special liturgy about teshuva, as well as enjoying festive meals. Eating symbolic foods, such as apples dipped in honey, hoping to evoke a sweet new year, is an ancient tradition recorded in the Talmud.
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Rosh Hashanah is celebrated by a number of Christian denominations and unincorporated house church groups within the United States, including: Assemblies of Yahweh, Messianic Jews, some congregations of the Church of God (Seventh Day), some evangelical Protestant churches (mainly Baptist), as well as Seventh Day Pentecostals in Eastern Europe. This day of resounding is also known in Judaism by the name “Yom Teruah” and in Christianity as the Feast of Trumpets.Christian believers connect hearing “the sound of the trumpet” or shofar, according to the First Epistle to the Thessalonians and the Book of Revelation, with the events that occur at the Resurrection of the dead (“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first.”1Thess 4:16, Revelation 1:10).
Some say this “pivotal event of all human history to which the Feast of Trumpets points is the Return of Christ”. Some evangelical television channels call Rosh Hashanna eve the “Feast of Trumpets”, for example at CBN TV that marks the Jewish New Year with a staff gathering for Rosh Hashanah
BibleStudyTools also provides background on the Feast:
The Feast of Trumpets is first spoken of in Leviticus 23:23-25. At this time, the Israelites had been brought out of Egypt and Moses received the covenant from God. The Israelites had built the Tabernacle, and God gave instructions to be told to the Israelites by Moses.
We find the Feast of Trumpets listed as one of the holy days for the Israelites to keep. God tells Moses the exact time the Israelites are to celebrate, and how the people should celebrate. During the feast, the people would bring various offerings to the Lord. In Numbers 29:1-6, we read about these offerings. Here we can find specific instructions about what to offer and how to offer it.
This feast was a call to stop work and remember the Lord. The people were to hold the feast on the first day of the seventh month and you were to present a fire offering to the Lord. Throughout the day, the Israelites could hear the sound of a trumpet or shofar, hence the name Feast of Trumpets.
No daily work was completed on this day. It was a sacred time. The Feast of Trumpets was an outward expression of the feeling of anticipation the Israelites had. The Lord had shown himself to Moses at Mount Sinai, and the people anticipated the Lord showing himself again.
This feast is also a beautiful picture of the second coming of Christ, and Jews around the world continue to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets today.
Is This the Same as Rosh Hashana?
The Feast of Trumpets is better known today as Rosh Hashana. Jews celebrate it in the same way and at the same time. Rosh Hashana literally means “head of the year.” Jews believe that on this day God created the heavens and the earth. They also believe other biblical events happened on this day. For example, they believe that Adam was created on this day and that Samuel was born on this day. Jews also believe the first temple was dedicated on this day.
We do not find the words Rosh Hashana in the Torah, the Jewish holy book. The phrase makes its first appearance in the Mishna, a Jewish code of law around 200 AD.
There is a belief among some Christians that not only is Jesus Christ going to return in association with the Feast of Trumpets, but that he was born in connection with this holiday. (7 min, 50 sec mark below)
What do you eat for The Feast of Trumpets / Rosh Hashana?
Here are some recipes! I have included a short excerpt below, providing some descriptions of the food.
Many people know about the custom of eating apples dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah , but there are many more food-related customs for the Jewish New Year. Sweet foods are popular, to symbolize the sweet year we hope will follow. In the Sephardic community, many families hold a Rosh Hashanah seder where a series of symbolic foods are eaten before the meal.
Each of the chosen foods —generally a pomegranate, date, string bean, beet, pumpkin, leek, and fish head — symbolize a wish or blessing for prosperity and health in the coming year.
When is this feast celebrated?
The exact date of Rosh Hashanah varies every year since it is based on the Hebrew Calendar, where it begins on the first day of the seventh month. Rosh Hashanah is almost always in September or October.
| Date | 1 Tishrei, 2 Tishrei |
|---|---|
| 2023 date | Sunset, 15 September – nightfall, 17 September |
| 2024 date | Sunset, 2 October – nightfall, 4 October |
| 2025 date | Sunset, 22 September – nightfall, 24 September |
| 2026 date | Sunset, 11 September – nightfall, 13 September |
I hope that if you celebrate, you have a wonderful time.
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