Rosh Hashanah Began Last Night

I am biblically Jewish: in biblical Judaism, genealogies go through the father’s side. 

In rabbinic Judaism, Jewishness is carried through the mother, even though a person’s priestly standing is carried through the father. By priestly standing, I’m referring to the distinctions rabbinic Jews make between Cohens, Levites, and “all Israel” when it comes to the order in which people get called up to read the Jewish Bible in their synagogue.

Why do I make a difference between biblical and rabbinic Judaism?  Only because there is one.  If you don’t believe me, believe Lawrence H. Schiffman, the highly respected Orthodox Jewish professor who wrote FROM TEXT TO TRADITION A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism. After the Second Temple was destroyed, it wasn’t too long before Jews began believing that tradition trumped the Torah.

In the Torah (the Jewish Bible), Rosh Ha Shanah (“Head of the Year”) is known in Leviticus 23:24 as Zikron Teruah (a reminder by blowing of trumpets) and in Numbers 29:1 as Yom Teruah (a day for blowing trumpets).  The Hebrew word Teruah can also be translated as “a very loud sound.”  So Yom Teruah could be translated as Loud Sound Day, or Blast of Noise Day, or Shofar Day.  And some people do call Yom Teruah the Feast of Trumpets.

I should also mention here that the biblical New Year falls in the spring on Nisan 1, even though rabbinic New Year happens in the fall.  How do I know biblical New Year happens in the spring?  Exodus 12:2 says, “This month [the month in which Passover is celebrated] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.”  That, my friends, is in the Bible. God said it, and that settles it.

According to God, Jewish New Year is actually in the spring, but I still pray you’ll still have a happy New Year, Jewish or not, whenever you choose to celebrate—whether it’s today, or January 1, or on the first of the Jewish month of Nisan.

Margot Armer