While Yom Kippur is mentioned in the Book of Leviticus, there is no mention of Rosh Hashanah in the Torah. All we read is that “on the first day of the seventh month there shall be heard the sound of the horn” (not even the shofar).
The “seventh” month? What kind of new year is that? Well, the first month for our ancestors was Nisan, the month in which Passover occurs. And that makes sense inasmuch as Spring symbolizes a new year of nature’s cycle. The seventh month is regarded as the “religious” new year, perhaps because some believed it was the “Sabbath” of the year just as the seventh day is Shabbat.
But there are actually four new years in our tradition, two in addition to Rosh Hashanah and Pesach’s month of Nisan. We know about Tu b’Sh’vat, the 15th of the month of Sh’vat, most familiar as the New Year of the Trees. The fourth is the first of Elul when the cattle were tithed.
So, we have four new years, but with Rosh Hashanah we have the one celebrated more than any of the other three (one isn’t even celebrated at all), and this was tied to our years of exile in Babylonia. Our “hosts” crowned their kings on that day, but remember that the kings were considered the deities of the people as well. We’re told that it was quite a party, a bacchanalia in fact, at which people got drunk and had orgies. If our exiled people saw this – which they did – it went against our understanding of God.
It was here that the first of Tishri took on more of an identity. We would also have a coronation! Since we considered God as Melech HaOlam, Sovereign of the Universe, we would “crown” God year after year. It made sense for us to add a more serious celebration to the day than did the Babylonians.
Whatever the tradition – and after hundreds upon hundreds of years we’ve got LOTS of them – in this new year of 5781, my very best wishes to you and yours for blessings galore, unbridled joy, universal peace, and, yes, above all, good health!
Rosh Hashanah sermons…
Evening: “A Single Human Being” (Our relationship with the African-American community)
Morning: “Will It Be Over When It’s Over?” (COVID-19 and our children)
Family: “We Won’t Be Licked!” (What to do in these difficult days)