ROSH HASHANNAH
NUMBERS 29:1
וּבַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ, מִקְרָא-קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם--כָּל-מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה, לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ: יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם.
"And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation: you shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing for you you".
LEVITICUS 23:24
דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, לֵאמֹר: בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שַׁבָּתוֹן--זִכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה, מִקְרָא-קֹדֶשׁ.
“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a ultimate rest for you, a memorial proclaimed with blasts, a holy convocation”.
Rosh Hashanah literally meaning "head of the year". It is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for Rosh Hashanah is Yom Teruah יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, literally "day of shouting or blasting or blowing (of a horn or a trumpet or a shofar)". is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.
The term "Rosh Hashanah" in its current meaning does not appear in the Torah. Leviticus 23:24 refers to the festival of the first day of the seventh month as Zikhron Teru'ah "a memorial of blowing"; it is also referred to in the same part of Leviticus as שבת שבתון Shabbat Shabbaton or ultimate Sabbath.
The celebration of Rosh Hashanah begins on the 1st day of the seventh month. This month is called month of Tishrei. Tishrei is a Babylonian word that means “beginning”. During the Exile to Babylonia we must have been rapidly assimilated and substituted Babylonian names for our calendar months.
In the 1st Book of Kings at 8:2, about 300 years before the Exile to Babylon, the seventh month is called Ethanim.
וַיִּקָּהֲלוּ אֶל-הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה, כָּל-אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּיֶרַח הָאֵתָנִים, בֶּחָג--הוּא, הַחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי.
“And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month”.
Ethanim means everlasting or perennial.
Whereas Tishrei implies a beginning as in the creation of Adam and Eve; Ethanim has a sense of never-ending. Does it apply to humankind in general or maybe to the Jewish people in particular?
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TORAH READINGS FOR ROSH HASHANAH
FIRST DAY, BEREISHIS, 21:1- 21:34
SECOND DAY, BEREISHIS, 22:1-22:24
In the reading for the 1st Day, among other things, at the behest of Sarah, Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away. This is tantamount to divorcing Hagar and disinheriting Ishmael who would have normally shared with Isaac.
Question arise as to why Sarah did not want Ishmael to remain in her home?
And why should Ismael not share the inheritance with Isaac?
Are their implications for Jews in Israel today?
Rabbi Riskin addresses these questions, firstly looking at why Sarah was so upset with Ishmael. At 21:9 -
וַתֵּרֶא שָׂרָה אֶת-בֶּן-הָגָר הַמִּצְרִית, אֲשֶׁר-יָלְדָה לְאַבְרָהָם—מְצַחֵק
“And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, making sport.”
Rabbi Riskin sees מְצַחֵק as not just “fooling around”, but probably Isaac being sodomized by Ishmael, the older brother overpowering the weaker brother.
And in the previous Parsha at 16:12 Rabbi Riskin translates –
“… יָדוֹ בַכֹּל, וְיַד כֹּל בּו…”
“…his hand grasps for everything…”
Ishmael is not a person who shares. And given an opportunity he will overpower his brother. He will take it all.
Since 1947 we have always been willing to share, but Ishmael has always wanted it all. If Rabbi Kahane had his way, Ishmael and his Egyptian mother will have been banished, sent away. And he shall be a wild ass of a man: his hand shall be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the face of all his brethren.'
Rabbi Riskin interprets this verse differently: “his hand is in everything and a hand in all.”
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The Akedah, Binding of Isaac:
In the reading for the 2nd Day, among other things, Abraham obeying the command to prepare to sacrifice one of his children has to be one of the most difficult episodes in the entire Five Books. At 22:2 -
וַיֹּאמֶר קַח-נָא אֶת-בִּנְךָ אֶת-יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר-אָהַבְתָּ, אֶת-יִצְחָק, וְלֶךְ-לְךָ, אֶל-אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה; וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם, לְעֹלָה
“And He said, "Please take your son, your only one whom you love, Isaac, and you go to the land of Moriah and bring him up there for a burnt sacrifice…”
Abraham is the epitome of kindness. He argues with Hashem to save the inhabitants of Sodom. But in this instance, Abraham is complacent, resembling Noach in not pleading to save a life.
Perhaps the test was for Abraham to argue with Hashem, and if so, Abraham failed. After the incident, Abraham returns to Beersheba alone. We do not hear any further conversation between Abraham and Hashem. Moreover, Sarah dies.
Bob Dylan’s take on the Akedah:
Oh, God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe said, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God said, "No" Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want, Abe, but
The next time you see me comin', you better run"
Well, Abe said, "Where d'you want this killin' done?"
God said, "Out on Highway 61"
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The Prophet speaks of the in-gathering of the scattered exiles. Most notably, Ephraim is singled out. Ephraim is a metaphor for the 10 Lost Tribes of the Kingdom of Israel who were banished in the conquest of Israel by the Assyrians in 720 BCE.
It does not take a leap of faith to see that we are in the midst of an in-gathering.
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THE FAST OF GEDALIAH
When the Kingdom of Judah fell in 586 BCE and our capital Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, we became a Babylonian province called Yehud. The first appointed Governor was Gedaliah who oversaw the administration of the province from the city of Mitzpe, located just north of Jerusalem in lands allotted to the Tribe of Benjamin.
Using the Book of Jeremiah (40-41), the 2nd Book of Kings (25) and an on line course entitled “The Rise and Fall of Jerusalem” as guides let’s explore what Gedaliah may be about:
Gedaliah was part of the aristocracy. Both his father and grandfather played prominent roles in the royal court of the Kingdom of Judea. Although part of the aristocracy, Gedaliah was not a descendent of David; he was not in line to sit on the throne. That is one the reasons that Gedaliah was chosen as Governor; descendants of David were considered to be trouble makers. Gedaliah was indeed assassinated by a member of the royal bloodline.
The Babylonians wanted stability. And with Gedaliah at its head, Yehud began to return to stability. Jews, not necessarily the exiles to Babylonia, but those who had fled to neighboring lands began to return. Gedaliah ruled for about 4 to 5 years before being murdered. It is thought by many that with his passing, the end of an Era had gone by, and that our land was completely depopulated, this being the reason for the Fast of Gedaliah.
I do not think this is so. While it is true that the aristocracy and those of the royal bloodline as well as the Priests had been vanquished, the farmers and those who worked the Land had remained behind. The Babylonians did not want people who had the potential to foment rebellion to remain in the Land. But what they wanted more than anything else was the wine, oil and wheat paid as tribute from their vassal province
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