Rosh Hashanah

We will be celebrating Erev Rosh Hashanah on Monday, September 29, at 7 p.m. and Rosh Hashanah on Tuesday, September 30, at 10:30 a.m. Child care will be provided during both services.

“On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. <  It is a day for you to sound the Shofarot.”  Numbers 29:1

The biblical holiday of Rosh Hashanah originated as Yom T’Ruah, the Day of Blowing. The Torah calls it a “memorial of the blowing of trumpets” (Leviticus 23:23-25), a holy gathering.  According to tradition, the purpose of the Shofar sound at Rosh Hashanah is to rouse the purely divine in human beings. Therefore, no artificially-made horn can be used. The shofar must be an instrument in its natural form, for Jewish tradition espouses that one cannot attain to G-d by artificial means. The pure unaffected sound of the natural shofar should stir a person’s heart and mind toward Adonai.

All natural horns of clean animals are sanctified for the shofar except the horn of the bull, which is traditionally linked to the sinfulness of worshipping the golden calf. The most popular and significant shofar is made from the ram’s horn since it is a reminder of Abraham’s unconditional submission to the True and Living G-d in his willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac. At the last moment, G-d provided a ram caught by his horn in a thicket as a sacrifice. The account of the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22 is the prescribed Torah reading for Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah has deep Messianic significance.  The rabbis taught that one day the shofar would sound, the Messiah would come, and the dead would rise.  Rav Shaul referred to this in I Thessalonians 4:16-18.  We will have services to celebrate Rosh Hashanah on Monday, September 29th at 7:00 pm and on Tuesday, September 30th, at 10:30 am. The Jewish community around the world celebrates Rosh Hashanah with honey cakes and apples dipped in honey as a remembrance of G-d’s faithfulness and the expectation of a sweet year ahead.  In celebration of Rosh Hashanah, we are asking each family to bring washed and uncut medium size apples to share in our corporate celebration.  Honey Cakes will be provided.