Rosh HaShanah

The Jewish Nation is the oldest faith, and oldest written language on earth.
It goes back to before Abraham to Adam and Eve, the beginning of recorded time.

Rosh Hashanah

(from Joseph Good's book, Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come)

1) The day marks Creation's beginning; God created the world and became its Sovereign. And at the beginning of the reign, it is customary to sound trumpets before the newly crowned king, and to proclaim his ascent to sovereignty throughout the realm. Similarly do we accept the Creator's sovereignty upon ourselves.

2) Rosh Hashanah is the first of the Ten Days of Repentance leading to Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement. The shofar is sounded thereon to proclaim and to warn: Whoever wishes to repent-let him repent. These are the High Holy Days.

3) To remind us of Mt. Sinai Exodus Chapter 19:8, 16-25, Exodus Chapter 20and the Ten Commandments.

4) To remind us of the words of the prophets which were compared to the sounding of the Shofar.

5) To remind us of the destruction of the Sanctuary in Jerusalem and the trumpet-blasting of the enemy attack. When we hear the sound of the shofar we are to pray to God for the rebuilding of the Sanctuary.

6) To remind us, through the sounding of a ram's horn, of the binding of Issac by Abraham, who offered his life to God and of the ram slaughtered in his place. Likewise we are to offer our lives for sanctification of His Name, so that our remembrance may ascend before Him for the good.

7) To recall in fear the sound of the shofar, we are to feel fear and trembling, and are to humble ourselves before the Creator. "If a shofar is sounded in the city, shall the people not tremble?" Amos Three.

8) To recall in fear the forthcoming great Day of Judgment, as it is said, "Near is the great day of the Lord, near and exceedingly soon is the day of shofar and shouting' Zephaniah One

9) To recall our faith in the future ingathering of Israel's dispersed, and to awaken our yearning for it. As it is said: "And it shall be on that day- a great shofar will be sounded, and those who have perished in the land of Assyria, and those who were dispersed in the land of Egypt will come..."Isaiah twenty-seven

10) To recall our faith in the future resurrection of the dead. As it is said:"All you inhabitants of the word. and you who dwell in the earth; when an ensign is lifted on the mountains you shall see, and when the shofar is sounded you shall hear" Isaiah Eighteen

It is a time of reconciling oneself to God and to one's fellow men. It is a time for rededication and recommitment to God and His ways.

Ten Days later is Yom Kippur the Day of Attonement.