Parashat for Shabbat September 19, 2020:
Rosh haShanah 1st Day

"May you be inscribed for a good new year!"

This first day Rosh haShanah Torah reading talks about the birth of Isaac, the promised son, and the Halftarah reading about the birth of Samuel, the prophet, both miraculous births. Traditionally, it is believed that on this day Sarah conceived Isaac. She was ninety years old and this is to show not only that the conception of life is in God’s hands, but also that the birth of the Jewish nation was not by accident but a sign from God with which He decreed that this nation would be His chosen messenger of His ethics to humanity.

But why it is called Rosh haShanah? This designation of the holiday as Rosh haShanah (literally Head of the Year) is not Biblical but Talmudic. The words Rosh haShanah together appears only once in the Bible in Ezekiel 40:1 but it is not clear what “beginning of the year” is referring to. But in Mishnah the name is connected to the 1st of Tishrei. The rabbis have calculated that the world was created on Rosh haShanah and that there are four New Years. Therefore, according to their interpretation Nisan is the New Year for Festivals, and Tishrei is New Year for Years.

But in the Torah we read, Leviticus 23:23 "And Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Shabbat, a memorial of blowing, Zikaron Teruah, a holy gathering. You shall do no labor in it.’"

The seventh month of the Biblical calendar is Tishrei, and God said to have a holy gathering, to do no work in it and to have a memorial of blowing of the Shofarim. Therefore, this holiday is also known as Yom haZikaron (memorial) Yom Teruah (blowing). Since the Torah is not clear what the word “memorial’ refers to, it may recall Israel's forebears as God's people, it may refer to the giving of the Torah, or it may refer to a public commemoration of the dead. Some interpret it as to recall one's deeds for personal introspection because this day is also known as Yom haDin, the Day of Judgment, based on the Biblical passage from Psalm 81:4 "Blow a Shofar at the new moon, at the full moon on our feast day. For this is a statute for Israel, a judgment of the God of Jacob." Tradition tells that the Book of Life is opened on Rosh haShanah and sealed on Yom Kippur. In this book the fate of the righteous, the wicked, and those uncertain are recorded. The first are inscribed for life, the second are blotted out from the book of the living, and the third are given respite to repent.

Preparations for this holiday began in the preceding month of Elul. Elul is, of course, the sixth month of the Biblical year and it is called the month of RACHAMIM — MERCY, in anticipation of God's Judgment, which takes place in the month of Tishrei. It is also called YEMAI HA-SELICHOT — DAYS OF REPENTANCE. The period of forty days, from the first of Elul until the tenth day of Tishrei. (Yom Kippur), commemorates the second stay of Moses on Mount Sinai, to invoke God’s abundant mercy for complete atonement, and in which God inscribed the second set of stone tablets. These days are marked as a special period of Divine grace, during which, the tradition says, the sincere prayers are sure to find favor in the eyes of God.

It is customary on the day before Rosh haShanah to cut your hair, to give tzedakah and to visit and pay respect at someone’s grave. Also, right before the holiday begins to have a Mikveh ceremony.

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