Since I grew up in a church going family who walks in witchcraft we celebrated the Christian and pagan traditions but not the traditions of our Jewish ancestors. I was first exposed to the celebrations of my great grandmother’s people when I attended my neighbor’s Passover Seder. It wasn’t until I and my husband got involved with Messianic congregations that we were able to participate in the lively celebrations of the High Holy days. One of those celebrations is Rosh Hashanah.
Rosh Hashanah doesn’t stand by itself. It is the first of four celebrations which are a part of what is called the High Holy Days.
Rosh Hashanah is celebrated in the Jewish seventh month, which in the Jewish numbering system means that it is finished. Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of all beginnings. When God created the heavens and the earth and all creation He said on the seventh day that it was finished. Rosh Hashanah is also the celebration of looking forward to the future and the promise that the future represents and holds.
This celebration is followed by Yom Kippur which is the Day of Atonement, the day of repentance and of making amends for past sins and mistakes and determination to do better in the future.
The third celebration is Sukkot or the Feast of Booths which is also called the Celebration of In-gathering or Harvest. This holiday celebrates and observes both the harvest that we have been blessed with and will be blessed with. It also recognizes how our ancestors were protected and provided for while they were strangers in strange lands. The celebration takes place in a booth set up to represent the fact that our for-bearers were living under the open heavens in temporary homes.
The last day of Sukkot is actually Simhat Torah which celebrates the gift God gave us when He gave us His word in the Torah for the Jews and the Bible for the Christians.
The High Holy Days have always been one my favorite times of the year. That’s most likely because this is a multitasking holiday which suits a multitask-er like me and it tells most of the story about what God has done and still plans to do all in one space of time. It also signifies the beginning of what is for our family, a huge holiday season which also includes Thanksgiving, Chanukah and Christmas.
It’s an extended time where I am repeatedly reminded of how good God has been to us and I am encouraged to renew my focus on why we do what we do and what we do for God. It is a time when I can be reminded of how many things I can be thankful for and just how thankful I am even though I am often too busy to think about it during the rest of the year.
This season gives me the opportunity to refocus and to remind myself of how blessed we are and how important we are to God.
Rosh Hashanah not only celebrates the beginning of all beginnings but it also celebrates current new beginnings and the opportunity to begin again in our own lives. The original creation fulfilled this holiday in the beginning and each new beginning is a continuing fulfillment until our ultimate new beginning in the new heaven and new earth with our Lord.
Yom Kippur was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead making our eternal atonement for us. If we accept what He did for us we too can walk in that eternal atonement with Him.
Sukkot does celebrate the harvest and the faithful provision that God is constantly setting before His children but it also speaks of a future when He returns to take His children home with Him to the new Heaven and new earth. This feast has yet to be fulfilled.
Simhat Torah recognizes the gift that God gave us when He gave us His word. But the ultimate word from God was and still is His Son, Jesus, who is, according to the Bible, the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. So just as He was in the beginning when we were all created He will also be in the end when He comes to gather us all in to be with Him. The day is only half fulfilled.
I love celebrating this time of year because of the wonderful foods that we get to eat and the special things we get to do. But I also love it because it is very encouraging to be reminded every year that God really has a plan for me for my not so distant future and for my ultimate future. It also helps me to reconnect to the past generations who had to go through so much to follow God and are an example for me to do no less. The celebrating helps to remind me of where I came from and what I am connected to. It also reminds me that I’m not alone and that if others were able to continue following God through great difficulties I too can do so.
Of the four feasts Rosh Hashanah has always been my favorite because it represents new beginnings. Having come from a family and a community who told me that I had lost before I was born and have no future this is one the best days on the face of the earth for me. This day is a promise from God that I have a new beginning that no one can take away from me.