Rosh Hashanah is
commonly understood to be the Jewish New Year and it takes place during the new
moon period on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh Jewish month. Modern
Judaism teaches it to be the yearly 'day of judgment'. Trumpets roar through heaven
calling the angelic host to assemble before the Throne. The 'Scrolls of Fate'
are unrolled where each person's actions during the year have been recorded. God
judges the accumulation of deeds fixing the fate for the person during the year
to come. Some to wealth, some to health, others to despair and horror. But the
decision isn't final. There is still a chance to change God's mind.
Note: The Babylonians
had two New Year's days six months apart at both equinoxes. The autumn equinox
was the 'day of judgment' or 'Marduk Day'. The sages adopted this from the
Babylonians during the exile. It was the 'Day of Justice', which is still
remembered as the first day of the astrological month of Libra - with the
symbol of the scales.
During the ten days
following Rosh Hashanah, a person's fate can be changed with repentance, prayer
and good works. A last chance (there is another last chance) to change God's mind
before the sealing of destiny on Yom Kippur. These are the 'Days of Awe' - the 'High
Holy Days' - from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur.
In 'modern' Judaism, it
is explained that Yom Kippur is the 'Day of Atonement'. But before there can be
atonement, there is a group confession in the form of a common prayer and then
'atonement' is made through fasting and asking forgiveness from everyone for
every transgression. And then sins are forgiven - if the penitent has accounted
for every misdeed no matter how small and has truly been changed for the better.
If not, bad things will happen to the person during the year to come. Obviously,
nobody can ever remember every single thing they might have done which could
have been a 'sin'. Neither can they know if they had been repentant enough. So,
God and the rabbis are always proved both just and correct.
This modern version of
the 'Days of Awe' came about under the religious thinking of the Pharisees, the
philosophers who are called 'Jewish Sages', and then in the Common Era, the
all-powerful rabbis. The Sages slowly rose to power and prominence after the
Babylonian exile and they adapted the religion to fit in with their
observations of the world. From about 150 BCE they grabbed power and much of
what they learnt from the Persians, Hindus, Hellenists and Egyptians were
incorporated into Judaism. The changes were not made for some evil satanic
purpose; it was done to account for the vagaries of reality. There simply were
not enough blessings in the real world.
After the destruction
of the Temple in 70 CE and the Bar-Kokhba revolt, the rabbinical leadership left
over was those who had surrendered, ran away or had been in hiding. Survival
was the only thing of importance to them and in the 2nd century CE they changed
Judaism accordingly. All Jewish festivals were demilitarized so future
generations would not be tempted into war.
In their belief, there
was to be no more war as the Jews had lost God's support. They believed, Jews
did not deserve Jerusalem because they had too much sin and would always be defeated.
They refused Vespasian's offer after 70 CE to return to Jerusalem and rebuild
the Temple. Instead, they turned their backs on the Promised Land and chose to become
objects in history. Dispersed in the Diaspora the rabbis believed a remnant
would always survive if Jews lived in subservience to the gentiles. While in
exile, they had to perfect themselves spiritually as a people by observing the
minutiae of the law. By doing this they will pave the way for the coming of the
Messiah - who will then lead them back to the Israel, to rebuild the Temple. To
do this, a 'fence' was built around the law through a massive number of extra
'protection' laws.
This survivalist
approach brought about the 'modern' message of Yom Kippur:
- It is a sin not to keep a law
- Sin can be resisted
- There is atonement for sin through fasting etc
- The responsibility lies with each person individually
The origin of the
custom of fasting on Yom Kippur is unclear and though many claims are made, none
can be traced with certainty to a date before the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The
initial Biblical reason for fasting was to influence God in order for Him to
rectify specific negative events - be they from nature (like a drought) or
through human action (like a war). In later years, fasting as a spontaneous
phenomenon related to specific events was replaced by fasting as magic. Under
the influence of paganism, the idea came about where fasting was used so God
would act favorably towards an enterprise or person. For the ultra-pious, it
became an acceptable way to show their dedication and superior religious
fervor. With the rise of Christianity and Islam, fasting turned into a
competition for the attention of God and became very popular on Yom Kippur.
Leviticus 23: 27
orders affliction of the souls on Yom Kippur - the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; there
shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls; and ye
shall bring an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And the seriousness is
stressed in verse 29; "For any
person who is not afflicted of soul on that same day, he shall be cut off from
his people". This clearly does not mention fasting but the accepted interpretation
is that the word 'soul' means 'life-force'. Then afflicting the 'soul' can be
understood to mean fasting as in pagan thinking, fasting reduces the
'life-force' and it is therefore a sacrifice. It is something the person uses
as a payment to reduce the 'sentence' of Rosh Hashanah.
This was not the
original Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn
rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy
convocation. (Leviticus 23: 24) The original name and meaning of Rosh
Hashanah was the 'Day of Teruah'. Te-ru-wah is the ancient Israelite battle-cry,
a loud shout, stamping of feet and the trumpeting of horns. The day was a yearly
gathering where with a communal shout, a commitment was made to fight for
Israel in the year to come. Those who did not commit were excluded from the
numbers.
Leviticus does not
order fasting on Yom Kippur, and it is clear from Isaiah 58, 'fasting' and
'affliction of souls' are two separate things - even if they can be done at the
same time.
Why have we fasted, they say, and You have not seen?
Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?
Isaiah 22: 12 explains
what is meant by 'affliction of the souls', in
that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for
baldness and for girding with sackcloth.
Yom Kippur is a day to
remember the shame of Israel as explained in Isaiah 22: 2 - 3, Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor
dead in battle. All they rulers are fled together. It is a day to weep for
the defeats in war due to cowardice and running away - mourning for the battles
lost due to Israel choosing not to fight but to surrender and be bound together. (The enemy used their
bowstrings for binding, as they had no need for shooting.) The day is there to
remember the shame of the past and to know what will happen if the commitment
made at Rosh Hashanah, with the shouting, is not kept. Humiliation afflicts the
soul. Some egos need to be bruised and Isaiah knew just how to do this - it is
the day of the shaving of the beards and the cutting of the hair.
