Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה‎, literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (Hebrew: יוֹם תְּרוּעָה‎), literally "day [of] shouting/blasting", sometimes translated as the Feast of Trumpets. It is the first of the High Holy Days (Hebrew: יָמִים נוֹרָאִים‎ Yamim Nora'im, lit. "Days of Awe") specified by Leviticus 23:23-32, which usually occur in the early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere.

Rosh Hashanah is a two-day celebration, which begins on the first day of Tishrei. Tishrei is the first month of the Jewish civil year, but the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year.

Rosh Hashanah has its origin in the beginning of the economic year in the ancient Near East, marking the start of the agricultural cycle. In its theological interpretation, the day is said to be the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the believed realization of humanity's role in God's world.

Rosh Hashanah (disambiguation)

Rosh Hashanah may refer to:

Rosh Hashanah (tractate)

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה‎) is the name of a text of Jewish law originating in the Mishnah which formed the basis of tractates in both the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud of the same name. It is the eighth tractate of the order Moed. The text contains the most important rules concerning the calendar year, together with a description of the inauguration of the months, laws on the form and use of the shofar and laws related to the religious services during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

Contents

The Mishnah commences with an account of the four beginnings of the religious and the civil year (1:1); it speaks of the four judgement-days of the pilgrim festivals and Rosh ha-Shanah (1:2); of the six months in which the messengers of the Sanhedrin announce the month (1:3); of the two months, the beginnings of which witnesses announce to the Sanhedrin even on the Sabbath (1:4), and even if the moon is visible to every one (1:5); Gamliel even sent on the Sabbath for forty pairs of witnesses from a distance (1:6); when father and son (who as relatives may otherwise not witness together) behold the new moon they must set out for the beth din (1:7), since they do not absolutely belong to those that are legally unfit for this purpose (1:8).