Shalom
Should the feast of Yom Teruah also be known as "Rosh HaShanah" or the "Head of the Year"?
It does not appear to be a Scriptural idea...
I address this issue in detail in my book, Israel's Feasts and their Fullness. The following points represent a few highlights taken from that book:
1) The first commandment given to Israel when Abba delivered us from Egypt was that we were to honor the Spring month of Abib as the head of our year (Exo 12:2).
2) Yom Teruah is never once called Rosh haShanah in Scripture.
3) Several Jewish sources tell us how this Jewish tradition began. According to one of them, "The name Rosh Hashanah was not... originally used... to designate this day... the first mention of Rosh Hashanah is found in the Mishnah, the code of the Oral Tradition which was first compiled in the second century....[A.D.]" [See Nathan Ausubel, NY: Crown Publishers, 1977, pp 372-373. Also note: In Qumran literature Nisan [another name for the month of Abib] is referred to as the New Year.] (See Israel's Feasts and their Fullness, chapters 25-26.)
4) Some rabbis say Judaism celebrates this day to commemorate the creation of Adam and Eve, which they say happened in the Fall, on Yom Teruah. However, the picture that is drawn in Scripture of the time of Creation is one of life and Springtime. It is not a picture of death. Death is best symbolized by the Fall season. Creation speaks of life and death entered in later, with the disobedience of Adam and Eve, even as Fall comes after Spring.
5) Some rabbis say the Tishri celebration is but a "civil" New Year and use Exodus 23:16 and 34:22 to defend their case: "The feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field" (KJV). And, "You shall celebrate... the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year." (Young's Literal Translation renders the latter verse, "At the revolution of the year.")
The "turn/revolution of the year" speaks of the end of Israel's seven month long "agricultural year." That year began with the spring barley harvest during the season of Passover and it ended with the fall wheat harvest on the last day of Sukkoth. Their agricultural calendar was based on a seven-month-long lunar cycle, which refers to the monthly rotation of the moon around the earth. Thus Hebrew concordances speak of a revolution of time - it being the time of planting and harvests (see Strong's and also Briggs #'s H8622).
Jewish sources affirm that Israel's lunar-based agricultural year ended at the conclusion of Sukkoth, with the winter wheat harvest at the last feast of the agricultural year. [Jewish Customs And Ceremonies, Ben M. Edidin, NY: Hebrew Publishing, 1978, pp. 93, 100.] The actual New Year did not begin again until Spring, in the month of Abib, the month of the barley harvest. [Abib means fresh, young ears of barley, which alludes to Spring. S&BDB # H24.]
Israel was an agriculturally based nation, their feast revolved around the planting seasons. Their agricultural calendar only included seven lunar-based months which began in the month of Abib. However, they also functioned in a world that had a twelve-month long calendar-year related to the solar cycle of the sun (based on the rotation of the earth around the sun). Israel's twelve month long solar calendar begins in Abib. That is the established pattern of the One who set the sun in its place.
6) To have a New Year begin on Yom Teruah places it before the Fall harvest of Sukkoth, and the command is to observe "the Feast of the Ingathering at the end/revolution/turn of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors" (Exo 23:16). Yom Teruah does not mark that particular time. Moreover, to begin a year fifteen days before this eight-day harvest feast begins, and twenty-three days before it ends, goes against Scripture.
7) Most importantly, to focus on a mistaken "New Year" date detracts from the real meaning behind this feast day, and that is what I believe our God wants to reveal to His people in this hour. The feast has not been clearly understood until now. We need to focus on and bring to light its true meaning so that Abba's people might be greatly encouraged.
Yom Teruah, like our New Moon celebrations, features the sounding of two hammered silver trumpets (Num 10:1-10). In Scripture, trumpets represent voices. We desperately need to understand that the deeper meaning behind this day is the sounding of the united voices of Ephraim and Judah. When our voices are sounded in unison, we will finally have accomplished our call as YHVH's two witness people: We will affirm His Word in the earth. We will give the "Yes and Amen" that what He says is so.
This day is not about sounding a shofar or a "New Year." It is a feast day that is different from all others. It is the only feast that begins in darkness. In the darkness of this hour, both the houses of Israel desperately need to come together and lift their voices in unison to the Holy One of Israel.
Enlighten the eyes of our hearts, Father!
Help us, please, to see Your truth, Your glorious plan for us in this hour!
May you have a blessed Yom Teruah,
Batya
batya@mim.net
This is a team effort, so we would like to hear your thoughts and comments.
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