September
17
/ 2020
The origin of Jewish New Year celebrations has long been shrouded in mystery. Families around the world celebrate it during autumn with sweet delicacies, joyous prayers, and the blasting of the shofar ram’s horn. Called Rosh Hashanah (“Head of the Year”), it is also Yom Hazikaron (“Day of Remembrance”). However, what exactly is being remembered? The Bible offers no clue. It is a day of ancient riddles and questions, and simply no one knows its raison d’être. Searching for the Origins of the Jewish New Year Scholars agree to its great antiquity, going back to the time of Moses. We first read of the holiday in Leviticus 23:24, where it is called zikhron teru'ah, “a memorial of shouting [or blowing
