That Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Jewish year should be a truism. Its very name translates as the head of the year. Yet the Bible never directly connects Rosh Hashanah to the start of the year. In Vayikra (23;24) when it is first mentioned, the Torah describes a nameless holiday on the first of the seventh month that contains a mitzvah to listen to the sounds of the shofar. In contrast to the three festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, which are related to both specific Jewish experiences during the beginning of our national existence and the agricultural cycle of the year, this holiday does not have a particular context.
In our prayers the name of the day is not Rosh Hashanah; it is the day of remembrance. This is the name in the conclusion of the middle blessing in the amidah, in yaaleh veyavo and in the kiddush. Elsewhere in our prayers we refer to it as the day of the judgment of humankind and the day commemorating the creation of man (which is the sixth day of creation). Only in the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1;1) is it called a rosh Hashanah, but as one of four.
There is one place where the Torah (Vayikra 25; 8-13) explicitly discusses the start of a year. During yovel (the jubilee year) when all Jewish slaves are freed and ancestral lands are returned to their original owners, these changes occur on the tenth day of the seventh month, Yom Hakippurim. According to the Talmud and Maimonides (Hilchot Shmittah V’Yovel 11;14) on Rosh Hashanah the slaves stop working for their masters but are not freed until Yom Hakippurim when the transfer of ownership of the land also takes place. The implication is that there is a process beginning on Rosh Hashanah and concluding on Yom Hakippurim that initiates a new year.
This perspective explains what is missing in our response to the judgment on Rosh Hashanah. We neither confess our sins nor ask for forgiveness. Teshuvah, the great gift that enables us to survive being judged and will ultimately lead to redemption, is absent from our prayers. Maimonides (Hilchot Teshuva 3;4) explains the mitzvah of shofar as awakening us from spiritual slumber; this is the first stage in actually confronting our condition. The shofar’s pure sounds, without words, create individualized associations that can be later verbalized.
The three themes of the day, malchiyot (acknowledging Hashem as supreme ruler), zichronot (Hashem’s remembering all our actions but also connecting them with all of Jewish history and the merits of our forefathers), and Shofrot (His listening to the sound of our shofar blowing) are necessary elements in clarifying our relationship with Hashem. They create a framework from which the repentance and atonement of Yom Hakippurim can follow. Historically, on Yom Hakippurim the second tablets were brought down to the Jewish people by Moshe. There was no specific event that occurred ten days earlier.
Paradoxically, on a day whose historical significance is universal in the creation of human beings and has no particular Jewish association, our prayers are focused on the unique Jewish relationship with Hashem. Our tradition is that despite Rosh Hashanah is a day of judgment, it is also a day when we dress up to express joy. When seen in isolation this makes little sense. But if we see Rosh Hashanah as the beginning of a period of time that will culminate with our sins being forgiven on Yom Hakippurim, then focusing on the special Jewish component follows.
We can not actually start a new year with our fate not resolved. Time of the strict application of Divine law is one where few humans can emerge free of punishment. Only after repenting and being cleansed of our sins can we begin anew. Yet we do not refer to Yom Hakippurim as the real start of the year.
Clearly it is the combination of the two, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Hakippurim, that enables the failures and mistakes of the old year to be confronted and overcome; together they lead to renewal. The forgiveness of Yom Hakippurim that had not been earned through first being judged on Rosh Hashanah would not have changed the individual. This two-step process resembles the two stages of the freeing of the Jewish slaves on yovel. The old year ends at Rosh Hashanah. Listening to the shofar stirs us to awaken our latent abilities to confront our sins. Rosh Hashanah connects us to our ancestors and their merit and reminds us that Hashem is both our father and king. Ten days of reflection conclude with our repentance and atonement on Yom Hakippurim. At this point, we are ready to start a new year.
Rabbi Yosef Blau serves as senior Mashgiach Ruchani at Yeshiva University and is the president of the Religious Zionists of America. He and his wife Dr. Rivkah Blau, a prominent educator and lecturer, are the parents of three sons who are rabbis and Jewish educators.
