On the September 18th, 19th we will be celebrating what most people call Rosh Hashanah. It is celebrated with blowing of the shofar, eating pomegranate and apples dipped in honey. Although there is Biblical feast of that name there is the Feast of Teruah or “Blowing of Trumpets”

…In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a Sabbath for you, a remembrance with shofar blasts, a holy convocation. -Leviticus 16:24

Teruah was a precursor to Yom Kippurim

The Torah commands us to observe the holy day of Yom Teruah in Leviticus 23:23 and in numbers 29:1-6. Yom Teruah is a Shabbat, a day of rest; work is forbidden. One of the interesting things about Yom Teruah is that Torah does not make it clear what the purpose of this holy day is. Unlike the other Feasts of YAH, where the Torah gives at least one reason for all the other holy days and two reasons for some, with Yom Teruah there are no reasons given.

What we do know and what we can ascertain from Torah is: The shofars were to be blown and Teruah happened ten days before Yom Kippurim. Throughout Torah the shofar blast meant something. It was a signal of impending danger, the start of one of the feasts of YAH or a call for the congregation of Israel to assemble.

In rabbinical Judaism the ten days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippurim are called “The Days of Awe. During this ten day period we are to examine our souls and evaluate our deeds. We are to ask YAH to search our ways to see if there is any wickedness in us.

With this in mind , the shofar blasts heard on Teruah are then a signal, a wakeup call, a time of self-examination, a time to prepare yourself to answer to YAH on Yom Kippurim, the day of atonements, of reconciliations.

Someday we will all stand in Judgment before YAH and we will have to give an answer for what we have and have not done in our lives. Like the rest of YAH’S feast, Teruah is a dress rehearsal and it is given to us as a sign, as a wakeup call.

I guess the only question is, will we take the biblical feast of Yom Teruah and examine ourselves and prepare ourselves for the Great and terrible day of YAH or will we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, New Years?