Rosh Hashanah! How has the start of the Jewish new year been for you? How has the new academic year been? How has the return to work been, if you took a summer holiday or vacation?
Mine has been relevantly quiet compared to the summer. This week is my first week back in Canterbury for university and I am settling into a new student house. Before I returned on Monday, I was able to relax a little at home after a very hectic summer of work at a Shetland Pony Club!
In stark contrast, for the Jews, the last three weeks have been a time of quiet and refreshment. For them September has been a time of reflection and awe; awe for the Lord their God and the forgiveness and goodness he has shown them. While it has been a quiet few weeks, it has also been a strict regulated few weeks for the more devote and orthodox Jews, it has been a time of celebration and rejoicing and relaxation.
September for the Jews began with their New Year, the year 5774 in their calendar. To celebrate their new year they send greetings cards and spend time with their family. Traditionally, it was the Feast of Passover that marked the start of the year. Passover remembered the time that God passed through the land of Egypt and every firstborn son in every household, who did not paint the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a lamb as commanded by the Lord to Moses, died. It was the time when Pharaoh finally let the people of Israel leave Egypt and they left guided by the Lord to the Promised Land that flowed with milk and honey. You can read about the Passover and the Exodus in the Bible in Exodus 12. Therefore, originally, the feast of Passover celebrated what God did: it was God who rescued and freed Israel from slavery in Egypt.
However, the rabbis, the Jewish rulers of the synagogues, wanted to be doing something at this time of celebration. Hence, Rosh Hashanah is also the time of the Feast of Trumpets. This feast, through the blasting of the shofar, a trumpet made from a ram's horn, calls Jews to wake up. From what? It calls them to wake up from their sins, to repent of their sins.
The new year leads immediately into the Ten Days of Awe, which is a time of reflection and repentance. It is a celebration where Jews can be doing something themselves, rather than just God's actions being remembered. Therefore, for ten days after Rosh Hashanah, Jews take time out from their everyday lives and jobs, to think about their sins and to, practically, restore their relationships which may have been broken or disturbed in same way. This all leads to the climactic and most important day in the Jewish year.
Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is the most important day for Jews for many reasons. All the sins they have committed throughout the bygone year are atoned for on this day. This is the last day where they can appeal before their judgement and names can be can be sealed in the Book of Life. This is the last day where they can repent of their sins and make amends with God, family, and friends. You can read about the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23: 26-32.
Yom Kippur is a complete Sabbath day. It is a 25 hour fast from eating and drinking, with many other rules and prohibitions, such as wearing white clothes as a symbol of purification and humility (read Isaiah 1:18). Most of the day will be spent at the synagogue praying and coming before God. In the form of services, the day continues until nightfall when the shofar will be blown.
Yom Kippur appears to us to be a hard and difficult day to uphold. However, when there is sincere devotion to the God of Israel (as Jews profess when they say the Shema, from Deuteronomy 6:4), there is the belief that strict adherence and effort to repent and atone for sins will save a person.
For Christians, the Day of Atonement is, and should not, be distanced from their faith. The principle and concept is found in the Hebrew Bible (I have listed the references for you to look up). We are called to repent of our sins continually but we do not have to continually seek atonement for our sins. We have been atoned once-for-all by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through his death on the Cross and shedding of his blood, his innocent blood, we are freed from slavery to sin. We are made right with God and given access to a complete and satisfying relationship with him by his grace he showed in sending his Son to die for our sins. We are called to repent and believe in Jesus, therefore. It means that we can live without fear of sin, death, and judgement. For those who do believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died for our sins, we will be in the Lord's Book of Life.
Knowing that my sins are forgiven and atoned for, certainly makes me want to believe and live wholeheartedly for the one true and living God. To simply say and believe the Shema , knowing that you do not have to live or work or follow any rules to be saved, is one of the most satisfying and fulfilling things ever, and it certainly causes me to want to give thanks for what God has done, through his Son, to save me.
This is what the second festival of Jews is about: celebration, joy, and thanksgiving. Succot, or the Feast of Tabernacles is a harvest-time festival. It is a time of celebration of God's goodness towards us, in forgiving and saving us. 'Succot' means 'booths' and during the festival, Jews construct temporary shelters that they spend the day, or days, in. It takes them back to the days after the Exodus when they lived in temporary shelters in the wilderness of the Sinai peninsula. This festival is instituted in Leviticus 23:33-44. It forces them to simplify life and enjoy the goodness and glory of God, who forgives and provides all that we need. Where else do we have to look for our help and aid? The psalmist tells us that it is God who is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1). Jews can remember through Succot that they are temporarily moving about and unsettled, but one day there is a Promised Land that the Lord will give them as their own and which is abundant in goodness, an important factor in the hope that many Holocaust victims had. For now though after all they have reflected upon and been through since Rosh Hashanah, this is the time to give praise and thanks to the Lord their God.
For Christians too the Feast of Tabernacles points to our promised and eternal life with God in heaven, beyond all that this world has to offer. It is only promised to those who repent and believe in Jesus as their Saviour, but if you do that, you are only foreigners and strangers passing though this world. The joy and peace that Jesus gives is better than anything else and makes you want to, in the same way as Jews do during Succot, want to praise and enjoy the glory of God all the more.
To conclude, these are three of the most recent festivals that Jews have and still are celebrating this month of September. Although it seems strange to be celebrating a new year halfway though the year, these Jewish festivals do well to remind us of our physical and spiritual conditions. Oh, how I would love Christian society to still keep and celebrate these feasts, and all the other ones that I haven't had time to write about. They are such brilliant reminders of the gospel of Jesus and grace of God in forgiving us. That is the great thing about the Christian faith though: we do not have to keep the rules and regulations of sacrifices and special days (sacrificing a lamb would be a bit weird now I think!). No, we can now be saved simply by believing in Christ and Christ alone. Faith in Christ crucified is all we are called to do and that causes us to celebrate and praise God not just one day, not just every Sunday, but all the time!
I'm not trying to convert anyone through this. All I want to do is tell you about the Jewish religion and culture that is so rich and part of our Christian faith. This is the life that Jews have lived for centuries, but which the Nazi regime destroyed or attempted to destroy during the Holocaust. And yet it lives on in Israel and across the world, and in Christianity, because these concepts are all agreeable with the Christian faith. The one difference is the fulfilment of these institutions and concepts in Jesus. It is good news that we do not have to abide to such strict rules and feasts as the Day of Atonement, but it is great to be reminded of our need to repent and our salvation and atonement in Jesus, that means that, like and with Jews, we can give praise and thanks to the Lord our God for all his goodness.
Next time... Israel!
Also, please leave a comment with any thoughts or questions you have from what I have written. It is something I would love to talk about!
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