Happy Rosh Hashanah?
By NeorahYah Germaine Yisra'el
Traditionally, Rosh Hashanah literally means, 'head of the year'. However the question remains, is it truly the Beginning of the New Year?
According to Strong's Concordance:
Rosh Hashanah (Heb #7218) - high in status or authority: leader, chief;
source or origin: first, beginning;
chief place, forefront, lead, highest part.
(Heb #2320) - month, new moon, new month
festival: month, every month.
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon concurs.
Although the words 'Rosh Hashanah' are not used, this is how Yahuah defined the beginning of the year in scripture:
'And Yahuah spoke unto Mosheh and Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim,
saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: It shall be
the first month of the year to you.
Speak you unto all the assembly of Yisra'el, saying, in the tenth day of this
month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of
their fathers, a lamb for a house.
~Exodus 12:1-3~
This is the Torah, from which you might say, all of the Feasts and Mo'edim of Yahuah flow. The month of Abib is the beginning of months, and the beginning of the year for Yisra'el, according to Yahuah's Heavenly Calendar. If Yahuah had meant for the seventh month, aka Tishri, to be the 'Head of the Year,' He would've declared it so. But He did not.
So why do Hebrews give salutations of 'Happy Rosh Hashanah!' on the first day of the Seventh Month? Not to mention, have the gall to associate it with Yom Teruah, which is a Set-Apart Day ordained by Yahuah?
Are the numbers 1 and 7, in anyway the same? They clearly are not; and yet there are some in Yisra'el who are unable
to discern between the two numbers when it concerns the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, and the directive Yahuah gave in the above scripture. They give heart-felt salutations, extend well wishes, and heap blessings upon one another, all in the spirit of celebrating the 'New Year' - and there is nothing wrong with these sentiments per se. The problem is that the sentiments are offered at the wrong time of the year, in the wrong month, and on the wrong day.
I can find no scriptural evidence that our forefathers 'celebrated' the New Year at all. Beyond noting its arrival, as it related to the spring harvest, the upcoming Appointed Time and Feast for the month of Abib; it appears that the observance of the new year itself passed without much fanfare. However, the first day of the month of Abib, would've been Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon Day; a day Set-Apart unto Yahuah. Rosh Chodesh was a solemn occasion on which no servile work was to be done. With the exception of the blowing of the shofar on New Moon Day as commanded; there certainly would not have been any celebratory parties and revelry. So why has the 'holiday' become associated with Yom Teruah, and where did all of this Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year hoopla, originate from in the first place? Well the answer is simple:
From Babylon. From Julius Caesar. From the imposters.
The Babylonian Influence of Yom Teruah as a New Years Celebration
Yisra'el went into Babylonian captivity, where they remained for seventy years. While there, they were exposed to the language, the customs, and the culture of their captors. Prior to their exile, the Hebrews called the months of the year simply the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th month, etc.; with Abib being the only month Yahuah named. ~Exodus 13:4, 23:15, and 34:18~
While in captivity, they adopted the pagan Babylonian names for the months of the year, as evidenced by ~Esther 3:7~
The Babylonians had a lunar-solar calendar that was similar to the biblical calendar utilized by Yahuah since the Creation. This resulted in Yom Teruah often occurring on the same day as the Babylonian Festival of Akitu.
Akitu is the Sumerian word for barley, barley-cutting, and 'head-of-the-year.' It was celebrated on the first day of the Babylonian year. It celebrated the ending of the barley sowing the previous autumn, the growth of the crop during the winter, and culminated with the reaping of the barley harvest with the arrival of spring. It was also a celebration of the god Marduk, the patron deity of the city of Babylon, and his victory over Tiamat, the goddess of the ocean. The festival involved twelve days of prayers to Marduk, an act of submission of the king before an idol of Marduk, plays, puppetry, and pageantry.
Over 70 years of captivity, Yisra'el began calling the months by their corresponding Babylonian names. The way was paved to turn Yom Teruah, the first day of the seventh month, or Tishri as it was known in Babylon, into a Hebrew-ized version of Akitu. This was accomplished by changing the name of Yom Teruah, to Rosh Hashanah. After Cyrus gave the decree to rebuild the temple, the Hebrews returned to Yerushalom, bringing the pagan Babylonian influence with them.
Rosh Hashanah is a pagan, counterfeit, and 'civil' (meaning the state/government) observance, dating back to the ancient Marduk worshipping, Babylonians. The challenge should be for anyone to find Rosh Hashanah observance in the scriptures. I doubt they would be successful because as it is now, Rosh Hashanah is a 180 degree contradiction from what Yahuah ordained.
Yahuah ordained 'the year' to commence in the spring with the barley harvest; and yet stiff-necked Hebrews are following in the footsteps of the synagogue of satan; beginning the year in the autumn with the grape, olive, and date harvests.
Yahuah has set a precedent. He has given a commandment and it is a statute forever. It is the law from which all of His feasts and Mo'edim flow. Long-story-short, Abib is the first month of the year.
So the question remains: 'Why are stiff-necked Hebrews saying 'Happy Rosh Hashanah' in the seventh month? Why are they calling the seventh month Tishri? Why are they following after the imposters in observing a civil calendar; and/or counting the days by a Gregorian calendar, which is also steeped in paganism?'
The answer is simple:
Just as in the days of old, nothing much has changed. Yisra'el has always longed to follow after the nations; and have always whored after them, and their gods. There is nothing new under the sun. Even those who choose to keep the Feasts and Appointed Times are in error because they cannot discern the truth from the deception. They refuse to question, research, or perform their due diligence. They accept the lie because this is how the imposters do it; saying: 'After all, haven't they been doing this for 5778 years? And yet, as Hebrews, we know they are imposters! Doesn't Revelation 2:9 and 3:9 confirm this?
Still others among us put their faith in their Hebrew elders/morehs/leaders. They have instructed their followers to do it this way - so they must be right. Right?
I say: if your Hebrew elder/moreh/leader has taught you that the 'New Year' is Rosh Hashanah, or that the beginning of the year is in the seventh month, then he is confused, and leading you astray. He is espousing a doctrine that is anti-scriptural, and therefore anti-Yahuah. Perhaps the error was received from some false doctrine gleaned from an old near-sighted 'teacher' expounding the virtues of their Book, as opposed to the Torah.
Whatever. The doctrine is false, and is misleading the nation of Yisra'el. The mindset is understandable. The whole world has been misled, and have come to accept the false ones as the 'keepers' of the word, and the Chosen People of Yahuah. Well, it may be understandable, but it should not be acceptable to a conscious Hebrew. Yahoshua has called them liars; those 'which say they are Yahudiym, and are not, but do lie.' Did He not call them 'of the synagogue of Satan?' How much plainer can He make it?
This is not written to invite a debate about a 'sabbatical' year, versus a 'civil' year. As Hebrews, we should already know, or be involved in the process of learning that, the only thing that matters is Yahuah's definition of a year, as defined in the Torah, and according to His heavenly calendar. We've learned about the pagan holidays of Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc.; yet who would've thought that emissaries of haShatan would sneak some paganism into the mix of our own Set-Apart days? Well, this is what happens when we follow after liars, and allow them to dictate to us, what are the things of Yahuah; we should expect that they will be corrupted. Perhaps that will explain why Yahuah says:
"I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies." ~Amos5:21~
'The Count' has become incorrect. The Mo'edim are out of order. Clearly, no one wants to hear what 'thus says Yahuah.'
The question we should be asking ourselves is: 'What else is off?'
Here's a thought;
If Yom Teruah and Rosh Hashanah occur on the 1st Day of the 7th Month, and Rosh Hashanah is the 'Beginning of the New Year;'
as it's said; How is it that the Feast of Cukkot, occurring only 15 days later, is described in Exodus 23:16, as being 'the End of the Year,' as in 'seasonal year'/Appointed Time?
That's a pretty short year wouldn't you say?
That timing would leave out the Pesach, the Feast Of Unleavened Bread, the Wave Sheaf, and Shavu'ot altogether!
Somebody has been lying, and it certainly hasn't been Yahuah.
I'll leave this right here, for further thought.
Shalom,
~NeorahYah Germaine Yisra'el~
