Rosh Hashanah Between Tanach and Mishna

[1] For more on this passage, see TABS editors, “Does Ezekiel in 572 B.C.E Know of Yom Kippur?” TheTorah (2013).

[2] Unlike v. 13, there is no mention that they learned that it was a holiday from the Torah reading.

[3] There is one other possible reference to a holiday on the first of the seventh month:

^{ירמיהו מא:א} וַיְהִי בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בָּא יִשְׁמָעֵאל בֶּן נְתַנְיָה בֶן אֱלִישָׁמָע מִזֶּרַע הַמְּלוּכָה וְרַבֵּי הַמֶּלֶךְ וַעֲשָׂרָה אֲנָשִׁים אִתּוֹ אֶל גְּדַלְיָהוּ בֶן אֲחִיקָם הַמִּצְפָּתָה וַיֹּאכְלוּ שָׁם לֶחֶם יַחְדָּו בַּמִּצְפָּה.

^{Jer 41:1} In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, who was of royal descent and one of the king’s commanders, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah; and they ate together there at Mizpah.

The story goes on to tell how Ishmael assassinated Gedaliah at this meal. The Rabbis assume that the feast was in honor of the first of the seventh month, and that Gedaliah was assassinated on Rosh Hashanah. This explains the dating of Tzom Gedaliah, the fast in rememberance of Gedaliah’s murder, which falls out on the day after Rosh Hashanah; it would be forbidden to fast on Rosh Hashanah, so the day would need to be put off until the earliest possible non-festival day. Although this interpretation is possible, it is unlikely. First, no date is noted in the book other than the month. Second, it says they ate, not that it was a festival or a festive meal. Third, even if it was a festive meal, it could have been a Rosh Chodesh meal, which we see existed in other parts of the bible (e.g. 1 Sam 20:5). Finally, it is possible that seventh month doesn’t refer to seventh month of the year, but seventh month since Gedaliah’s appointment. Whichever way we understand the story, like in Nehemiah there is at most a reference to a meal, nothing about a new year festival with shofar blowing, etc.

[4] For more on this, see Marc Brettler, God’s Coronation on Rosh Hashanah TheTorah (2014).

[5] It is important to remember that it is not always possible to draw a straight line between the Bible, the post-biblical/pre-rabbinic texts and rabbinic customs, since Josephus, Philo, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc. do not always represent pre-rabbinic customs but sometimes a strain of Jewish practice that was not adopted by the rabbinic community.

[6] The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English (2 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913).

[7] The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (2 vols; Doubleday, 1983).

[8] The set can be purchased here, http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Outside-the-Bible-3-Volume-Set,675751.aspx.

[9] All translations come from Outside the Bible, and we thank the publishers (Jewish Publication Society) for their permission to quote extensively from this work. Much additional material may be found in these volumes.

[10] Another Jubilees text (Jub. 7:1-5) describes a holiday on the first of the first month, i.e. Nissan. The holiday is connected to Noah and ties in with the laws of orlah and kerem revai. We mention it here since the sacrifices that Noah offer in this holiday exactly parallel those of biblical “Rosh Hashanah.” Jubilees is either interpreting the biblical text about the holiday of the first of the seventh differently or actively trying to move the holiday to a different date.

[11] Although Jubilees seems to go out of its way to associate Rosh Hashanah with these events in the lives of the Patriarchs, it stops short of saying that the holiday commemorates or celebrates these events. This contrasts with Jubilees’ treatment of Shavuot and its connection with Noah, where the connection between the two is emphasized strongly. For more on this, see Michael Segal, “The Festival of Covenants,” TheTorah (2014).

[12] The term תרועה could mean either shouting or blowing. The standard Karaite interpretation of the term is “shouting”, which is why they do not have shofar blowing as part of their Rosh Hashanah ritual. For more details, Shawn Lichaa, “A Shofar-less Rosh Hashanah: A Karaites Experience of Yom Teru’ah.” TheTorah (2014).

[13] The LXX translators of Judges, Samuel, and Kings do use keratinei for שופר. This seems to be an unusually precise translation and the translators of the Torah preferred the less precise colloquial norm.

[14] See discussion of this mishna in the Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 27a), which describes a debate between Rav Pappa bar Shmuel and Ravah about whether this Temple practice should be instituted in local synagogues or not.

[15] See quote from the Jubilees section above, where Abraham prays for rain on Rosh Hashanah.

[16] See R. Jacob ben Asher, for instance, who writes in the laws of Rosh Hashanah (Tur, Orach Chayyim 597):

ואוכלין ושותין ושמחין ואין להתענות בו כלל

We eat, drink and make merry, and we are not to fast at all.

[17] It is called Pseudo-Philo because when the text was discovered by scholars it was thought to have been written by Philo.

[18] Although the term for the holiday in Latin is “festivas psalphingarum,” i.e. the festival of trumpets, this is probably just a translation of the Hebrew יום תרועה filtered through a Greek translation that used a form of the term salpinks. As discussed in the section on Philo, this term can mean either trumpet or a blowing instrument in general.