The New Year was celebrated on the festival of ingathering of grapes, accompanied by a sacrificial meal and wine. YHWH was declared to be Israel’s king and judge, and his presence, as it was manifest in the ark, was paraded before the Israelites by the king.
Prof.
Karel van der Toorn
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The haftarah (prophetic reading) for the first day of Rosh Hashanah features Channah's two prayers. In the second prayer, she thanks God for the birth of Samuel by reciting a ready made royal hymn about defeating one's enemies, hardly relevant to her situation. Why does the Bible choose such a prayer and how might this help us better understand prayer in the context of the contemporary Rosh Hashanah?
Prof.
Marc Zvi Brettler
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The Hebrew calendar marks multiple news year’s days to express different values: nature and history, universal and particular.
Prof.
Aaron Demsky
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Do we really want God to remember all that we did?
Prof.
Marc Zvi Brettler
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Prof. Rabbi
David R. Blumenthal
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A New Appreciation of “Adam the First”
Prof. Rabbi
David Frankel
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Several biblical passages imply that God was ritually enthroned as king during the new year celebrations. In the Torah itself, however, this is suppressed. God as king appears only in three ancient poetic passages, never in the Torah’s prose or laws, including in its description of Rosh Hashanah.
Prof.
Israel Knohl
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