Shalom.
Since this is the time of Rosh HaShanah, our Study from Torah, The Law of Moses will come from the Verses of Leviticus 23.23-25.
AND THE TITLE OF OUR MESSAGE IS, ROSH HASHANAH IS NOT THE NEW YEAR.
And with that said, let’s read Leviticus 23.23-25.
I have been teaching The Bible for some 32 years, and I have always known that Rosh HaShanah, meaning, Head Of The Year, also known in Judaism as The New Year, Is Not The New Year.
Why? Because The Bible corrects that old Jewish mistake that Rosh Hashanah is The New Year when GOD says in The Bible, The Passover Month is the first month of the year to you.
The Passover Month is the first month of The Year to The Jewish People. EXODUS 12.1-2,
And the Passover Month will continue to be the first month of the year in The Messianic Kingdom on earth in Israel and forever. EZEKIEL 45.21
Rosh HaShanah, the new year, falls on the first day of the seventh month of the year. The seventh month is not the beginning of the year.
Add to that, this Festival of GOD is not called Rosh HaShanah in The Bible.
This Festival of GOD is called in Hebrew, ZEEKH’RONE TERUAH, meaning a Memorial of Shouting and Blasting The Shofar. Also called Yom Teruah, the Day of Teruah. LEVITICUS 23.24
Jewish Bibles call Zeekhrone Teruah, Remembering A Holy Convocation Announced With Blasts on The Shofar, or A Memorial Proclaimed With The Blast of Horns, or A Remembrance of Shofar Blasts, or A Sacred Occasion Commemorated with Loud Blasts, or A Memorial of Blowing of Horns.
But never the new year because it is not the new year.
In Hebrew, A Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets is ZEEKH’RONE TERUAH.
A Memorial is, as you know, a Remembrance. On this Day, A Remembrance of Teruah.
So what does The Hebrew Word TERUAH mean in The Bible?
The following Translations of TERUAH come from various Jewish Bibles. The Jerusalem Bible, The Complete Jewish Bible, The Holy Scriptures, Published by The Jewish Publication Society in 1917, The Jewish Publication Society Bible, Published in 1999, and The Stone Edition Tanach.
LEVITICUS 25.9 Teruah in this verse from the five Jewish Bibles means, SOUND The Horn Loud, BLAST of the Horn. In two Bibles, SOUND The Shofar. And SOUND a Blast on The Shofar.
So it’s safe to say that Teruah in this verse means SOUND and BLAST the Shofar.
NUMBERS 23.21 The Hebrew Word Teruah in this verse means, ACCLAIM (Shouting approval or praise), BLAST of a Shofar, FRIENDSHIP, ACCLAIMED, and SHOUTING.
So Teruah is also translated as SHOUT, and The BLAST of a Shofar.
JOSHUA 6.5, 10 Teruah is translated in both Scriptures SHOUTED. Great CRY, and Great SHOUT. Both Scriptures SHOUT. Again both Scriptures SHOUT. And in both Scriptures, Mighty SHOUT.
So Teruah also means SHOUT, and Mighty SHOUT.
Thus, we can safely say that TERUAH has two meanings. A GREAT AND MIGHTY SHOUT, and THE GREAT BLAST OF A SHOFAR.
Next question. And this is very important. What does The LORD GOD Command His People to do on Zikhrone Teruah, The Memorial of Shouting and Blasting The Shaofar?
Certainly GOD is not calling His People to celebrate the new year.
To find out what The LORD Commands us to do on this Day, Let’s review LEVITICUS 23.23-25.
In The Seventh Month. Today is The Seventh Month that Judaism calls the month of Tishrei.
And we will talk about the Hebrew Months in a moment.
In the Seventh Month, in the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath. A Sabbath, of course, is A Day of Rest. No work of any kind is to be done on this Holy Day of Zeekhrone Teruah.
Next. Memorial in Hebrew is ZEEKH’RONE meaning something to REMEMBER and CELEBRATE.
And The One we are to Remember and Celebrate is The LORD Our GOD.
Remembering and Celebrating The LORD YOUR GOD with SHOUTINGS OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING, AND SHOFAR BLASTS.
THAT IS ZEEKRONE TERUAH. REMEMBERING THE LORD OUR GOD ON THIS HOLY DAY WITH SHOUTS OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING TO THE LORD, AND SHOFAR BLASTS.
1 SAMUEL 4.5-6, EZRA 3.11-13, HEBREW BIBLE PSALM 5.12, CHRISTIAN BIBLE PSALM 5.11
AND WE WILL GET TO A GREAT SHOFAR BLAST IN A MOMENT.
SO, WE OBSERVE THIS DAY AS A HOLY DAY, A SABBATH OF REST IN WHICH NO WORK IS TO BE DONE OF ANY KIND.
AND A HOLY CONVOCATION IS HELD ON ZEEKHRONE TERUAH. A TIME SET APART FOR THE LORD TO GATHER HIS PEOPLE TOGETHER IN A SERVICE TO OBSERVE HIS HOLY DAY. BECAUSE ZEEKHRONE TERUAH IS A SACRED OCCASION FOR THE LORD OUR GOD..
AND BEING ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU HAVE ATONEMENT FOR YOUR SINS.
IN THE DAYS OF MOSES AND THE TEMPLE, THE PEOPLE OFFERED AN ANIMAL SACRIFICE, AN OFFERING MADE BY FIRE FOR THEIR ATONEMENT.
AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. GOD ALWAYS COMMANDED HIS PEOPLE, EVEN WARNED THEM TO CONTINUE TO OBEY HIS TORAH, HIS LAW OF MOSES EVERY DAY, ALL THE TIME ALONG WITH THEIR SACRIFICES FOR ATONEMENT.
TODAY, THERE IS NO TEMPLE FOR A SACRIFICE. BUT GOD TOOK CARE OF THAT BY OFFERING HIMSELF AS A HUMAN BEING BY GIVING HIS LIFE, THE PERFECT ATONEMENT, THE PERFECT SACRIFICE FOR OUR ATONEMENT.
LEVITICUS 17.8, 9, 11, ISAIAH 53.10, HEBREW BIBLE PSALM 22.2, CHRISTIAN BIBLE PSALM 22.1,
SO, ON ZEEKRONE TERUAH, WE ARE TO DO EXACTLY AS THE LORD COMMANDS.
THE DAY IS A SABBATH OF REST. REMEMBERING THE LORD WITH SHOUTS OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING, AND BLASTING SHOFARS.
IT IS A HOLY CONVOCATION. A GATHERING OF GOD’S PEOPLE FOR A SERVICE DEDICATED TO THE LORD.
AND BE SURE YOU HAVE ATONEMENT FOR YOUR SINS.
AND THERE IS ONLY ONE ATONEMENT TODAY WITHOUT THE TEMPLE. THE MESSIAH YESHUA, THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. HE IS THE ONLY ATONEMENT FOR OUR SINS.
MESSIAH YESHUA, THE GOD OF CREATION, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB GAVE HIS LIFE 2,000 YEARS AGO AS A HUMAN BEING AS IT IS WRITTEN AND PROPHESIED TO BE OUR ATONEMENT WHEN HE SUBMITTED HIMSELF TO THE ROMANS TO BE BOUND TO AN EXECUTION STAKE AND KILLED AS A SACRIFICIAL LAMB.
BECAUSE HE SO LOVES HIS JEWISH PEOPLE AND ALL THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR OUR ATONEMENT, TO FORGIVE ALL OUR SINS.
IT IS WRITTEN, AND IT WAS PROPHESIED IN ISAIAH 52.13-15, ISAIAH 53.1-12, HEBREW BIBLE PSALM 22.2, CHRISTIAN BIBLE PSALM 22.1
Another question. Why did the Rabbis change this day Zeekhrone Teruah, A Remembrance of Shouting and Blasting Shofars to Rosh Hashanah, The Jewish New Year?
In my research, and this is the first time I researched Zeekhrone Teruah, the change took place in Babylon during the seventy year Jewish exile to Babylon some 2,600 years ago.
Many of The Jewish People in Babylon took on the customs of The Babylonians as many of The Jewish People in the United States take on the customs of the people around them.
The Babylonians had two New Years. And one of those new years days fell around the time of Zeekhrone Teruah on the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. So for some unknown reason, the Rabbis decided to change GOD’S Holy Day, Zeekhrone Teruah to Rosh HaShanah, the new year, like the Babylonians they were living among.
Rabbinic Judaism was beginning to take place in Babylon during the days of the Exile. And now for many years, Rabbinic Judaism has become the mainstream form of Judaism.
Rabbinic Judaism is Jewish Law.
Rabbinic Judaism adheres to the traditions of the Rabbis written in the Talmud rather than following The Writings of The Holy Scriptures.
So the Rabbis changed GOD’S Festival Zeekhrone Teruah to Rosh Hashanah. DEUTERONOMY 4.2
And the Rabbis also took the names of the Babylonian months for The Jewish Months, replacing the names that GOD named His months.
GOD called His months, The first month, The second month, The third Month, and so on. But the Rabbis changed those names to the names of the Babylonian months. Such as The first month became Nisan from the Babylonian Month Nissan. The fourth month became Tammuz from the Babylonian month Tammuz.
The Rabbis changed the seventh month to Tisheri that derives from the Babylonian month Tashrito. And so on. All the Hebrew months are named after Babylonian months.
And the Talmud confirms those changes. It is written in the Jerusalem Talmud, The Babylonian months came up from Babylonian influence to Israel with The Jewish People.
Written are the names that GOD gave The Jewish months. GENESIS 7.11, GENESIS 8.4, 5, 13, 14, EXODUS 12.2, 18, LEVITICUS 23.5, 24, 27, 34, 39, 41, ETC.
But more important is this, The LORD’S Return with The Great Sound of A Shofar. And there will be a whole lot of Shouting, Praising The LORD. And a whole lot of Shofars Blasting their unique and beautiful sound throughout The Jewish World.
Yes, we wait for The Greatest Zeekhrone Teruah of all. The Return of The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, The MESSIAH YESHUA Who will return from Heaven to establish His Messianic Kingdom on earth in Israel immediately after The great and final tribulation.
The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. And the stars will fall from heaven. And the powers of the Heaven will shake.
And then shall appear The Miracle, The Son of Man, The Messiah Yeshua, HaShem Elohim coming in the clouds of Heaven with great Glory and Power.
AND HE WILL SEND HIS ANGELS WITH A GREAT SOUND OF A SHOFAR. And will gather His Elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other.
For The LORD Himself will descend from Heaven, with a Shout (Teruah), with the voice of the archangel. And with The Shofar of GOD (Shofar Elohim).
And the dead in Messiah will rise first. Then we which are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet The LORD in the air.
And we will descend together with THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, THE MESSIAH YESHUA to The Messianic Kingdom in Israel, whose GOD Given boundaries will return from a River in Egypt, to the Euphrates River that flows through Syria and Iraq. And The Kingdom will be like The Garden of Eden. And so shall we ever be with The LORD.
Therefore, The Bible says, comfort one another with these words. MATTHEW 24.29-31, 1 THESSALONIANS 4.16-18, GENESIS 5.22-24, 2 KINGS 2.11
So, Happy Zeekhrone Teruah.
And Zeekhrone Teruah is a happy Festival of The LORD. So let’s Blow The Shofar and Praise The LORD with a Mighty Shout.
Shalom
Ira Weinstein
www.bethelohenu.org
bethelohenu@gmail.com