Tales of the Feasts
The Mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah


A birthday cake for the world?


Talmidim, celebrate the birthday party of the world!

Did you know that there is a Mitzvah that is only good for one day out of the whole year? It is the Mitzvah to blow the shofar on the first day of the seventh month.

What is so special about the first day of the seventh month? Why is it a mitzvah to blow the shofar on that day?

The first day of the seventh month is Rosh Hashanah, also called the Feast of Trumpets. It is the first day of the Bible year. It is the day that God finished making everything when he created the world. That is why Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the whole world! Do you like birthday parties? Rosh Hashanah is a big birthday party. Every year when the first day of the seventh month comes, it is a big birthday party for the world.

But what should we do for this birthday? Should we bring presents to the world? Should we bake a giant birthday cake that says, "Happy Birthday World!"? How many candles would we put on the cake? Five thousand six hundred and two? Who knows! Should we sing happy birthday to the world?

The world probably doesn't want to open any presents, it probably doesn't blow out candles and it probably doesn't eat cake. Those are things we do for people-birthdays. Instead of those things, God tells us how to enjoy this birthday party with some special Rosh Hashanah mitzvahs.

First he tells us to blow the shofar, or to hear it blown on this day. A shofar is a ram's horn trumpet. It is a mitzvah to hear the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah. Don't plug your ears with your fingers. Listen to the voice of the shofar. It is a mitzvah!

But what does the shofar mean? When we hear the sound of the shofar, it is supposed to remind us to repent, to do good and to pray. We want to start our New Year with clean hearts. The shofar reminds us to do these things. "Tekiah! Quit sinning," the shofar says. "Shevarim! Pray for forgiveness for your sins!" the shofar says. "Teruah! Start doing Good!" it says.

Instead of singing Happy Birthday, on Rosh Hashanah, we say to each other, "May you be inscribed in the book of life for a sweet year." We want everyone to have a good and sweet year.

Instead of eating birthday cake we eat apples and honey because their sweetness tastes like the sweet year that we are praying for.

Instead of blowing out candles on Rosh Hashanah, we blow the shofar.

Chayim B'Yeshua - Life In Yeshua

Rosh Hashanah is a time for saying sorry and for forgiving. Yeshua taught about forgiveness a lot. He told us that if we don't forgive the people who sin against us, our Father in Heaven won't forgive our sins! It is really important to forgive. Only a humble person can have a forgiving heart. Even with his last words on the cross, the Master said words of forgiveness. Let's remember to forgive each other this Rosh Hashannah so that our Father in Heaven can forgive us.

Read Matthew 18:21-35. How many times should we forgive a brother that sins against us? Email the answer to Rabbi Stan by clicking here.

Kehilat Sar Shalom

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