Dedicated to Sam Borodach, z’l

The Torah gives very little explanation of the holiday that we call “Rosh Hashanah.” It calls it “zichron teruah” (Leviticus 23:24) and “yom teruah” (Numbers 29:1). What are the meanings of these brief terms? Neither of the above biblical sections mention the concepts of judgment or new year (nor the word shofar)!

The word “teruah” (root: רוע) seems to mean “loud sound.” But, sometimes, it is a loud sound of war or threats, while other times it is a loud sound of joy or praise. I am now going to summarize some of the different approaches to the holiday that are found in traditional sources:

• Rabbi Saadiah translates “zichron teruah” as “tekiat teruah” (translation from his Arabic), i.e., he views our phrase as meaning something like “sounding the teruah.”
• Ramban believes that “zichron teruah” means: a teruah that produces a zikaron before God. He learns this from Numbers 10:10 which refers—in a military context—to a והרעתם with chatzotzrot and then has “venizkartem lifney Hashem … ” He deduces that since there is a blowing of a sound to God on our day, it must be a “yom hadin.” Ramban implies that the purpose of the “zikaron” we are producing is to remind God to judge us favorably on this day. (See similarly Bereishis Rabbah 56:9.) Shmuel David Luzzatto takes the approach that the teruah is blown to announce the new year. He notes that in the case of the yovel, the Torah records a blowing of “shofar teruah” in Tishrei (on the 10th) to declare the beginning of that special year. As to “zichron,” he interprets it to mean something like “declaring.”
• The Living Torah translates at 23:24: “remembrance (and) sounding (of the ram’s horn).”
• Rambam in his Moreh Nevuchim (chapter 43) writes: “The day is, as it were, a preparation for and an introduction to the day of the fast … ” I have seen the following explanation of this passage. The Torah does not give a specific theme to the holiday on the first day of the seventh month because the holiday is, in essence, merely an adjunct and preparatory holiday for Yom Kippur. The Torah recognizes that we cannot do proper teshuvah on Yom Kippur without a 10 day period of repentance. See Rabbi Michael Berger, “The Moadim of Parshat Emor,” Alei Tziyyon (5756).

As further background, in the mishna (compiled around the late second century CE), our holiday has the themes of the beginning of the year and the day that the entire world is judged.

But how was our holiday understood before the mishna? Let us first look at Philo, writing in the early first century. Philo was a leader of the Jewish community of Alexandria. Even though we know very little of his life, much of his writing has been preserved.

In his “Special Laws,” II, Philo counts 10 biblical festivals and explains each one. Ours is the eighth. Here is his explanation: “Immediately after comes the festival of the sacred moon; in which it is the custom to play the trumpet in the temple at the same moment that the sacrifices are offered. From which practice this is called ‘the true feast of trumpets,’ and there are two reasons for it, one peculiar to the nation, and the other common to all mankind. Peculiar to the nation, as being a commemoration of that most marvelous, wonderful and miraculous event that took place when the holy oracles of the law were given; for then the voice of a trumpet sounded from heaven, which it is natural to suppose reached to the very extremities of the universe, so that so wondrous a sound attracted all who were present, making them consider—as it is probable—that such mighty events were signs betokening some great things to be accomplished. And what more great or more beneficial thing could come to men than laws affecting the whole race?… ”

So Philo’s first explanation interprets our holiday as a commemoration of the giving of the Torah. (A problem with this is that Exodus 19 uses the word “shofar” but does not use the word “teruah.” Also, please forgive me for omitting Philo’s odd second explanation.)

I had long known of the above explanation by Philo. But recently I wondered: What about Josephus? He wrote while in retirement in Rome, in the last decade of the first century. But he grew up among the Sages in Jerusalem and (if we believe his biographical statements) was brilliant as a youth, with an excellent memory and understanding. It turns out that there is a reason I did not know how Josephus understood our holiday. He makes almost no mention of it! At Antiquities III, chapter 10, when he discusses the first day of the seventh month, all he describes are its sacrifices. He leaves out any reference to “teruah” and gives no theme to the holiday.

Philo had written that it was the “the custom to play the trumpet in the temple at the same moment that the sacrifices are offered. From which practice this is called the true feast of trumpets.” Perhaps, Josephus understood “teruah” and “zichron teruah” in this way, and not as providing a theme for the holiday.

But could Josephus really have had no knowledge of the day as a judgment day? He grew up among the Sages in Jerusalem and in his lengthy work, Antiquities reflects voluminous knowledge of Jewish beliefs and practices. Is it possible that the “judgment day” theme did not yet exist in the first seven decades of the first century and only arose later? I have seen the suggestion that post-70s, the Sages had to increase the importance of the non-pilgrimage holidays. (The fact that Philo does not mention the day as a judgment day is not that troubling as Philo lived in Alexandria.)

The name “Yom HaZikaron” for our holiday is already found in several Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q319-4Q330). These date from the first century BCE. Okay, we do not know precisely what was to be remembered, but this could be early evidence of the holiday as a judgment day. (Perhaps, the holiday had this name even long before this. We just lack the sources for earlier periods.)

I have a suggestion to explain Josephus’ omission of the “judgment day” theme for our holiday. It is well-known that Josephus was writing his “Antiquities” for a gentile audience and that he often leaves out things that he thinks gentiles will not be able to relate to or would object to. (It has been suggested that an example of this is when he left out a large section of the book of Yonah, when he summarized the book.) The mishna at Rosh Hashanah 1:2 states that our holiday is a judgment day for the entire world. Perhaps, Josephus knew of this idea but thought that gentiles would not be able to relate to it.

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P.S. At Antiquities 1, 81, Josephus does imply that the year starts in Tishrei. But he does not connect this with our holiday. He calls this “the ancient order” of the months.

P.P.S. Another important early source on our holiday is a source known as “Pseudo-Philo’s Biblical Antiquities.” It survives only in Latin but was probably composed in Hebrew. Here is a passage in chapter 13: “The feast of trumpets will be an offering for your watchers (angels). In as much as I watched over creation, may you also be mindful of all the earth. At the beginning of those days, when you present yourselves, I will declare the number of those who are to die and who are to be born.” The above passage—although a bit odd—implies a “judgment day” theme in our holiday. The original Hebrew was authored by a Jew in the land of Israel and dates from the first or second centuries CE. (Angels appear frequently in this work.)

Mitchell First wishes everyone a meaningful “Yom Teruah” and “Zichron Teruah” in whatever interpretation they adopt for these terms.