Yom Teruah 2024

Yom Teruah, also known as the Day of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah, is a festival celebrated in the seventh month. It is a day of shouting and blowing trumpets. The celebration includes not doing servile work and bringing offerings to Yahweh. Yom Teruah is also called the birthday of the world, but this is not mentioned in scripture. The names of the months were actually mentioned in scripture, contrary to previous belief. It's Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpets, the Day of Shouting. But what is this Day of Yom Teruah? Where did it come from and how do we celebrate it? Well, that's what we're going to be getting into in this teaching all about the Day of Trumpets, otherwise known as Yom Teruah or Rosh Hashanah. So stay tuned for this teaching from God Honest Truth Ministries. So this teaching is going to be all about Yom Teruah or the Feast of Trumpets, as it's otherwise known as. And we'll be getting into some other names for this feast day or moladim as we go through this drosh. Now, if you would like the notes that we took for this drosh, you can go down below, click on that link. That'll take you to the article post on God Honest Truth, where you'll find the on-demand video, the slides you see here on your screen, the notes we took for this subject, as well as the transcript, if that's something that is beneficial to you. So go check it out on GodHonestTruth.com. Click on the post for Yom Teruah or click on the convenient link in the description down below. And that should be there, whether you're watching on a video platform or an audio podcasting platform. Now, what is Yom Teruah? Let's start out like you're just learning about this for the first time. So if you've already celebrated it, you already know a little bit about it. We're not trying to insult your intelligence. We're just trying to reach as wide an audience as we can. What is Yom Teruah? Well, it comes from two different Hebrew words, Yom, obviously, and Teruah. Yom, meaning the Hebrew word for day or a 24-hour period, specifically the evening and the morning, like we're told in the book of Genesis. Then the second word, Teruah, means alarm, a signal, a shouting, a blast from like a trumpet or a shofar, shout of joy, things like that. So when you say Yom Teruah, you could be saying something like the day of trumpet or the day of shouting for joy, day of shouting, et cetera, et cetera. Now, for all you nerds out there, here are some of the lexiconical entries from this is what you see on your screen from the blueletterbible.org. It's got the outline of biblical usage, translating the word Yom as day, time, year. It's mostly translated as the word day, especially in the King James and also in various other translations. Here's your Strong's definition for the word Yom, meaning day, the entry for Brown Driver Briggs, and all of these entries, we had to drastically cut down to fit on these slides. If you would like the full entry, then click on the link down below to take you to that article post, and the full entry is right there in the notes that we took, so it'll help you in your study and your research. Continuing on for Yom, Strong's H3117, here is your Justinius' Hebrew lexicon entry for Yom, and your Jastrow's Dictionary of the Pargons. Then moving on to the word Teruah, Strong's H8643, Teruah, here is the translation count from the King James, from blueletterbible.org, and the outline of biblical usage, meaning shout, shouting, alarm, glowing, things like that. Here's your Strong's definition entry, and your Brown Driver Briggs entry. Strong's here has it as clamor, acclamation of joy, or a battle cry. Brown Driver Briggs has it as alarm of war, war cry, last remarks, so a Teruah is not just a shout for joy, but it's also a battle cry, depending on the context in which it is being used. Once again, when it comes to biblical studies, context is everything. And here's your Justinius' Hebrew lexicon entry for Teruah, and also the entry for the Jastrow's Dictionary of the Pargons. So now, like always, we want to base our beliefs and our doctrines, and what we believe, on the scripture itself, not any man-made tradition, or any church tradition, but on scripture itself. So when it comes to Yom Teruah, where do we find this in scripture? Well, we look in Leviticus chapter 23, verses 23 through 25. And Yahweh spoke to Moshe, saying, Speak to the children of Yisrael, saying, In the seventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, you have a rift, a remembrance of Teruah. You do no servile work, and you shall bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. So let's break this down a little bit and look at some important elements to note from this passage in the institution of Yom Teruah. First of all, Yahweh is telling Moshe, let the children of Israel know, that in the number in the seventh new moon, meaning the seventh month, that's going to become important here in a moment as we get into another part of this teaching. It also says, on the first day of the new moon, so on the first day of the seventh month. Then it says, you have a rift and a remembrance of Teruah. You do no servile work. Now here, this is what's known as a Shabbaton in various circles and groups. We all know about the weekly Shabbat. On the weekly Shabbat, you're not supposed to do any work, you're supposed to rest, you're not even supposed to cook food. Now with a Shabbaton, this is more like a minor Sabbath you can think of. You don't do any servile work, so you don't go to your job, you don't do strenuous work, you don't do any labor out in your front yard, but you can do various things on a Shabbaton that you wouldn't normally be able to do on a Shabbat, things like cooking food. So, on a Shabbaton, like with Yom Teruah, you would be able to prepare the meal for that evening, which on a normal Shabbat, you wouldn't normally be allowed to do. Notice here it says, you do no servile work, and then back when the tabernacle and the temple were standing, you shall bring an offering made by fire to Yahweh. So, remember these points, it's the seventh month, the first day of the seventh month, and you do no servile work. Take note of that, write it down in your notebook, remember that for later on. Then moving on to Numbers chapter 10 verse 10, and in the day of your gladness and in your appointed times and at the beginning of your new moons, you shall blow the trumpets over your ascending offerings and over your slaughtering of peace offerings, and they shall be a remembrance for you before your Elohim. I am Yahweh, your Elohim. So, the festival or the mordim of Yom Teruah, the day of trumpets, that's not the only day that you are to blow a trumpet or a shofar. Here we're told at the beginning of the month, every new moon, you blow the trumpet. In the day of gladness and your appointed times, at the beginning of your new moons, you shall blow the trumpets. There is a blowing of the trumpets or a blowing of the shofar at every new moon, the beginning of every month, but especially on the day of trumpets, Yom Teruah, you have a big, magnificent, sometimes all-day blowing of the trumpets. Numbers chapter 29, verses 1 through 6, and in the seventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, you have a set-apart gathering. You do no servile work. It is Yom Teruah, and you shall prepare an ascending offering as a sweet fragrance to Yahweh. One young bull, one ram, seven lambs a year old, perfect ones, and their grain offering. One flower mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs, and one male goat as a fin offering, to make atonement for you, besides the ascending offering with its grain offering for the new moon, the continual ascending offering with its grain offering and their drink offering, according to their right ruling, as a sweet fragrance, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. Now in that first passage we read, it says to bring an offering to Yahweh, right? Here in this book of Numbers, chapter 29, we get an elaboration on that offering that is to be brought on Yom Teruah, but notice again, it's also laying out some more points that were laid out in the first passage, seventh new moon, first day of the new moon, you have a set-apart gathering, and you do no servile work. Again, some of the important things, and once again, write them down in your notes and keep that in mind as we go on through this drash. Now Yom Teruah is known by various names, depending on who you talk to and which demographic this subject comes up in. For instance, it's known as Rosh Hashanah in a lot of Jewish circles and Jewish traditions. However, Rosh Hashanah literally means head of the new year. We'll get into that more in just a moment, but that's an inaccurate term for Yom Teruah. Like I said, we'll get to that in just a minute. It's also known as Yom Hazikaron and Yom Harat Ha'alon, birthday of the world. Now according to legend, Yom Teruah is the anniversary of the creation of the earth. Where does that come from? It comes from, well, Jewish legend, it's not in scripture, so there's really no way to prove it wrong. Maybe it's right, maybe it's not, but it doesn't come from scripture, so at the moment it's just a legend, it's not something that can be proven. But in some circles, Yom Teruah is known as the birthday of the world, or Yom Harat Ha'alon, or sorry, Yom Harat Ha'alon, there we go. Now speaking of the various names it's called, let's work on getting some of the names right. Not just the names for Yom Teruah, but also other names that are associated with this. Now last year when we done our draw on Yom Teruah, we made the remark that the Bible or the scriptures do not name the names of the months, and that instead the names of the months came from Babylon after the Judeans came out of Babylon. Well thankfully one of our viewers, one of our listeners wrote in on our YouTube channel and we ate a big slice of humble pie. They informed us of some scriptures that somehow we had missed, and yeah, we thank them so much for bringing that to our attention and setting the record straight as it were. So unlike last year, we're going to get it right this time. In scripture there are some names of a few of the months even before the Babylonian captivity. Some of those are like the first month of the year, next to this chapter 23, verse 15. Guard the festival of Moscow. Seven days you eat unleavened bread as I commanded you at the time appointed in the new moon of Aviv. For in it you came out of Mithraim, and you do not appear before me empty-handed. So here it's talking about the first month, obviously, and it's calling the first month by the name of Aviv. Then we go on to look at the second month from 1 Kings chapter 6, verse 1. And it came to be in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Mithraim, in the fourth year of the reign of Shlomo over Israel, in the new moon of Ziv, which is the second new moon, that he began to build the house of Yahweh. So the second month, according to scripture and before the Babylonian captivity, the second month was called Ziv. The seventh month, which is the topic associated with Yom Teruah, 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 2. And all the men of Israel assembled to sovereign Shlomo at the festival in the month of Eitanim, which is the seventh new moon. Now, we told you before that the new moon begins the month. So the seventh new moon will be the seventh month. And here we can see from scripture that the seventh month was called Eitanim, even before the Babylonian captivity. And finally, in the eighth month, we look at 1 Kings chapter 6, verse 38. And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, the eighth new moon, the house was completed in all its matters and according to all its plans. Thus he built it for seven years. So once again, we see another name for a month of the year, even before the Babylonian captivity. This is a name for the eighth month, and that name is Bul. Hopefully I'm pronouncing that correctly. However, these names were changed by the Jews after they came out of Babylonian captivity. And now the names of the months that the Jews traditionally use and that we typically associate as the Hebrew names for the month, those names come from Babylon. We see from the Jerusalem Talmud that the names of the month ascended with them from Babylonia. Now these names are more Babylonian in origin than they are Hebrew or scriptural. For instance, we got the month of Nisan, which is the first month, but we already saw from scripture that that name was originally Aviv. Second month of Iyar, Sivan, etc., etc. All the way down through Adar, Kislev, Tevet, all that good stuff. These are the names we commonly associate as the Hebraic names of the month. But we already saw from scripture how scripture, even before the Babylonian captivity, had names for the month that we've found so far. It's likely that there could have been names for all 12 of the months because we can see from scripture that there were 12 months in the Hebrew calendar. However, the other names are just not mentioned, or maybe someone hasn't really found them yet. But yeah, it's possible that all the names could have had months, but after the Judeans came out of the Babylonian captivity, they changed the names of the months to align with more Babylonian style names than it was with scriptural names. But anyways, we see from Flavius Josephus, he writes in the Antiquities of the Jews, that Moses appointed that Nisan should be the first month for their festivals because he brought them out of Egypt in that month, so that this month began the year as to all the solemnities they observed to the honor of God. Now, in the modern Jewish naming of the month, Nisan is the first month. Take note of that. That's when Passover starts. That's when Passover occurs in the first month that they now call Nisan, which the biblical name we saw is Aviv. But in the seventh month, that's the name we associate now with the name Tisrae, right? That's the seventh month. I'll come into play here in just a moment. But Nisan is supposed to be the first month of the Hebrew calendar, and we see here from Josephus that Josephus states that Moses appointed Nisan to be the first month. We get that from Exodus chapter 12, verse 2. This new moon is the beginning of new moons for you. It is the first new moon of the year for you. So, we saw from scripture that Moses would have called it Aviv by the time Josephus came around. He was already calling it by the Babylonian name of Nisan. And we can see even that name in scripture when we look at the story of Esther, the story of Urim. For instance, in the first new moon, which is the new moon of Nisan, in the 12th year of Sovereign Ahasuerus, someone cast poor, that is, a lot before Haman from day to day and from new moon to new moon until it fell on the 12th month, which is the new moon of Adar. So, here you can see they started in Nisan and they went all year, all 12 months. But the point is, we'll get off track here, point is, even in scripture it's using these Babylonian names for some of the months. And here we see the first month being called Nisan even in scripture. Now, one thing that confuses some people is, like I said before, this feast day, this Miladim is called Yom Teruah. That's what scripture calls it. However, some in Judaism call it by the name Rosh Hashanah. And the thing that confuses some people is that they will look in scripture and they will see that phrase Rosh Hashanah and assume it to be the same thing as Yom Teruah. But it's actually not. And you find this term Rosh Hashanah in Ezekiel chapter 40 verse 1. In the 25th year of our exile at Rosh Hashanah on the 10th of the new moon in the 14th year after the city was stricken, on that same day the hand of Yahweh came upon me and he brought me there. Now, when you study this out and you take it in context, what Ezekiel is talking about here with Rosh Hashanah is literally the meaning head of the year. He's talking about the first month, the month of Aviv or Nisan. He's not talking about the seventh month. Now, just think about it from a common sense standpoint. How can the middle of the year, the seventh month, be the head of the year? Well, it can't. At least not according to the scriptural or Hebraic way of thinking. The Babylonians had two new years, one in the seventh month and one in the first month. And that's where this tradition of Yom Teruah being the beginning of the year and therefore called Rosh Hashanah, that's where all that comes from. But, if you go back in scripture, the beginning of the year is the first month, not the seventh, and the first month is called Nisan or Aviv. And that's what Ezekiel is referring to here when he says Rosh Hashanah, he's referring to the first month, the head of the year, not the middle of the year. So, hopefully that clears that up a little bit. So, what are some significance of trumpets in scripture? Well, just to give you a general overview, in Numbers chapter 10 verses 2 through 6, we see trumpets being used to call for meeting or to move the camp. You read through these passages, they tell you about one blast, two blasts, which camp is to move when. They're used to organize the people of Israel when they're out in the wilderness and they're moving from place to place. In Numbers chapter 10 verses 9 through 10 and Psalm 81, 3, etc., etc., we see trumpets used in war. We see it used in these days, like we've already examined. It's used especially on Yom Teruah, and it's the beginning of the month for every new moon, things like that. So, trumpets have a wide range of use and a wide range of significance within scripture. We look at Joel chapter 2 verses 1 through 2. Here it's talking about the day of Yahweh coming. What is the day of Yahweh? That's talking about the end times. So, even in the end times, trumpets or shofars are going to play a significant role. We look at Matthew chapter 24 verses 29 through 31. And then the sign of the son of Adam shall appear in the heaven and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn and they shall see the son of Adam coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and much esteem and he shall send his messengers with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his chosen ones from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other. So, when Yeshua comes back, King Messiah Yeshua, when he returns for his second coming, it will be with the great sound of a trumpet, the great sound even maybe of a shofar. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 52. In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet where the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. Again, trumpets playing an important role in the end times. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 16. Because the master himself, Yeshua, shall come down from heaven with a shout, with a voice of a chief messenger and with the trumpet of Elohim and the dead in Messiah shall rise first. We get to those end times, don't know if we're going to be here for it or not, but those end times will involve the use of a trumpet or a shofar. Now, this is where Yom Teruah kind of comes in with prophecy. Now, I am not a big prophecy buff, but this makes a lot of sense to me. We look at these spring feast days and a lot of those have to do with the first coming of Yeshua. With the Passover, Yeshua being our Passover lamb. The Feast of Firstfruits, Yeshua being the firstfruits from the dead. The Shavuot or Pentecost. Those first spring feast days had to do with the first coming of Yeshua. And then there's a big span in the year between the spring feast days and the fall feast days. Well, we've had a big span already between the first coming of Yeshua and the future second coming. And now we get into the fall feast days and these fall feast days most likely are going to be associated with the second coming of Yeshua. So, how does Yom Teruah plan with that? Well, in Yom Teruah, it's the first day of the seventh new moon, right? Well, how do you know when a new moon begins? You look up in the sky and when you see that first sliver, that's when you know the new moon or the month has begun. That's when you see that first new moon. Well, in Yom Teruah, you don't know exactly what day it's going to occur. It could be today or tomorrow or two days from now. Even though on your little calendar you wrote down, it's supposed to be today. So, no man really knows the day or the hour of when Yom Teruah actually begins. What does that sound like? It sounds like what Yeshua taught us about his second coming. That no man, not the angels in heaven, nor the son of God knows by his second coming. Only the father himself knows the second coming. So, that's kind of a connection between Yom Teruah and the second coming. And as we've also seen from the scriptures here, the day of trumpets, Yom Teruah, and the role that trumpets play in the end times, there's too many coincidences to say there's no connection. But, again, that's just all opinion. So, decide for yourself how you feel about that particular connection there. So, you've heard all the things about Yom Teruah, where it came from, some possible prophetic connections, all that good stuff. And you're thinking to yourself, okay, I know I'm supposed to celebrate the mulladin from scripture. That's what we're commanded to do. So, how do I celebrate Yom Teruah? Well, if you want to do it from the scriptural perspective, there's only two things to do. Number one, the first day is a Shabbaton, as we explained before. You do no servile work. It's a day of rest. You can do your cooking. So, that's about it. And remember, it's in the first day of the seventh month. Also, you are to blow a trumpet or a shofar, or make a joyful shout. Like we explained at the very beginning, Teruah can be understood in a variety of ways. It can be a trumpet blow, a shofar blow, a shout, a shout of joy, et cetera, et cetera. So, if you want to celebrate it in a scriptural fashion, there's only two requirements there, two ways for you to celebrate Yom Teruah. Take the day off on the first day and blow a trumpet or a shofar or shout for joy. Now, those within Judaism have their own traditions and customs and ways that they celebrate Yom Teruah that they've developed over the years. First off, since they consider Yom Teruah to be the head of the year, beginning of the year, the Jewish New Year, they call it, they reflect on the past year and things they have done, things that they could do better, et cetera, et cetera, things like that. They do some personal reflection, so it's not just things that's happened to them, but things that they have done themselves, the way they've treated people, things they've thought, things like that. They also think about how they want themselves to grow in the upcoming year so they can be a better person. Now, these things are all good, right? But just the associating it with the New Year, that's the issue I have a problem with. You should always take into account how you could be a better person, being a better person than you were yesterday, right? They also have something called a tashlik service. If you've never heard of this, a tashlik service is, well, it's basically they get together as a group and they go towards a running stream, a creek or a river, something like that, and they take pieces of food, usually bread, and they cast it off into the river. It's like casting off of their sins. Now, this is not for those of us who are saved because we have Yeshua. Yeshua took our sins and we don't need a tashlik service. So take that how you will. If you're someone who celebrates Jewish customs, it's your household, you decide for you, but that's what a tashlik service is. Also, as far as celebrating Yom Teruah, Jews like to eat sweet food and the purpose for this is so they have a sweet year to come. Again, going back to that whole Yom Teruah is supposed to be the beginning of the year, the Jewish New Year. Even though it's in the seventh month. But yeah, anyways, they eat sweet foods and that's the reason behind it, so they can have a sweet year to come. With that being said, some of these sweet foods that they eat are things like apples and honey. Good stuff. So if you're thinking about what to make for your Yom Teruah celebration, you can include sweet stuff like apples and honey. Who doesn't like apples? Who doesn't like honey? Sweet things like pomegranates and stuff like that. They also include various things like other kinds of fruit. Berries, melons, etc., etc. And some in Judaism will even make it a tradition to try a new fruit that they've never eaten before on Yom Teruah. It's always good to try new stuff. So, hey, take that tradition. Eat sweet foods. Understand that Yom Teruah is not the beginning of the year. And of course, if you're going to have a feast day, if you're going to have a scriptural feast day, what would it be without challah? Right? Everybody loves challah. Everyone I've met, anyways. And for Yom Teruah, the traditional style that they make challah in is a round shape. Sometimes they will mix in raisins. Again, going on that sweet theme. And raisins mixed into challah bread is very good. I would highly recommend it. I've made that a couple times and I've enjoyed it every single time. You can make it however you want to, but the tradition is round challah. So just various sweet things like that. You can also come up with whatever other food you want. I've seen some cook chicken with like a honey glaze on it. Others make salmon. All kinds of stuff. Brisket. Brisket's always good. I'm not sure that's sweet, but don't care. Brisket's good. So yeah, that's some of the foods you see for Yom Teruah. Again, the food theme is going to be sweet and round challah. So in summary, Yom Teruah is the day of trumpets, the day of shouting, the day of shofars, even. But Yom Teruah means the day of trumpets. It's the first day of the seventh new moon. Again, I want to emphasize that point. It's the middle of the year, not the beginning of the year. The first day of Yom Teruah is a Shabbaton. You do no servile work. However, you can do your cooking and preparation of your food if need be. And scripture calls it Yom Teruah, not Rosh Hashanah. And that's just the God honest truth. So thank you for joining us for this teaching on Yom Teruah. Yom Teruah. If we didn't cover exactly everything, make sure to write in to us with any questions, comments, or concerns that you have. Let us know down in the comments below how we did on this. Did we do good? Did we miss something? Hey, we missed something last year and it was very helpful. Some of the comments that were wrote in to us corrected us in our ways and educated us. So if we happen to miss something or we got something wrong, let us know down in the comments below why you're down there. Make sure to hit that subscribe button and ring the bell so that you're notified every time that we go live or when we upload a new on-demand video. Hit that like button if you liked it. Hit the dislike button if you disliked it. 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