Yom Taruah / Rosh Hashanah 12

How Yom Taruah is celebrated

-Hearing the sounding of the ram’s horn (shofar)
-Lighting candles at sunset (should be a woman or girl doing this)
-Eating festive meals with sweet delicacies during the night and day, which include:
Kiddush (blessing( over wine or grape juice
Round, raisin challah bread dipped in honey
Apples dipped in honey
The head of a fish, pomegranates, and other foods symbolizing our wishes for the coming year (on the first night)
A new fruit
-Performing Tashlich, a brief prayer said at a body of fresh water
-Attending services in synagogue (church building)
-Desisting from work

The service consists of

-Special selichot services before the morning prayers.
-The annulment of vows (“hatarat nedarim”) after the morning services.
-Women and girls light holiday candles tonight to usher in the holiday.
-The SOUNDING OF TH SHOFAR

After reciting the holiday kiddush benediction over wine (or grape juice), we eat the challah bread dipped in honey. It is then customary to eat a sweet apple dipped in honey; the head of a fish, ram, or other kosher animal; and a pomegranate. In different communities there are other traditional foods eaten at this meal.

The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is hearing the sounding of the shofar,the ram’s horn. It is a mitzvah (command) to hear the shofar on the morning of the holiday

The first 30 blasts of the shofar are blown following the Torah-reading during morning services, and as many as 70 are then blown during (and immediately after) the Musaf service. For someone who cannot come to synagogue, the shofar may be blown the rest of the day. If you cannot make it to a congregation, many rabbis and Messianic pastors are willing to come to you for a "house call" if you let them know ahead of time.

Scripture commands we blow the Shofar on this day, however it does not specify why we are to blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. However, Rabbi Saadia Gaon compiled a list of 10 reasons for this special mitzvah:

-On Rosh Hashanah we coronate God as King of the world. -The shofar’s trumpeting call heralds this exciting event.
-Its piercing wail serves to awaken slumbering souls that have grown complacent.
-It evokes the shofar blasts that were heard when God descended on Mount Sinai and gave us the Torah.
-It echoes the cries of the prophets who urged Israel to mend their ways and return to God and His commandments.
-It reminds us of the war cries of our enemies as they broke into the Temple in Jerusalem and destroyed it.
-Made of a ram’s horn, the shofar recalls the near-sacrifice of Isaac, who was saved when God showed Abraham a ram to bring as an offering in his stead.
-Its loud piercing sound humbles us and fills us with awe before God.
-It foreshadows the day of judgment at the end of days, which the prophet describes as “a day of shofar and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers.”
-It gives us hope, mirroring the sound of the “great shofar” that will call together the Jewish people who are scattered to the corners of the earth at the time of the coming of Mashiach.
-It reminds us of the Revival of the Dead, about which we read, “dwellers of the earth ... a shofar is sounded you shall hear.”

Shofar Blast Procedure:

The shofar blower stands at the bimah (platform at the front of the synagogue), and begins by reciting a collection of verses from the Psalms followed by two blessings: The first blesses YHWH, “who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded to hear the voice of the shofar.” The second is the blessing of Shehecheyanu, thanking YHWH for granting us yet another year of life, allowing us to blow the shofar once again.

The shofar blowing contains a series of three types of blasts: tekiah, a long sob-like blast; shevarim, a series of three short wails; and teruah, at least nine piercing staccato bursts.

The primary shofar blowing consists of the following 30 blasts:

Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah

Tekiah-shevarim-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim- tekiah

Tekiah-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-teruah-tekiah gedolah (extra long blast)

During the Musaf prayer, we have 7 more opportunities to blow the shofar, producing the following 10 blasts each time:

Tekiah-shevarim-teruah-tekiah
Tekiah-shevarim-tekiah
Tekiah-teruah-tekiah

Add all that up and you’ll arrive at exactly 100 blasts. Many have a custom of an additional 30 blast after the Musaf has concluded.

#yomtaruah
#roshhashanah