THE JEWISH HOLY DAYS
Purim Service Sat. March 19, 2011
The fall season ushers in three of the most important Jewish Holy Days of the entire Hebrew calendar: Rosh Hashana-The New Year, Yom Kippur-The Day of Atonement and Succot-The Feast of Booths or Tabernacles.
In Judaism there are actually two New Years. In the Jewish Law, Torah, the first day of the month of Nisan, or Aviv, meaning Spring, equivalent to our April, is recognized as the New Year:
"Adonai, the LORD, said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
'This month is to
be for you the first month, the first month of your year.'" Shemot/Exodus
12:1-2
Thus, the Passover is recognized as the Biblical New Year's Day. The other New Year's Day, which the Jewish People officially recognize and celebrate, is the first day of the seventh month according to the Hebrew calendar, and is called the month of Tishri.
"Adonai, the LORD, said to Moses,
'Say to the children of Yisra'el, Israel,
'On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest,
a sacred
assembly commemorated with blasts on the Shofar.
Do not do any kind of
ordinary work, and bring an offering made by fire
to Adonai, the LORD.'"
Vayyiqra/Leviticus 23:23-25
Israel's ancient Rabbis believed that Adonai, the LORD, created the world in the first week of the month of Tishri, equivalent to our September or early October. Therefore the first day of the seventh month is considered the beginning of creation and the beginning of the year, and hence the present Jewish time reckoning. Tishri, being the seventh month of the year is a Sabbatical month. What the seventh day is to the week, Tishri, the seventh month, is to the year. Therefore, the first day is celebrated as a Shabbat-a day of rest and the blowing of the Shofar, a holy convocation.
Rosh Hashana-The Jewish New Year marks the "Ten Awesome Days of Repentance"-called, in Hebrew, "Yomim Noraim"...leading up to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During the ten days of repentance, religious Jewish People try to reconcile with those with whom they have argued and parted, long confessions of sins are uttered in the Synagogue prayers and special emphasis is made concerning charity for the poor. All of these acts lead to the opportunity to be reconciled with God.
"Adonai, the LORD, said to Moses,
'The tenth day of this seventh month is
Yom Kippur-the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly afflict your
souls, (i.e. The Rabbis interpret this ti mean "fast-deny yourself food.")
and offer an offering made by fire to Adonai, the LORD.'" Vayyiqra/Leviticus
23:26, 27.
When a person reads Torah, the Law of Moses, he, or she, is aware that a dominant feature of Yom Kippur, as described in the sixteenth chapter of Vayyiqra/Leviticus is MISSING! That feature is summarized in Vayyiqra/Leviticus 17:11, when God declares,
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the alter to make an atonement for your souls; FOR IT IS THE BLOOD THAT
MAKES AN ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL."
The animal sacrifice-blood atonement-required in Torah is MISSING from Yom Kippur. Why? Because sacrifice ceased in 70CE (AD) when the Roman troops led by Titus, destroyed the Second Temple. No Temple-NO SACRIFICE! The Rabbis state that in place of sacrifice we now have prayer, repentance and good deeds.
But Talmud, in Tractate Sanhedrin, quotes the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 53:4) and applies that description to The Mashiach-Messiah. When we examine Isaiah 53: 3-8, here is a more detailed description of the Messiah:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar
with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces;
he was despised,
and we esteemed him not. 4Surely he took up our infirmities and carried
our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and
afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed
and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open
his mouth. 8By oppression and judgement he was taken away. And who
can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the
living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
The blood sacrifice of Torah pointed to the
ONE GREAT SACRIFICE FOR SIN
that was to be offered when Messiah was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities - Messiah's punishment brings us peace,
by his wounds
we are healed... and Adonai has laid on Messiah
THE INIQUITY OF US ALL!
That Messiah is none other than the despised, rejected Yeshua - Jesus.
Five days after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on the 15th of Tishri, coinciding with the end of September or early October, Jewish People, the world over, erect booths, Hebrew:Succot, in keeping with God's commandment through Moses in Vayyiqra/Leviticus 23:33-43:
And the LORD spoke to Moshe saying,
"Speak to the children of Yisra'el,
'The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of booths for seven days to the Lord.
On the first day shall be a holy gathering: you shall do no
servile work. Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the
LORD: on the eight day shall be a holy gathering to you:
and you shall offer
an offering made by fire to the LORD: it is a solemn assembly;
and you shall do no servile work.
These are the feasts of the LORD, which you shall
proclaim to be holy gatherings, to offer an offering made by fire to the
LORD, a burnt offering, and a meal offering,
a sacrifice, and drink offerings,
every thing upon this day: beside the Sabbaths of the LORD,
and beside your gifts, and
beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which
you give to the LORD.
Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when
you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep a feast to the LORD
seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eight day shall
be a Sabbath. And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit
of the tree hadar, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick leaved
trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD
your GOD seven days. And you shall keep it a feast to the LORD seven
days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: you shall
celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths seven days: all
that are home born in Yisra'el shall dwell in booths: that your generations
may know that I made the children of Yisra'el to dwell in booths, when I
brought them out of the land of Mizrayim: I am the LORD your GOD.
The Feast of Booths, Succot, also known as The Feast of Tabernacles, is primarily a joyous agricultural ceremony, Israel's Thanksgiving Festival. Scholars believe that America's present Thanksgiving holiday was derived, by the Pilgrims, from this Biblical celebration.
In addition to its agricultural character, Succot, the Feast of Booths, commemorates Israel's deliverance, by God, from their bondage in Egypt and their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, where they lived in temporary structures, of which booths are a reminder that our sojourn here, on this earth, is temporary and our most important relationship is not that which is connected with material things. Our most important relationship involves our fellowship with the Living God, Adonai, our love for Him and our calling, which is to glorify Him on earth and point others to Him and His eternal Kingdom.
