Celebrating Rosh Hashanah in 2020


 As I write this, Rosh Hashanah begins tomorrow evening. I get SO excited when it's time to celebrate one of God's holidays again! These holidays have changed my life, and I strongly believe that anyone who chooses to learn about them and celebrate them will be greatly blessed. God gave these special times to us in order to draw closer to us, and in order to teach us about Himself and His ways. When we keep these appointments with Him, our lives begin to have a new rhythm - His rhythm. We learn to let Him order our lives, which makes it much easier to keep our focus on Him and how we can live our lives to bear His image and shine His light to others. And as a bonus, these times are rehearsals or shadows of things to come, and they all point to Jesus/Yeshua!

In 2020 we have extra challenges when it comes to celebrating the Biblical holidays because all of these times call for "a holy convocation", which means getting together with others to celebrate. Normally, my husband and I would go to the nearest congregation that is having a holiday service, but that is not happening this year, so we need to get a little more creative. This is such a special day, and we ARE going to celebrate it! So I've come up with a few ideas of things we can still do for Rosh Hashanah. You can do them, too!

  • Don't work. If at all possible, take the day off. Leviticus 23 calls this day a "day of solemn rest" or a "shabbat", a sabbath. This year Rosh Hashanah is on a Saturday, so for most people this shouldn't be too hard to do. 

  • Do some reading to learn about the holiday. Rosh Hashanah is also known as Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets, and many, many other names. The Bible refers to it so many times using different terms, and it's easy to miss if you don't know what to look for. A good book to read if you're looking for some in-depth study is Joseph Good's Rosh HaShanah and the Messianic Kingdom to Come. A good, basic book about the holidays in general is David Wilber's A Christian Guide to the Biblical Feasts (which is only $1.99 on Amazon Kindle right now).
  • Blow the shofar (ram's horn trumpet) or listen to it. If you don't have access to one, you can find videos on YouTube. Or at least make some noise! Sing, shout, play instruments, whatever. Make a joyful noise.
  • Decorate! If you haven't done any fall decorating, now is the time! At the very least, make sure your house is clean and maybe put out some candles and a tablecloth on the table. It's a holiday, so do whatever you can to make things special in your home. 
  • Have a festive holiday meal. It is traditional to eat sweet foods like apples and honey with your meal to symbolize a sweet new year. And remember, any meal can be made festive with the right presentation. Sit at the table, use your best dishes, and even dress up for the holiday. And don't forget to take some pictures!
  • Do taschlich. This is a Rosh Hashanah custom that is beautiful and meaningful. Taschlich means "casting off" in Hebrew. To do a taschlich ceremony, the afternoon of the holiday we walk (or drive) to a nearby body of water, like a river, stream, lake, or the ocean, with our pockets filled with crumbs or pebbles, and we throw them into the water. This is symbolic of God's forgiveness as he casts our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Tashlich is a time of reflection and repentance, and a perfect thing to do on Rosh Hashanah.
  • Attend an online service or conference. Since we can't get together with a congregation this year, my husband and I will be attending "People Get Ready," an online, three day Yom Teruah event.
These are just a few of the things you can do to celebrate. The whole idea is to set this day apart from ordinary days to learn, remember, reflect, repent, and rejoice. I hope you join me and many other believers across the world in celebrating this special day!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Study With Me: The Connections Method

Image
  If you do an internet search for "Bible Study Methods" you will find that there are SO many to choose from! There's the Inductive Method, the Topical Method, the Devotional Method, Verse Mapping, the SOAP Method, the ACTS Method, and so on and so on. I've tried a few of these, and I've never found one that really *works* for me. I want to study the Bible in a way that I can learn what it really says and what it means in context. I don't want to rely on someone else's ideas or my own ideas to try to figure out what it means. So I've put together a method of my own, inspired by a couple of  respected Bible teachers 1 and by the reading and study sessions that my husband and I have together each day. I call this way of studying "The Connections Method". It doesn't rely on commentaries or devotionals, and it doesn't require drawing conclusions or trying to make every Bible passage fit directly into our modern day lives. Instead, it sim
Read more

Hoshiana!

Image
Yesterday, many people celebrated what is known in churches as "Palm Sunday". What they were celebrating is an event that falls on the 10th day of the First Month on God's calendar. This year that date falls on Monday, April 15th: today!  This is the day that Yeshua (Jesus) rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people waved palm branches and cried, "Hoshiana!"  This was very symbolic and significant, and you can read about it in your Bible in Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12.  Yeshua was fulfilling a prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9, which says: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.   The word "hoshiana" is transliterated in our Bibles as "hosanna". Don't ask my why. I'm not a linguist, so I don't know. But what I do know is t
Read more

A Fresh Start

Once upon a time I had a little blog. I started it to keep far away family and friends updated on things that were happening in my life. Then, gradually, for no good reason at all, I stopped writing in it. I forgot about my little blog. I didn't forget about my far away family and friends, though, and now even more of my family is far away. So, I've decided to start again with a fresh, new blog, and here it is! Here I will share events, photos, recipes, and things I am learning, making, doing, and thinking. In this world of hashtags and statuses, I want to share a little more, and make connections that are a little bit deeper than a "like" or a "heart" while scrolling by.  I hope you will join me!
Read more