Shabbat Midrash (Teaching) Outlines

The Day of The Blowing of The Trumpets (Shofars)

• Rosh Hashanah not found in the scriptures
• Referred to as Yom Teruah - The Day of The Blowing of The Trumpets (Shofars) - Feast of Trumpets
• Referred to as Yom Hazikaron - The Day of Remembrance
• Referred to as Yom Hadin - The Day of Judgement
• Referred to as The Jewish New Year - literally "The beginning of the Year". The first month of the Jewish year is Nisan yet Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first two days of Tishrei, the 7th month (the jubilee year commenced on this month and slaves were freed and property was restored to its original owners). The Jewish calendar is built on two main cycles - religious cycle begins in the Spring and civil cycle begins in the Fall. Months are not named in the Torah, only numbered, beginning with Nisan in the early Spring, which is the first month according to the religious calendar.
• Marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days

Customs

• Dipping of bread into honey after Kiddush (wine blessing) and Ha-Motzi (bread blessing), as a symbol of the hope that the new year will be sweet
• Dipping pieces of apple into honey, for the same reason
• Use of round loaf of hallah (bread) instead of the usual braided hallah, symbolizing the shape of a crown
• Avoidance of nuts because the numerical value of the Hebrew word for "nut" is the same as the word for "sin"
• Tashlikh ceremony in which "sins" are ceremoniously tossed into a river and washed away, as penitent prayers are said

The Shofar

• A reminder that the flesh has to be removed from us in order for us to be used as an instrument of God
• Associated with the coronation of a king
• Heralds the beginning of a penitent period
• The Torah was given amid blasts of a shofar
• The prophets compare their message to blasts of a shofar
• It is a reminder of the substitutionary sacrifice of the ram for Isaac
• It fills us with awe
• It is associated with Judgement Day
• It heralds the Messianic Age
• It heralds the Resurrection
• The Four (4) Sounds

1) Tekiah - 1 long simple note, like an alarm

2) Shevarim - 3 medium blasts

3) Teruah - at least 9 short blasts

4) Tekiah Gedolah - a single blast that lasts until the blower runs out of breath

Significance

• According to Orthodox Jewish tradition, the "Ten Days of Awe" which begin at Rosh Hashana are the time in which God determines the fate of each human being
• On Rosh Hashana, the wholly righteous are inscribed in the Sefer Ha-Hayyim, or Book of Life
• The wholly wicked are inscribed in the Book of Death
• The fate of all others hangs in the balance until Yom Kippur
• Consequently, it is a time for introspection, taking stock of one's behavior over the past year and making amends for any wrongdoing

From Beginning to End

• Only when we come to realize how all the Feasts of Israel have been fulfilled in Messiah can we begin to fathom what God has done from beginning to end
• Revelation 22:13 - "I Am The Beginning and The End"
• In Yeshua we learn the spiritual significance illustrated in the ancient Feasts of Israel which prophetically foreshadowed what the Lord intended to accomplish from beginning to end through Yeshua our Redeemer
• Yeshua is our Pesach (Passover) Lamb through whose sacrificial death we have been set free from a life of sin
• It is through faith in Yeshua that we receive the Ruach Ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) and the Torah written upon our hearts, the fulfillment of Shavuot
• Yeshua warned the people of pending judgement, calling them to repentance, thus fulfilling the prophetic meaning of the Feast of Trumpets
• Yeshua became the scapegoat to bear our sins through the shedding of His blood that atonement has been made, the fulfillment of Yom Kippur
• Yeshua is the Holy One of Israel who came to tabernacle amoung His people, fulfilling the prophetic meaning of Sukkot

Our Response

• If we do not respond to the blast of the shofar on the Day of Trumpets that calls us to awaken from our slumber and repent of our sins, then we remain dead in our sins.
• We strive in vain to attain righteousness by observing the Law, but unless Yeshua writes His Law upon our hearts, as promised through the Renewed Covenant, we will forever be toiling in vain to attain everlasting righteousness
• The Rabbis continue to heap heavy burdens on the Jewish people, insisting that they achieve their redemption through good works
• Everlasting righteousness comes only through faith in the Messiah
• Yeshua said,

"Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for you souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

• This is the true Sabbath rest planned for the people of God in which we rest from our own works and enter God's rest
• Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!

posted by Chris Phillips, Congregational Leader  # 9/23/2005