2. The manner in which this Festival was and still is the Sabbath, this festival is to be a day of rest, on which all trade and handicraft works were stopped (Lev. xxiii. 24, 25). As the new year also is the new moon, a threefold sacri fice was offered on this festival—viz., the ordinary daily sacrifice, which was offered first ; then the appointed new moon sacrifice [NEW MOON, FEAST OF THE]; and last of all followed the sacrifice of this festival, which consisted of a young bullock, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year, with the usual meat-offerings, and a kid for a sin-offering (Num. xxix. 1-6) ; and which, with the exception of there being one young bullock for a burnt-offer ing instead of two, was simply a repetition of the monthly offering. All the time that the drink offering and burnt-offering were offered, the Levites engaged in soul-stirring vocal and instrumental music, singing the eighty-first and other Psalms ; whilst the priests at stated intervals broke forth with awful peals of the trumpets. After the offer ing up of the sacrifices, the service was concluded by the priests, who pronounced the benediction (Num. vi. 23-27), which the people received in a prostrate position before the Lord. Hereupon the congregation, after prostrating themselves a second time in the court, resorted to the adjoining synagogues, where the appointed lessons from the Law and Prophets were read, consisting of Gen. xxi. 1-34 ; Num. xxix. 1-6 ; I Sam. i. s–ii. 10 ; Gen. xxii. 1-24; Num. xxix. 1-6 ; Jer. xxxi. 2-20 [HAPHTARA]. Psalms were recited and the festi val prayers were offered, beseeching the Lord to pardon the sins of the past year, and to grant to the people a happy new year, which concluded the morning service. The families then resorted to their respective homes, partook, as on other fes tivals, of a social and joyous repast, and in the evening again went to the Temple to witness the offering of the evening sacrifice, and the incense, and to see the lighting of the candlestick, with which the festival concluded, all wishing each other, May you be written down for a happy new year' (1mr) ran rl)tb), or, 'May the Creator decree for you a happy new year' (rut:b wiz rizio); to which it is replied, ' And you likewise' 0171N tn). This wish or prayer to be inscribed on this day in the book of life arises from the fact that the Jews believe that the feast of the new year is the annual day of judgment, on which all the deeds of man are weighed, whether they be good or evil, the destinies of every individual and every nation are fixed for the ensuing year, and the death and life of every one is determined, as well as the man ner of death (Mishna Rosh Ha-Shana, i. 2 ; Tal mud, in loco). Hence the names Day of judgment (Plil CI') and Awful Days (o+t Td by which this festival is sometimes called. It is a remarkable fact that all the ancient astronomers of the different nations have given the figure of an aged man of stern aspect, holding a pair of scales in his right hand and an open book in his left, as the sign of the zodiac for this month, thus expressing the re ligious idea of this festival.
With the exception of the sacrifices which cannot be offered in consequence of the destruction of the Temple, and a few modifications which have been introduced through the shifting circumstances of the nation, the Jewish ritual for the new year con tinues to the present day to be essentially the same as it was in the days of Christ. The service com prises prayers of a threefold kind as described in the Mishna, which are as follows :--i. A series of texts are recited bearing on the supreme rule of God, consisting of, a, Nom till b, nrnmi, commencing with -om row till ronn and c, telit beginning from where the last leaves off till rim 9N71. After these prayers have been offered, in which the speedy approach of the kingdom of God is invoked, when all mankind shall possess the true knowledge of their Creator, and unite in the worship of their supreme Benefactor, and which are called rirzo, clhomage, a prayer is recited celebrating the holiness of the day (1rrun mat), after which the trumpet is blown. ii. Then follow prayers acknowledging the omniscience, providence, and supremacy of the Creator, and beseeching him to remember his creatures in pity, and temper his judgment with mercy, which are called ram?, of Remembrance, and after which the trumpet is again blown ; and iii. Prayers celebrating that future jubilee when
all men will be free from the bondage of error, and acquire perfection in the knowledge of their God, which are called M1n1V, of Sounding the Trumpet, and after which the trumpet is blown a third time. The service is then concluded with the recital of the rIN-nr, and nri: =In, or the three last blessings of the Amida or and D151Y vw (Rosh Ha-Shana, iv. 5). Before the destruction of the Temple the trumpets were blown all day by the priests in Jerusalem, from sunrise to sunset, but since the downfall of the city it has been ordained that the trumpet is to be blown in every city during the synagogal service, and that every Israelite is obliged to hear its sound. Though the Bible says nothing about the kind of trumpet to be used on this occasion, yet it is certain that the comet used in the Temple on the feast of new year was,' as the Mishna declares, ' a straight horn of a chamois [a kind of antelope, or wild goat], the mouth-piece of which was covered with gold' (Rosh Ha-Shana, iii. 3), and the Jews to the pre sent day use a ram's horn, to remind God on this occasion of the ram which he sent to be sacrificed instead of Isaac, and of the covenant made with the patriarchs ; for which reason also Gen. xxii. 1.24, recording the sacrifice of Isaac, forms the lesson of this festival. The horns of oxen or calves are unlawful (Roth .Ha-Shana, iii. 2), as the use of them would remind God of Israel's sin in making the golden calf, which is also the reason why the Jews in the present day no more gild the mouth-piece of the trumpet. Before sounding the trumpet, which is of this shape, the rabbi pro nounces the following benediction : Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast sanctified us with thy commandments, and enjoined us to hear the sound of the trumpet ! Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast preserved us alive, sustained us, and safely brought us to this season !' To which the whole congregation responds Amen !' The greatest importance is attached to the blowing of the trumpet, as its sound is believed to confound Satan, who on this day of judgment appears before God's tribunal to accuse the children of Israel (Rosh Ha-Shana, 16). This explains the other wise inexplicable rendering of Num. xxix. I in the Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan b. Uzziel, Nalcp5 Nn.0:1 Nzzirn$ j135 ;urn= 573 p$, it shall be a day of blowing tc confound Satan, who conies to accuse you, with the sound of your trumpets. After Mincha, or the after noon service, they go to a river or stream, which they generally prefer to be out of town, and to have fish, and recite a prayer called 761rn, which consists of the following passages of Scripture : Micah vii. 8-2o ; Ps. cxviii. 5-9 ; xxxiii. ; and with the earnest recitation of Is. xi. 9, shake their garments over the water. Four reasons are assigned for this service—i. It is to pray to God to be as fruitful as the fish. ii. To commemorate the sacrifice of Isaac, which, according to an old tra dition, Abraham made on this day, in spite of the wiles of Satan, who sought to prevent the patriarch from obeying the Lord, by causing a mighty stream to arise on Abraham's journey to Mount Moriah. which would have drowned both the father and the son but for the prayers of faithful Abraham. iii. To be reminded by the sight of the fish that we are as suddenly deprived of our life as these fish are caught in the net (Eccles. ix. 12), and thereby be admonished to repentance. And iv. To learn from the fish constantly to direct our eyes upwards.
3. Literature.—Mishna, Rosh Ha-Shana ; and the Gemara on this Tractate ; Siphra on Lev. xxiii. 23-25 ; Num. xxix. I ; Abravanel, Commen tary on Exod. xii. 1, if. ; Lev. xxiii. 23-25; Arum. xxix. i; The Jewish Ritual, entitled Dereclu Ha Chajim, Vienna 1859, p. 258, ff. ; ilfachsor for Rosh Ha-Shana ; Meyer, De Temporibus Sacris et Fern's Diebus Hebruorum, 1755, p. 300, ff. C. D. G.