Rosh Hashanah—Jewish New Year?

Many Jews today celebrate Rosh Hashanah—the Jewish holiday known as the “Jewish New Year”. Because of this, many Christians assume that Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the new year according to the biblical calendar.

According to Modern Rabbinic Judaism, Rosh Hashanah is found in the Bible at Leviticus 23:23–25:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ₂₄ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. ₂₅ You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD. (ESV)

However, the Bible does not actually suggest that this holiday is a new year’s day. In fact, this passage makes it clear that this holiday falls on the seventh month of the year (v. 24)! According to the Bible, the first month of the year for the Israelites was to be the month of the Passover (Exod. 12:2).

The actual name of this holiday is Yōwm Tərūwʿāh (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה), meaning “Day of Alarm”. It can be found in Numbers 29:1, where it is commonly mistranslated as “a day of blowing trumpets”. The Hebrew word tərūwʿāh simply means “alarm” or “noise”, and does not imply that the sound must be made by a trumpet.

Because Modern Rabbinic Judaism is the most well-known version of Jewish religion, many Christians today are unaware that the Jewish holiday called “Rosh HaShanah” is actually called the “Day of Alarm” in the Bible, and that it is not in fact a new year’s day according to the Bible.