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Yom Teruah & Yom Kippur

Yom Teruah – Day of Blasting / aka Festival of Trumpets

Yom Teruah begins on the first day of Chodesh Shv’i (Seventh New Moon) and is a Shabbat like day and all work is forbidden. It is the only festival celebrated at the beginning of the month. The only one celebrated in a time of darkness. Yom Teruah is a feast of beginning and literally means a “Day of Shouting or Blasting”. This word can describe the noise made by a shophar or trumpet, but also describes the noise made by a large gathering of people shouting in unison.

Hebrew tradition teaches that Chodesh Shv’i is the new moon when Yahweh crowed the King, and is likewise the day when the King is to return to pass judgement on the world. One is judged on Yom Teruah and one’s doom is sealed 10 days later on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The trumpet will be sounded on Yom Teruah to signify the second coming of Yahusha, when he returns to pass judgement. If your name isn’t already written in the Book of Life, then you have a 10-day tribulation period between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur to repent and atone for your sins before the Book of Life is opened, on Yom Kippur, and the verdict is sealed. In the Scriptures, 10 days is sometimes referred to as the time-period for trials and tribulations.

Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement

The literal translation of Yom Kippur is “Day of Atonement”. It occurs on the 10th day of Chodesh Shvi’i (Seventh New Moon), just before the Fall harvest.
Yom Kippur is a holy day, and all work is forbidden. It is a day of intense relationship with Yahweh and is a day of self-abnegation and prayer.
Yom Kippur is the only day when the High Priest could enter the “holy of holies” in the ancient Temple in Yerushalayim. Yom Kippur is often referred to as the Shabbat of Shabbats (Sabbath of Sabbaths); it is considered the most holy of the set-apart Shabbats. It is the holiest day of the entire year and is generally spent fasting and praying for forgiveness. It’s the moment of the most intense spiritual experience, the moment of atonement, the moment when all misdeeds are covered over. Yom Kippur is the day to forgive others of theirs sins against you and for you to repent and atone for your sins against others and against Yahweh. Most Hebrew set-apart days involve festive meals, but Yom Kippur involves affliction of one’s soul instead.

By refraining from certain activities, the body is made uncomfortable. Since the soul is the life force in a body, one’s soul is also made uncomfortable. Affliction of one’s soul was accomplished by acts like dry fasting (no food or water), forgoing marital relations, etcetera. The 10-day tribulation period starts with repentance on Yom Teruah and is completed with full atonement on Yom Kippur. At the time of the Second Coming, one will be judged on Yom Teruah and one’s doom sealed 10 days later on Yom Kippur when the Book of Life is opened.

Atonement / Repentance Correlation

Repentance is one element of atoning for one’s sin. To repent is to feel sorrow, regret or pain for what one has done or omitted to do. To atone is to make amends, reparation or compensation for a sin, an offence or a crime one has committed.

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Chag Sukkot

Festival of Booths

Chag Sukkot is celebrated on the 15th day of Chodesh Shvi’i (Seventh New Moon), at the full moon. The Festival of Sukkot lasts 8 days with the first and last day being Shabbat-like holy days where all work is forbidden. During the time of the yearly festival, the congregation of Yisrael had to construct a sukkah (booth) and stay in it for 8 days. The first day of the festival is the set-apart day called the Festival of Asif (Festival of Ingathering), a day of reaping the benefits of all our works. It occurs after the harvest in the fall and is a time of fulfillment and rejoicing. The Festival of Sukkot is one of 3 pilgrimage festivals appointed by the Scriptures and is the only festival associated with an explicit commandment to rejoice.

The Hebrew word sukkot is the plural of sukkah, in English it’s interpreted as booth or hut.
A sukkah is a temporary structure with outer walls and a roof constructed of leafy tree branches. It was a dwelling that farmers occupied during harvest time.
The Festival of Sukkot is a time for remembrance of the feeble habitats occupied by the Hebrews during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after their emancipation from slavery in Mitsrayim.
Yahweh established the Festival of Sukkot to ensure that the congregation of Yisrael would always remember their journey in the desert, from Mitsrayim to Canaan (Israel/Jordan), when they had to live in booths.
Mosheh often warned the Hebrews not to forget Yahweh their Elohim, who redeemed them from slavery, once they entered the land of milk and honey. Living in booths for a week is a tangible reminder of Yahweh’s provision in the wilderness for the congregation of Yisrael and that their bountiful life in Canaan was on account of Yahweh’s grace. It was Yahweh who had brought them to the Promised Land, and it is Yahweh who will take everything away if they do not follow his laws, statues and judgments; specifically commemorating their journey.

Sukkot is a time for the Hebrews to remember the great harvest they just completed, the wealth they have achieved, and the freedom they gained all happened entirely through the grace of Yahweh.
Like most of the ancient Hebrew festivals, its first day is a set-apart day for holy convocation derived from agricultural customs and revolves around the Exodus of the Hebrew slaves. However, unlike any other festival, it has an 8th day, tacked on at the end of the usual 7-day festival cycle.
The 8th day brings the Sukkot period to its state of perfection. A day held back in order to complete the cycle; the seed gone underground in apparent death, only to give new life in the Spring.
A sign of the commencement of the impending winter, of having less, of internalization and starting over again, that moment when the Hebrew people no longer had to live in booths.
It represents a moment in time that hasn’t happened yet, the moment of fulfillment when all work is complete, like when the congregation of Yisrael could enter the Promised Land. It is symbolic of the moment of Mosheh’s death: a death that moves at once towards new life, towards the people crossing the River Jordan into Canaan, the Promised Land.
Like other festivals, it is also prophetic. The Festival of Sukkot is a look to the future, when the new heaven and earth are formed. As it declares in the Scriptures, even after the new heaven and new earth are formed, all nations must still go up year after year to worship the King, Yahweh of Hosts.

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Chag Shavuot

Festival of Weeks

The Hebrew word shavuot means “weeks” in English. Chag Shavuot is a festival of revelation, which occurs 7 weeks and 1 day (50 days) after Pesach. It falls between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar.
The 7 days of weeks (49 days) count starts on the 2nd day of the Festival of Matzot, the day after Pesach, and ends the day before the Festival of Shavuot, the 50th day.
It is the moment where the Hebrew people met Yahweh face to face on Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments and the Laws of Mosheh. The Festival of Shavuot is one of the 3 scripturally ordained Pilgrimage Festivals.
It marks the time of the wheat harvest in Yisrael and is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Harvest or the Day of the First Fruits.

The festival commemorates the anniversary of Mosheh receiving the Laws from Yahweh at Mount Sinai. It recounts the seven weeks the Hebrew people where lead by Yahweh himself, appearing by day as a cloud and at midnight as fire, after they left Mistrayim and before receiving the Laws of Mosheh, on the 50th day, at Mount Sinai. The counting of days and weeks is understood to represent spiritual preparation, anticipation and desire of the children of Yisrael to receive the Laws of Mosheh so they could again know how to serve Yahweh.
The “Book of Ruth” is traditionally read on the morning of the Festival of Shavuot because the story takes place during the harvest season, and because of the symbolism associated with Ruth as the great-grandmother of King Dawid (King David), who was born and died on Shavuot.

Refer to the “Counting the Weeks Table” below for additional information pertaining to The Festival of Shavuot.

Counting the Weeks of Shavuot – Hebrew Names

Counting the Weeks of Shavuot – English Translation

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Chag Pesach

Passover Festival

The Pesach is a festival to memorialize the night of the Hebrew people’s emancipation from slavery in Mitsrayim (Egypt). It’s the night they left the land of Mitsrayim on their Exodus to the Promised Land, the night that Yahweh unleased His 10th, and final plague.
The Pesach festival re-counts the biblical narrative of when Yahweh “passed over” the homes of Hebrew families who put blood on the doorposts and lintel so that their first-born children would be spared during a plague that killed all the other first-born babies in Egypt.
The Hebrew word Pesach as a verb, meaning to jump, skip, or pass over. As a noun, referring primarily to the animal-victim that was slaughtered, but secondarily to the period connected with the slaughter of the victim.
The “Pesach Festival” involves the skipping, or passing over, an imperfect goat or sheep to select one without blemish. It also relates to the time-period associated with the Pesach from the time it’s slaughtered to the time that the meal has been prepared and eaten.
The Scriptures provide all the “pesach” (sheep or goat) selection parameters. It reveals what type of animal that we must select, when we must select it, and how we must select it.

They provide a comprehensive explanation of the pesach meal preparation process, including the time-frame for cooking it, how to dress when eating it, who may eat it, and even what to do with the leftovers.
Likewise, the Scriptures dictate the selection parameters for the “Pesach Festivities” of the Chosen people. Just as an imperfect animal is passed over to select the perfect animal, so too were homes with the blood on its door posts and lintels selected to be passed over by the angel of death.
As with the pesach victim, there is an appointed time when the particular steps in the Pesach Festival must take place. For instance, the plague would be unleashed (midnight). The children of Yisrael had to remain inside their dwellings from the start of the Pesach, at sunset on the 14th, until sunrise the next morning, on the 15th. And at sunrise, they had to grab their unleavened bread and leave Mitsrayim with utmost haste.
Yahweh’s ordinance given to Mosheh in the Book of Exodus directing the freed Hebrew slaves to remember and celebrate the Festival of Pesach for all their generations to come was given with the utmost forethought. It wasn’t a decree made by happenstance.
That the Messiah’s death occurred on the eve of the Festival of Pesach at the time decreed to slaughter the pesach animal of the Pesach meal, is no mere coincidence. Like other scripturally ordained Festivals, he planned the Pesach from Creation to foreshadow and commemorate significant scriptural events.
Thus, Pesach is both a celebration of the congregation of Yisrael’s emancipation from slavery and a commemoration of the killing of the ultimate Pesach, his only begotten son.

Some religions consider the Festival of Pesach and the Festival of Matzot as the same festival called by a different name, but the Festival of Matzot is actually in reference to the entire 7-day festival period and the Pesach festival is a portion of the first day, a set-apart day, of the 7-day Festival of Matzot.
The Pesach relates to the process of passing over the animal or the doorpost, and Matzot commemorates the Hebrews leaving Mitsrayim with nothing but unleavened bread. The two festivals overlap and are intertwined.
Whenever the Scriptures speak of the Pesach, it typically refers to it as “this day”, and speaks of it as one particular day. The earliest possible date that Pesach can occur is March 21st and the latest date is April 20th.

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Chag Matzot

Festival of Unleavened Bread

Chag Matzot is a 7-day long festival that occurs in the Spring. It starts on the evening of the 14th day of Chodesh Rishon (First New Moon), the first month, and ends on the 21st day. It is a moment of birth and newness, a time to rise up. The first day of the Festival of Matzot is a holy set-apart day called the Pesach festival.
The first and last day of the festival are celebrated as holy days with special meals, special prayers services and abstention from all servile work. Pesach is a festival to commemorate the Hebrew people’s emancipation from slavery in Mitsrayim, the time when they rose up against Pharaoh. The scriptural account describes the Hebrew people as they fled Mitsrayim with such urgency they could not wait for their bread dough to rise; when it was baked later, it was matzo (unleavened) and as they traveled through the desert, they had nothing to eat but matzo bread. The Festival of Matzot is one of the 3 scripturally ordained Pilgrimage Festivals.
Matzo is defined as unleavened flat bread. The plural of Matzo is Matzot. Matzo bread consists of only water and flour, with no yeast, shortening, or other enriching agents. Matzah recreates the hard “bread of affliction” provided to the Hebrew slaves by their ruthless masters. Like the bitter herbs used to season the Pesach animal, it represents the suffering and degradation of the people of Yisrael. Matzah was the hard slave bread; we eat it instead of the rich, soft bread that was eaten by free people.

Yeast

The Scriptures often use “yeast” or “leaven” to symbolize sin. In cleaning it out of our homes, we realize how difficult it is to find and remove all of it. When we see how difficult it is to remove the leaven out of our homes, we realize just how difficult it is to get the sin out of our lives. In the same way, it’s easier to get the big, obvious sins out of our lives, but more difficult to get the hidden, seemingly small ones out before they rise up.

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Chag Asif

Festival of the Ingathering

Equinox

Chag Asif is celebrated on the 15th day of Chodesh Shvi’i (Seventh New Moon), at the full moon, after the completion of the fall harvest. It is a time where we reap the benefits of all our works, a time of fulfillment, a day to celebrate, rejoice and give thanks for the bounty of the earth. The “Ingathering” refers to the Hebrew farmers gathering the last of their crops at the turn of the year, around the time of the fall equinox.
The Festival of Asif is the first and most significant day of the Festival of Sukkot. It too uses an everyday activity that the people can relate to, gathering the last of the seasonal crops, as the most significant day of the festival.

Chag Asif

Like many of the Hebrew festivals, there is a name for the 7-day festival and another festival name that identifies the set-apart day that kicks off the 7-day festival. Similar to the Festival of Pesach, The Festival of Asif is a set-apart festival that takes place on the first day of the 7-day Festival of Matzot. Dwelling in booths for seven days is akin to the eating of unleavened bread for seven days. Similarly, the Festival of Asif is the first day, a set-apart day of holy convocation, of the Festival of Sukkot. The Festival of Asif is not just another name for the Festival of Sukkot, it is its own festival that is overlapped by the major festival, it is a festival within a festival so to speak.

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Ancient Hebrew New Year

Vernal Equinox

The vernal equinox determines the start of the year. Therefore, the year starts in the Spring not in the Winter like with the Gregorian calendar or in the Fall like the present-day Jewish calendar.
We use the Spring equinox to start the New Year, the same as the ancient Hebrews, as stipulated in the Torah and the Old Testament Bibles, which tells us that the Pesach (Passover) Festival occurs during the year’s first new moon cycle.
The first new moon is the last new moon before Pesach. New Year’s Day is established by the new moon which occurs closest to the Spring equinox (before or after) when the day and night are of equal length, which ensures the full moon of Passover always occurs after the equinox.
In the Gregorian system, the equinox can occur from March 21-23. The earliest date for the Ancient Hebrew New Year’s Day can be only 14 days before March 21. Thus, the earliest date possible for New Year’s Day is March 8th, and the latest is April 6th. This makes it impossible for Pesach to occur prior to the vernal equinox or later than April 20/21. For example, in Georgia (USA) where I live, the 2021 vernal equinox is on March 20th and the closest new moon to that date is March 13th, making it the 2021 Rosh Chodashim (New Year’s) date.

Chodesh Rishon

Chodesh Rishon (First New Moon) has 2 secondary names. It was occasionally referred to as Rosh Chodashim, which literally means “head of all new moons”, which we refer to as New Year’s Day and to Chodesh Aviv, the New Moon of Spring.
Both Philon Yedidia (aka Philo Judaeus) and Yosef ben Matityahu (aka Flavius Josephus), two prominent historical Hebrew writers and contemporaries of Yahusha the Messiah, verify that the Spring equinox was used to establish the start of a New Year in their time.
Philo, the Hebrew historian, says that Moses established the moon of the Spring equinox as the first month of the year. Josephus the Jewish historian also confirms this and defines it as “when the sun was in Aries”

Relevant Scriptures

And Yahweh spoke to Mosheh and Aharon in the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt), saying, (2) This new moon is the beginning of the new moons for you, it is the first new moon of the year for you. (3) Speak to all the congregation of Yisrael saying. On the tenth day of this new moon, each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.
This chart provides a brief summary of the holy days, the Shabbats, the equinoxes, the harvest seasons and other seasonal information.

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Scripturally Ordained Set-apart Days

The process for celebrating a festival or atoning for one’s sin has surely evolved since ancient times. We know the ancient temples were destroyed and that the priests are no longer required to perform burnt offerings, sin offerings or animal sacrifices to atone for our sins. This comes as no surprise, because the Scriptures tell us that the ultimate Pesach lamb came and He will seek atonement for our sins instead of the priests.
They also declare that the holy days must be celebrated for all generations to come. They will even be celebrated after the new heaven and earth are formed.
His linguistic background included proficiency in Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Roman. Many historians regard him as the “Father of Chronology”. Besides being an authority of biblical chronology, he was likewise an authority of biblical prophecy evidenced by being the first scholar who correctly interpreted the Prophecy of Daniel 8 and Daniel 9.

Chag Matzot

Chag Matzot (Festival of Unleavened Bread) along with Chag Pesach (Passover Festival) commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, but they are also a celebration of the beginning of the barley harvest. Chag Shavuot (Festival of Weeks) is a jubilee of the wheat harvest.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is a day for repentance and atonement as described in great detail in Leviticus 16, and Yom Teruah is a day to sing and rejoice. Chag Sukkot (Festival of Booths) memorializes the wandering of the Israelites in the desert and Chag Asif (Festival of Ingathering) celebrates the final gathering of the years agricultural produce.
On three of the holy/set-apart days, the Hebrew men were directed to sojourn in order to congregate with their fellow believers. These Festivals recognize the four seasons of the year, four moments of history, four stages of human life and the four states of human consciousness.

The purpose of the holy days is to force you step back from the hustle of everyday life to appreciate and give thanks for what you’ve been given. To celebrate, to understand and reflect on the spiritual you. There are countless questions for you to ponder. Why did Yahweh emancipate the Hebrews from slavery? Why did he select the Hebrews as his chosen/set-apart people? How can I atone for my sins, and so on?
The holy days included in our Ancient Hebrew Calendar only encompasses those explicitly ordained in the Scriptures. It omits all secular holidays, regardless of its present-day acceptance or significance.

Relevant Scriptures

Exodus 34:23
Three times in the year all your men are to appear before the Master, Yahweh, the Elohim of Yisrael.
Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times a year all your males appear before Yahweh your Elohim in the place he chooses: at the Festival of Matzot, and at the Festival of Shavuot, and at the Festival of Sukkot. And none should appear before Yahweh empty-handed.

Holy/Set-Apart Days – Jerusalem (Israel)

Holy/Set-Apart Days – Georgia (USA)

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Scriptural Creation Timeline

There is no real consensus amongst Biblical scholars on the correct calculation for the start of Creation date. If everyone is using the same Biblical sources, then why isn’t there a consensus on the Creation Timeline duration you might ask?
The duration from Adam’s creation date to the Incarnation of Yahusha (Jesus) used in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures and in the Septuagint, are both around 5500 years to what we call 1 AD.
The Masoretic Text has a timeline of 3760 years to what we call 1 AD. Since the Masoretic Hebrew texts are the source of present-day English Biblical texts, so present-day English Bibles also have the 3760-year timeline.
The Ancient Hebrew Scriptural Texts, the Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Works and the Septuagint all placed the Messiah’s coming at around 5500 years after the Creation of Adam, in Julian Year 1 AD., which puts us at current Hebrew Year 7521. Historians Sextus Julius Africanus, called the Father of Chronology, Yusebius (Eusebius) Pamphii, and Yosef ben Matityahu (Flavius Josephus) were some of the most prominent proponents of the 5500-year timeline.

Mosheh ben Maimon (Maimonides) who wrote the Mishneh Torah and Yose (Jose) ben Halafta, who wrote Seder Olam Rabbah were two of the leading advocates of the 3760-year timeline. Maimonides calculated the duration from the Creation of Adam to Julian Year 1 AD. at 3760 years, which puts the current Jewish Year at 5781. Present-day Jewish calendars still use the calculations established by Maimonides centuries ago.
My research led me to conclude that the work of Africanus is the most accurate Creation Timeline.
The Creation Timeline proliferated by Africanus 2000 years ago is a match with the calculations of most present-day bible scholars who use the Septuagint LXX to calculate their timeline, though Africanus himself didn’t use Septuagint for his calculations. Instead, he used the ancient Hebraic Scriptural writings as the basis for his calculations. Additionally, Africanus built an alternate timeline of non-religious historical events that he used to substantiate and cross-check dates in his Scriptural timeline.

Timeline Summaries

Our “Scriptural Creation Timeline” is based on the timeline set forth by “the Father of Chronology” Sextus Julius Africanus.
He Places Creation in Hebrew Year 1 (5500 BC) the great flood in Year 2262 (3238 BC), Babylonian Captivity of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) in 4870 (630 BC).

And His Resurrection in Year 5531 (32 AD). According to Africanus’ both Adam’s Creation and the incarnation occurred on March 25th, exactly 5500 years to the day apart.

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Rosh Chodesh

New Moons – Months

The word used for new moon in Hebrew is “rosh chodesh” , which literally means “beginning, head, or renewal” of the moon and thus the beginning or head of the month. It’s a time of spiritual renewal. It is the name for the first day of every new moon in the Hebrew calendar . A new moon is the first lunar phase , when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude , therefore the lunar disk is not detectable to the naked eye during this phase, except during a solar eclipse . Throughout the Scriptures, the new moon was a day when the Prophets received inspiration from Yahweh , it is a day designated for waiting on Yahweh, for discerning His purposes and for prophetic revelation. The Hebrews had to abstain from physical work, and any other activities forbidden by the Scriptures on Rosh Chodesh.
The new moons are named by their numeric place on the calendar. For example, the Chodesh Rishon (First New Moon), Chodesh Sheni (Second New Moon), and so on. The First New Moon is the new moon of the Exodus from Mitsrayim (Egypt) . Therefore, whenever an individual mentions the number of another new moon, they are in effect recalling the Exodus from Mitsrayim: we are in, say, the Fifth New Moon, that is to recollect that there were five new moons since the time of the Exodus. Thus, the numeric naming is a continual reminder of the Hebrew’s emancipation from slavery in Mitsrayim.
There are only 4 new moons in the Scriptures identified by use of a non-numeric name. These non-numeric names aren’t literal names of the new moons, but a description of what that particular new moon represents. For example, the 1st new moon was also referred to as Chodesh Aviv (New Moon of Spring) because it is the 1st new moon of the Spring. Even these four new moons are almost always referred to by their numeric place on the calendar, with the names serving merely as secondary titles accompanying their numbers.

Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) Table – Jerusalem, Israel

Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) Table – Georgia, USA

These tables include the New Moon’s with their Hebrew and transliterated English names, along with the dates on which they occur in their respective locations.

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