High Holiday Services
Rosh Hashanah September 15-17 2023 (Year 5784)
Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year” or “first of the year.” Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. The name “Rosh Hashanah” is not used in the Bible to discuss this holiday. The Bible refers to the holiday as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the sounding of the shofar). Rosh Hashanah begins September 15, 2023, at sundown and it concludes at nightfall on September 17, 2023
The commandment to observe Rosh Hashanah is found in Leviticus 23:23-25:
And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy day of convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD “
At Beth Yeshua, we celebrate the Jewish holidays in a traditional way. We also like to understand these holidays from a Messianic viewpoint. On Rosh Hashanah when we read the “Akida”, the binding of Isaac, we understand this was done as a prefiguration of how G-d’s Son, Yeshua, could die and take away our sins. When we greet each other in the New Year, we don’t have to worry whether our names are written in the Book of Life, we have confidence in the words of the Messiah, Yeshua, that said
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” We will be with him in Heaven, for He shall return to take us to Himself.
John 14:1-4NKJV
John 3:16-17.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
Yom Kippur 2023 (the Day of Atonement): September 24–25 (Year 5784)
Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, is perhaps the most important holiday of the Jewish year. Yom Kippur is observed on the 10th of Tishri. It is a day of repentance and reconciliation.
Also on the tenth day of this seventh month, there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be a holy day of convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.” – Leviticus 23:27-28.
It was on this day – the only day – that the High Priest was able to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only after elaborate ceremonial washings, offerings, and associated rituals. This was also the day that two goats were selected, one for an offering and one as the “scapegoat.”
Lev 16:21-22
Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send {it} away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who {stands} in readiness.
“The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness
As many aspects of the feasts were prophetic, the scapegoat is also a future picture of the Messiah, Yeshua. What the Goal could not do, Yeshua did. That is why John the Baptist spoke these prophetic words about Him.
The next day he “saw Jesus coming to him and” said, “Behold, the Lamb of G-d who takes away the sin of the world!
Woven throughout the Old Testament feasts is the foreshadowing of G-d’s plan for the redemption of mankind. Those of us who have placed our trust in Yeshua are able to enter behind the veil and stand in the Holy of Holies. We have forgiveness because of the sacrificial death of Yeshua on the cross. Please take a moment during this holiest of days to reflect on all of these things and to repent of any un-confessed sin in your life.