When is Rosh Hashanah in 2007 ?

Rosh Hashanah in 2007 will take place just before sunset on Wednesday, September 12, 2007. Rosh Hashanah in 2007 will end at sunset on Thursday, September 13, 2007 for Jews who celebrate Rosh Hashanah for one day (Some Reform Jews and some Reconstructionist Jews). Rosh Hashanah in 2007 will end at sunset on Friday, September 14, 2007 for Jews who celebrate Rosh Hashanah for two days (Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews, and some Reform Jews and some Reconstructionist Jews). In Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where we are located, Rosh Hashanah in 2007 will begin at exactly 7:13 P.M. (sunset time in Montreal, but technically speaking, Rosh Hashanah will begin just before sunset) on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 and end either at 7:11 P.M. (sunset time) on Thursday, September 13, 2007 for Jews who celebrate Rosh Hashanah for one day, or at 7:09 P.M. (sunset time) on Friday, September 14, 2007 for Jews who celebrate Rosh Hashanah for two days.
 
 
 
 
 

How Long Is The Rosh Hashanah Holiday?

Rosh Hashanah is a 2-day holiday for all Orthodox-Jewish and Conservative-Jewish people. Furthermore, the Kabbalists, or Jewish mystics, stress celebrating Rosh Hashanah as a two-day holiday for all Jews based on their interpretation of two passages in the biblical "Book of Job" ("Job" or "Jobe" is "Iyov" in Hebrew). These passages are found in Job 1:6 and in Job 2:1 and in the opinion of the Kabbalists, or Jewish mystics, each refer to a day for Rosh Hashanah, hence two days for Rosh Hashanah. Job 1:6 states: "Now there was a day when the sons of G-d came to present themselves before the L-rd" and a little further on in the text Job 2:1 states: "Again there was a day when the sons of G-d came to present themselves before the L-rd". The "Book of Zohar", the major textual work of the Kabbalists, states that the sons of G-d were also being observed by the Heavenly Court before the Almighty on each of these two days (Zohar, Pinehas, page 231a). To ensure that all Jews are united on Rosh Hashanah by celebrating Rosh Hashanah at the same time around the globe, the two days of Rosh Hashanah are considered together to be a "Yoma Arichta" or "Yoma Arichtah", a single "long day" in Aramaic of 48 hours. If Rosh Hashanah were celebrated for only 24 hours, then some Jews in one part of the world could be finished with celebrating Rosh Hashanah while other Jews in other parts of the world could still be celebrating it. A single "48-hour day" solves this problem, and emphasizes the importance that the rabbis stressed of celebrating Rosh Hashanah in a unified way among Jews worldwide. The Karaite Jews, who only follow the literal meaning of the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible and reject rabbinic literature such as the Talmud, commemorate Rosh Hashanah as a one-day holiday since the second day of Rosh Hashanah is not literally mentioned in the Torah. There are some Reform-Jewish and Reconstructionist-Jewish communities who commemorate Rosh Hashanah as a two-day holiday while other Reform-Jewish and Reconstructionist-Jewish communities who celebrate Rosh Hashanah as a one-day holiday.

Why Is Rosh Hashanah A Two-Day Holiday?

Originally, Rosh Hashanah was not known as Rosh Hashanah. Rather, the name Rosh Hashanah was later on connected to the first day of the Hebrew/Jewish month of Tishri or Tishrei in Mishnaic times (about 10 B.C.E. until about 200 C.E. or 220 C.E., when the Mishnah of the Talmud was compiled and codified), based on the biblical commandment from the Book of Leviticus (Leviticus 23:23-25) where it says: "And in the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall observe a cessation of work - a day of remembrance, of the sounding of the shofar". Thus, Rosh Hashanah was originally a one-day holiday and was known as "Yom Teruah" ("Day of Sounding the Shofar or Ram's Horn" in Hebrew) and "Zikaron Teruah" or "Zikkaron Teruah" ("Day of Remembering the Sounding of the Shofar or Ram's Horn" in Hebrew), based on the verses from Leviticus 23:23-25. Later on, near the end of the Second Temple period [First Temple period: From 922 B.C.E. until 587 B.C.E. or 586 B.C.E.; Second Temple period: From 516 B.C.E. or 515 B.C.E. until 70 C.E. (refer to the note near the bottom of this web page regarding dates)], Rosh Hashanah was extended to become a two-day holiday. This change occurred during the time of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai (circa 1 C.E. - 80 C.E.), an important Jewish Sage who made a major textual contribution to the Mishnah, which was the core text of Rabbinic Judaism. The text of the Mishnah and the text of the Gemara together make up the Talmud, the first great record of Rabbinic Judaism.

So why was Rosh Hashanah extended to become a two-day holiday? In Temple times, the day that indicated the beginning of an upcoming month - known as "Rosh Hodesh" in Hebrew, meaning "head of the month" - was based on observing the first sighting of the first crescent of the New Moon by two reliable and independent witnesses chosen by the Sanhedrin, a 71-member Jewish "Supreme Court" and legislative body that was composed of Jewish Sages which was based in Jerusalem. Once the beginning of the upcoming month was determined and confirmed, the dates for Jewish festivals and holidays for that month were determined by the members of the Sanhedrin. Originally, signal fires or smoke signals from a series of mountaintops beginning on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel and extending all the way to distant Babylon were then sent up to inform Jewish communities about the new moon for the upcoming month as well as the dates for festivals and holidays for the upcoming month, but this method was subject to abuse. When false signal fires or smoke signals were sent up by the Boethusians or Herodians, and the Sadducees, the members of the Sanhedrin replaced the signal fires or smoke signals with special messengers. These special messengers were then sent out by the members of the Sanhedrin to inform the Jewish people about the date for Rosh Hashanah, first in Jerusalem, and then in outlying Jewish communities beyond Jerusalem and Israel. Since it obviously took more time to reach the outlying Jewish communities, to ensure that Rosh Hashanah was commemorated by all Jewish communities on the correct date, the Sages of the Sanhedrin in the late Second Temple period (1 C.E. until 70 C.E.) decreed that Rosh Hashanah be extended to become a two-day holiday. However, the extension to two days for the Rosh Hashanah holiday also included Jews who lived in Israel and even in Jerusalem itself, since the importance of commemorating Rosh Hashanah was so great that the Sages of the Sanhedrin wanted to ensure that no Jewish person would miss celebrating Rosh Hashanah.

Another explanation of why Rosh Hashanah is for two days deals with when the special messengers arrived at the Sanhedrin to report the sighting of the new moon, which according to Talmudic tradition, was built into the north wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, half inside and half outside of the walled city of Jerusalem, so outside visitors could directly enter it, and next to the entrance to the Temple. Since a month in the Hebrew/Jewish lunar calendar consisted of either 29 days or 30 days, if the witnesses arrived at the Sanhedrin on the 30th day of the month to report their sighting of the new moon for the upcoming month, then that day became the 1st day of the upcoming month and the previous month was changed from being 30 days to 29 days. If no witnesses arrived at the Sanhedrin on the 30th day, then the previous month would automatically remain at 30 days in length and the upcoming month would begin on the 31st day. From this reasoning, since Rosh Hashanah occurs on the 1st day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (or Tishrei), when the 30th day of the previous Hebrew month, the month of Elul, arrived, since everyone was waiting for the witnesses to arrive to report the sighting of the new moon to know whether or not Elul had 29 days or 30 days, no one could tell whether or not the 30th day of Elul would wind up being the 1st day of Tishri (or Tishrei), meaning Rosh Hashanah (and hence 29 days for Elul), or the 30th day of Elul. This of course would cause other problems such as when to observe the daily prayers, perform sacrifices, etc. As a result, the Sages of the Sanhedrin decreed that all Jewish communities - even Jewish communities in Israel, including Jerusalem - commemorate Rosh Hashanah as a two-day holiday. But which two days in the Hebrew/Jewish calendar? These two days of Rosh Hashanah can be translated two ways: (1) the 30th day of Elul and the 1st day of Tishri (or Tishrei), or (2) the 1st day of Tishri or Tishrei and the 2nd day of Tishri or Tishrei, the latter of which are the days on which Rosh Hashanah is celebrated today. Based on this explanation, Rosh Hashanah, as opposed to all other Jewish holidays, is the only holiday that is celebrated for two days, both inside and outside Israel.