How rich is Tishri in Jewish suggestion! It is the month of Awe, of the Ram's-horn call and of Israel's great national calamity; it is also the month of the Sukkah and Ehthrog and Lulab and the Rejoicing of the Law, and, if we go back to the days of the Second Temple, it is the time of the Jewish fall festival, celebrated with music and dancing and brilliant spectacles and athletic contests, to say nothing of the psalms of praise and thanksgiving. The intensely Jewish soul not only finds every religious emotion satisfied in the month of Tishri but actually lives again through every extreme of joy and sorrow, disappointment and hope in contemplating these things.
Tishri is a season of beginning or renewal. The very name, odd-sounding, and suggestive of its Babylonian origin, signifies beginning of dedication. It is the time of the coming of rains in tropical countries north of the equator, such as Palestine, as was suggested in its ancient Hebrew name, the month of Perennial Streams. (2), referring to the filling of the streams at this time of the year by the yor'ch (early rains). That the bringing back of a smile to the old earth's dried-up, wrinkled face should be associated in the minds of men with Creation, is natural, for the day of rain is considered greater than the day that called the universe into being. (3) And so we find not only the Hebrews, but also their neigh-
(1.) Bab., surru, begin.(2.) Other meanings have been suggested for Ethanim, as "Strong ones" (Abraham and Jacob) in the Talmud; "Major Festivals," in Metzudoth David; "Strength," in Kimchi; and "Priority," in Targum Jonathan. The word is also found in Phoenician.(3.) Taanith, 7 b.
bors celebrating the glories of the GreatBeginning in this month. (4) It marks,then, among its anniversaries the birth ofman on the earth and the opening of theCivil Year and hence the turning point,the crisis, the Judgement time that links theold with the new. It is a good time tostand outside of ourselves for a little whileto “look at ourselves”—the proper time forthe sonorous ram’s-horn to awaken us fromour spiritual dozing.
For the nation, the Yomim Noraim, the Awe-inspiring days, have a similar significance. The unheralded, prolonged Yom Teruah, consisting of two natural days, marks the renewal of the Theocracy, our God-kingdom. We are urged when we hear the Shofar to bethink ourselves of Sinai, where our nation was created, of the prophets whose warnings were all national, of the destruction of the Temple and of its rebuilding in the future. Unless we think of these great facts, the vital tissue of Judaism, how perverted the simplest ceremonies may become! The average temple-goer who in superstitious awe thinks Kol Nidre (which in our corrupted versions is really meaningless) (6) the greatest ceremony or most beautiful thing in Judaism simply because the melody moves him in spite of himself or frightens him, is truly to be pitied. How diff:erent was the attitude towards Yom Kippur in olden times! Contrast the open joy, not in the least incompatible with reverence, of
(4.) Tishritum was dedicated by the Assyrians to the unsin-god or power-giving god.
(5.) i. e., not preceded by the regular New Moon Blessing on Saturday.
(6.) cf. R. Mordecai Yafa (Baal Hal- levush); Heidenheim ad loc.; R. Jacob Emden, et al.