Here’s a mindbender for you: Rosh Hashanah begins the new year, but Pesach falls in the first month! The best way to understand Judaism’s marking of the seasons of the year is to think of the start of the fiscal year versus the start of the calendar year—July and January—except inverted. Rosh Hashanah is on the first of Tishri (like January, it marks the calendar year change; but for Judaism, it’s the seventh month), Pesach falls in the middle of Nisan (like July, it starts a yearly cycle, but for Judaism, it’s the first month). Like I said: inverted!
Each of the 29(!) Jewish holy days each year has its assigned time. Nearly all of them invoke some remembrance of historical events (or events remembered). They are all framed by Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot; holidays that are closely associated with the seasons, rainfall, and the harvest in the land of Israel. That framework of three Chagim—festivals—serves as the structure on which the other days are layered. While we moderns think of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as the most sacred of days, biblically, they were the setup for Sukkot. Why? Sukkot falls in the middle (14 days) of the seventh month. Remember that the number seven is the basic building block of the year, so the seventh month held powerfully sacred significance. That it marked the beginning of the rains in a seasonally arid land also gave it additional relevance. Only with the end of worship at the Temple in Jerusalem did Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur assume the significance we attribute to them.
Most of the other holy days mark events in Jewish history: Chanukkah, Israeli Independence, fast days marking traditional memories of certain occurrences, Holocaust remembrance, Purim, and so on. By memorializing events with holidays, our tradition ensures that we never become “Orphans in History.” Our sacred observances link us to the stories of our past.
Time is truly sacred for the Jewish people. We mark our lives in the present with events, rituals, sacred words, and even symbolic reenactments of past experiences that served to create our unique Jewish identity. These cycles of time, layered with the rituals that mark our paths through life (baby namings—Brit Bat or Ben; upsherin; the first day of school; Bnai Mitzvah, weddings; funerals; and around again with our families), bring meaningful structure to our lives. As modern Jews, we can reframe them and add new layers of meaning and in so doing, our ancient tradition continues to be relevant even as the world changes around us.
—Rabbi Ron Stern