High Holy Days

(23) ה׳ spoke to Moses, saying:

(24) Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest (shabbaton), a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts (zichron teruah).(25) You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall bring an offering by fire to ה׳.

(26) ה׳ spoke to Moses, saying:(27) Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement (Yom haKippurim). It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to ה׳;(28) you shall do no work throughout that day. For it is a Day of Atonement, on which expiation is made on your behalf before your God ה׳.(29) Indeed, any person who does not practice self-denial throughout that day shall be cut off from kin;(30) and whoever does any work throughout that day, I will cause that person to perish from among the people.(31) Do no work whatever; it is a law for all time, throughout the ages in all your settlements.(32) It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe this your sabbath.

(22) And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks (chag Shavuot), for the first fruits of the wheat harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering (chag ha’Assif… also known elsewhere as Sukkot) at the turn of the year.

(1)They are four days in the year that serve as the New Year, each for a different purpose:

On the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings; it is from this date that the years of a king’s rule are counted. And the first of Nisan is also the New Year for the order of the Festivals, as it determines which is considered the first Festival of the year and which the last.

On the first of Elul is the New Year for animal tithes; all the animals born prior to that date belong to the previous tithe year and are tithed as a single unit, whereas those born after that date belong to the next tithe year. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: The New Year for animal tithes is on the first of Tishrei.

On the first of Tishrei is the New Year for counting years, as will be explained in the Gemara; for calculating Sabbatical Years and Jubilee Years, i.e., from the first of Tishrei there is a biblical prohibition to work the land during these years; for planting, for determining the years of orla, the three-year period from when a tree has been planted during which time its fruit is forbidden; and for tithing vegetables, as vegetables picked prior to that date cannot be tithed together with vegetables picked after that date.

On the first of Shevat is the New Year for the tree; the fruit of a tree that was formed prior to that date belong to the previous tithe year and cannot be tithed together with fruit that was formed after that date; this ruling is in accordance with the statement of Beit Shammai. But Beit Hillel say: The New Year for trees is on the fifteenth of Shevat.

(2)At four times of the year the world is judged:
On Passover judgment is passed concerning grain;
On Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree;
On Rosh HaShana, all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: “He Who fashions their hearts alike, Who considers all their deeds” (Psalms 33:15);
And on the festival of Sukkotthey are judged concerning water, i.e., the rainfall of the coming year.

1. We give our emphasis to the holiness of this day - for it is tremendous and awe filled, the day of the exaltation of your kingship, your throne being established in loving-kindness; you will sit on that throne in truth.

2. It is true that you are the one who judges, and reproves, who knows all, and bears witness, who inscribes, and seals, who reckons and enumerates. You remember all that is forgotten.

You open the book of records, and from it, all shall be read. For in it lies each person's imprint.

3. And with a great shofar it shall be sounded, and a thin silent voice shall be heard. And the angels will be alarmed, and dread and fear shall seize them as they proclaim: behold!the Day of Judgment on which the hosts of heaven shall be judged, for they too shall not be judged entirely meritorious by you…

4. And all mortal creatures shall parade before you like a herd of sheep, lit. the children of the flock. As a shepherd herds his flock, directing his sheep to pass under his staff, so you shall pass, count, and record the souls of all living, and decree a limit to each person’s days, and inscribe their final judgment.

5. On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed - how many shall pass away and how many shall be born, who shall live and who shall die, who in good time, and who by untimely death, who by water and who by fire, who by sword and who by wild beast, who by famine and who by thirst, who by earthquake and who by plague, who by strangulation and who by lapidation.
Who shall have rest and who wander, who shall be at peace and who pursued, who shall be serene and who tormented, who shall become impoverished and who wealthy, who shall be debased, and who exalted.

6. But repentance, prayer and righteousness avert the severity of the decree.
For your praise is just as your name. You are slow to anger and quick to be appeased. For you do not desire the death of the condemned, rather, that they turn from their path and live. You wait for them until the very day of their death, and if they repent, you receive them immediately.

7. (It is true -) [For] you are their Creator and You understand their inclination, for they are but flesh and blood. We come from dust, and return to dust. We labour by our lives for bread, we are like broken shards, like dry grass, and like a withered flower; like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that passes, like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream.