Are you aware that the Gregorian calendar we use is different from the Jewish biblical calendar? According to God’s Word, the early days of autumn are full of holy days to be dedicated to the Lord. This year, 2020, September 18th at sundown–the start of the Jewish day–marked the first day of the Tishri 5781. This is the Jewish New Year. Ten days later, September 27th beginning at sundown, is the holiest day of the year, Yom-Kippur–the Day of Atonement. 

This is the time the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the nation. Why should this matter to you? Because as a Christian you have been adopted into the family. When God says, “through all generations,” he’s talking about us as well. “This is a permanent regulation for you, make atonement for the people of Isra’el because of all their sins once a year.” (Leviticus 16:34) Following Rosh-HaShanna, which is a time of personal evaluation and repentance, God calls the entire nation to be regenerated. Defined in the Cambridge Dictionary, regenerate means “to improve a place or system, especially by making it more active or successful.” I wonder what would become of our country if every twelve months we came together, as a nation, in repentance. 

The day used to center around animal sacrifices made by the high priest, however, the rabbis of the first century substituted–prayer, repentance, and charity. Those are things that each of us is able to do on our own. Customarily a holiday meal is enjoyed before sundown on the 9th of Tishri, which this year, is September 27th. At sundown God calls for a day of fasting, but food and labor are not his only concerns: “Here is the sort of fast I want…breaking every yoke, sharing your food with the hungry, taking the homeless poor into your home, clothing the naked when you see them, fulfilling your duty to your kinsmen! Then your light will burst forth like the morning…ADONAI’s [the Lord’s] glory will follow you.” (Isaiah 58:6-7) I need regeneration, do you?