We get a lot of questions about the feast days, and Yom Teruah brings up some very practical ones.
What is Yom Teruah? Is it the same thing as the Feast of Trumpets? What does it have to do with the return of Yeshua?
And then there is the question people really want answered:
What am I supposed to do on Yom Teruah?
The simple answer is that Yom Teruah is one of the appointed times, or moedim, of Yehovah. It is the first of the fall feasts, observed on the first day of the seventh biblical month. It is a Sabbath, a holy convocation, and a day marked by the sounding of the trumpet.
But there is a lot more going on here than somebody blowing a shofar.
So let’s take a look at it.
What Is Yom Teruah?
We find the command for Yom Teruah in Leviticus 23.
“And Yehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto Yehovah.”
Leviticus 23:23–25
Yom Teruah begins at sunset on the first day of the seventh biblical month.
The word teruah carries the idea of a loud blast, alarm, shout, or signal. That’s why you will often hear Yom Teruah called the Feast of Trumpets.
But before we go any further, I want you to notice something in Leviticus 23.
These are not man’s feasts.
They aren’t “Jewish holidays.”
Yehovah says:
“Concerning the feasts of Yehovah, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.”
— Leviticus 23:2
My feasts.
That’s what Yehovah calls them.
These are His appointed times.
And once you begin to understand the appointed times of Yehovah, you start seeing things in Scripture that you may have read a hundred times before without ever putting them together.
Yom Teruah is one of those keys.
The Spring Feasts and the Fall Feasts
Look at the biblical calendar and you will notice that the feast days come in groups.
The spring feasts point us toward events connected with Yeshua’s first coming—His death, burial and resurrection, followed by Shavuot and the giving of the Holy Ghost.
Those things happened.
They were fulfilled with remarkable precision.
Then we come to the fall feasts.
Yom Teruah.
Yom Kippur.
Sukkot.
And suddenly we’re looking forward.
That should get our attention.
If the first appointed times corresponded with events surrounding Yeshua’s first coming, what should we expect from the appointed times that remain?
I don’t believe Yehovah put these things on His calendar by accident.
Yom Teruah isn’t just telling us to remember something.
It is teaching us to anticipate something.
Listen to the Language
Paul writes:
“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1 Corinthians 15:51–52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
Now look at what he tells the Thessalonians:
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16
Do you see it?
A shout.
A trumpet.
The dead being raised.
The appearing of the King.
Once you understand the moedim, those words don’t just float around in the New Testament by themselves anymore.
They have context.
They have history.
They have a pattern behind them.
And every year when Yom Teruah comes around, we rehearse that pattern again.
We hear the trumpet.
We remember what we’re waiting for.
This Is a Celebration—But It Is a Serious One
Yom Teruah is a little bit of a mixed bag.
On one hand, we’re talking about the return of Yeshua.
If you belong to Him, what could be better than that?
We’re waiting for the resurrection. We’re waiting for the King. We’re waiting for the Kingdom and for this mess we’re living in to finally be set right.
That’s worth celebrating.
But we also understand that His return is serious business.
The trumpet isn’t announcing another ordinary day.
It announces the King.
So yes, rejoice.
Celebrate.
Blow the shofar.
Eat something good.
But let the day cause you to look at yourself too.
Am I ready for what I say I’m waiting for?
That’s a question worth asking.
How Do You Celebrate Yom Teruah?
Now we get to the question everybody asks.
What do we actually do?
People can make this a whole lot more complicated than it needs to be.
If you’re new to Torah and you’re trying to figure out how to keep your first Yom Teruah, start with what the Book says.
That’s always a pretty good place to begin.
Set the Day Apart
Yom Teruah is a holy convocation and a Sabbath.
That means don’t treat it like every other day.
Don’t work all day, squeeze a shofar blast in somewhere around sunset, and call it good.
Set the time apart for Yehovah.
Rest.
Pray.
Worship.
Read your Bible.
Gather with other believers if you’re able.
You don’t have to reproduce somebody else’s traditions perfectly. You don’t have to know everything there is to know about Yom Teruah before you can begin keeping it.
Honor Yehovah with what you know.
Then keep learning.
Read the Scriptures
Start with Leviticus 23:23–25.
Don’t just read it because you need to check it off the list. Sit with it for a while.
Then start looking at trumpets throughout Scripture.
Read Joshua 6.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:50–58.
Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13 through 5:11.
Read Revelation 8–11.
Ask yourself some questions.
What happens when the trumpet sounds?
What does the trumpet announce?
Who is being gathered?
What happens to the dead?
What happens when the King comes?
Follow the language through the Bible.
You may be surprised by how many pieces begin fitting together.
Blow the Shofar
If you’ve got a shofar, blow it.
And let me tell you something: you do not have to be good at it.
Nobody is handing out trophies.
Make some noise.
If you don’t have a shofar, don’t sit around feeling like you’ve failed Yom Teruah.
Get a pot and a pan and a spoon and make some noise.
I’m serious.
The word teruah itself carries the idea of a loud blast or shout.
The day is supposed to sound like something.
Worship Yehovah
Put on some worship music.
Sing.
Pray.
Praise Yehovah.
Shout if you want to shout.
Thank Him for what He has done and for what He has promised to do.
This is one of the things I love about keeping the feasts.
We’re not just studying theology.
We’re participating in it.
We’re rehearsing the things Yehovah has done and the things He has promised He will do.
Yom Teruah gives us an opportunity every year to stop what we’re doing and remember:
Yeshua is coming back.
Eat Something Good
These things are called feasts, folks.
With the obvious exception of the solemn nature of Yom Kippur, these are festivals.
Think about the ways people celebrate.
We get together.
We eat.
We play music.
We laugh.
We develop traditions.
We enjoy one another.
There is nothing unholy about enjoying a holy day.
Have some cheesecake.
Cook some beef ribs.
Make whatever floats your boat.
Invite some people over if you can. Make something special for the kids. Sit around the table and talk about what the day means.
Celebrate.
Somewhere along the way, people got the idea that if you’re obeying Yehovah, you’re supposed to look miserable while you’re doing it.
I don’t know where we got that idea.
Holy does not mean miserable.
Yehovah gave us feast days.
Enjoy them.
What If You’re Keeping Yom Teruah Alone?
I’ve been there.
There was a time when I didn’t have a congregation full of Torah-observant believers around me.
I remember keeping Sukkot with a tent in the backyard and a barbecue grill.
That was pretty much it.
You start where you are.
Maybe you’re the only person in your family who believes this. Maybe you’ve recently begun keeping Torah and you don’t know another person nearby doing the same thing.
Don’t let that stop you from obeying Yehovah.
Would it be better to have fellowship?
Absolutely.
But you do what you can with what you have.
We’re going to hold the line and do what the Book says as best as we are able.
If This Is Your First Yom Teruah
Don’t turn this into a performance.
You don’t need to know every Hebrew word.
You don’t need an elaborate table.
You don’t need $500 worth of decorations.
You don’t have to adopt every Jewish tradition you find on the internet.
And don’t spend the entire feast worrying that you’re doing it wrong.
Open the Book.
See what Yehovah says.
Set the day apart.
Rest.
Pray.
Worship.
Blow the shofar if you’ve got one.
Make some noise.
Eat something good.
Spend time with other believers if you can.
And think about what that trumpet means.
You know more this year than you knew last year.
If you keep studying, you’ll know more next year than you know this year.
That’s how we learn.
That’s how we grow.
What Yom Teruah Means to Me
There is a reason I wanted to teach about Yom Teruah before we reached the feast instead of talking about it afterward.
I didn’t want to take away the anticipation.
I wanted us thinking about it before it got here.
Because that is part of what Yom Teruah does for me.
It reminds me what I’m waiting for.
Yehovah has been good to me. I have been blessed far beyond anything I deserve.
But I know this world isn’t the end of the story.
I’m waiting for something better.
I’m waiting for the resurrection.
I’m waiting for righteousness to rule this earth.
I’m waiting for the Kingdom.
I’m waiting for the King.
The world around us will keep doing what it does. People will go to work. They’ll buy and sell. They’ll make plans. They’ll argue about politics. They’ll worry about tomorrow.
And somewhere in all that noise, the people of Yehovah are told to stop.
Set apart the day.
And listen for the trumpet.
Because one day it won’t be a rehearsal.
The King is coming.
And I’m ready to hear that sound.
For Further Study
Leviticus 23:23–25
Numbers 29:1–6
Joshua 6
1 Corinthians 15:50–58
1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11
Revelation 8–11
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