Celebrating the Fall Feasts

As promised, here is my little post continuing on how we celebrated Yahweh's (the LORD's) Appointed Feasts this year.







As a bit of review, there are 7 Feasts, 4 in the spring and 3 in the fall.  The spring feasts look back at what our Messiah has already fulfilled: the fall feasts look ahead to what soon will take place.
  

In an effort of trying not to repeat myself on why our family celebrates the Feasts and/or to see how we celebrated the Spring Feasts, here are links to my previous posts which I think covers it fairly well (click on images) if you wish to read:



 

Passover 2014

Counting the Omer Project 

So now we will focus on the Fall Feasts, they are:

 

Yom Teruah (aka Feast of Trumpets & Rosh Hashanah) Lev. 23:24

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) Lev. 23:27

Succoth (aka Sukkoth or Sukkot; Feast of Tabernacles or Booths; The Feast of Ingathering) Lev. 23:34

 

~~~~ Purpose of the Feasts & What we did ~~~~ 



 

Feast 5: Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah:  Observed with trumpets (shofar), rest, and offerings!  Trumpets & Day of Atonement  are considered the holiest days of the (Jewish) year.  Trumpets is the beginning of 10 days called "High Holy Days" or "Days of Awe" and ends with Yom Kippur.  The Father commanded us to blow the shofar (ram's horn) on this Holy Day, however does not state why -- perhaps as a memorial.  Trumpets were used for several reasons throughout the Bible.:

• Calling the Congregation Together on Holy Days: Yom Teruah (Heb. for "Head" of the Month & Rosh Hashanah ("Head" of the Year)  is the Jewish New Year, this is now year 5775.  We celebrate the creation/birthday of the world.  The feast of Trumpets is to be observed on the first day of the seventh month.  This feast is observed as a day of rest on which a holy convocation (assembly) is held, memorial trumpets were/are blown and offerings were made.
• Announcing God!:  It is also somewhat of a Coronation Day anniversary -- just as kings blew trumpets to let it be known of the anniversary of the beginning of their reign, so we celebrate the Kingship of the Creator with the blowing of the shofar.
• Offerings/Sacrifices on Holy Days:  Temple sacrifices ceased in 70AD and our Messiah was the supreme sacrifice for our sins, but God's Word does tell us that to obey is far better than sacrifice.  The sound of the shofar is a wake-up call to hear & obey God's teachings!  When Ezra returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, he read the Law to the people on the Feast of Trumpets.  The Levites were there to help the people understand what was read.  The people listened closely to the Law, blessing the Lord and worshipping Him.
• Call to battle; sound an alarm; sound a victory.
• The trumpet will announce the return of our Messiah (many believe this will be during the Feast of Trumpets).
• The blowing of the shofar reminds us of the great Day of Judgment, that we may all fear the LORD, as it is said in Zeph. 1:14-16.  During the Great Tribulation there will be 7 trumpets sounded to announce seven judgments.

"The great day of Yahweh is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Yahweh: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.  That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm...." 

 

What we did:

Centerpiece of Olive Branches with Shana Tovah (Good Year) Banner
surrounded with Apples & Pomegranates
(if you follow my FB, you may recall the donuts had to do with a flat tire incident)



Okay, so this year our Rosh Hashanah didn't quite go as planned.  We had visited my mother that day (Rosh Hashanah beginning at sunset) and it's a long story, but ended up with a flat tire, upon which my husband had to come rescue us (change the tire) -- it was a long, tiring day and we ended up eating at the Pizza Ranch (which is a really nice Christian pizza/chicken buffet), but not quite as I planned.  Somewhere along the way, maybe the following evening, Jeff blew the shofar and we had apples and honey for a sweet new year, and a nice meal.


Feast 6: Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement:  The Days of Awe is a time of Spiritual Awakening & Renewal.  A solemn observance with spiritual introspection, repentance -- of admitting sin & wrong, turning from it, and returning to God; rededication, and growth; ending with Yom Kippur, a High Holy Day of prayer, fasting, and renewal; a time of forgiving others and asking for forgiveness.
 

Another source gave a 4-finger “Spiritual Accounting” similar to a New Years’ Resolution…

1. Achievements: What did I accomplish this past year?
2. Efficiency: Am I careful not to waste precious time?

3. Community: Am I involved in contributing to bettering the world?

4. Forward: What are my goals and aspirations for the coming year?

 

 

What we did:

 

 As in all the Feast Days, there are various ways to observe Yom Kippur.  Our family generally chooses not to  follow Jewish tradition and the Talmud (oral law of the rabbis) as we do not want to add-to, take-away,  legalize, or delineate in any way from what is purely instructed in the Bible or lose sight of the true meaning of what/why we are observing.  Some years we may choose to add some Jewish tradition if we feel it can give even more meaning to the day, but we don't feel bound to do so, nor to do the same thing every year -- only what's in the Bible! 

Yom Kippur is not a big party day like other Feasts; but somber & personal, so that is how we kept it -- in rest, personal prayer, and Bible study.

         

Feast 7: Sukkot/Feast of Tabernacles: Sukkot is a very fun/joyful time, a time of family & friends, a time of feasting and thanksgiving.  In fact, it is believed that when the pilgrims had their first thanksgiving her in America, that it was actually the Feast of Ingathering (harvest) at Sukkot time.

Sukkot is to be observed from the 15th to the 21st day of the seventh month.  The first and eighth day are days of rest.  It is marked by dwelling in booths to remember when the children of Israel lived in booths after God had brought them out of Egypt.  It's a time of offerings, so many give to charities at this time.   We rejoice in how God has blessed us and give as the Lord has provided.  We read the Law and learn to fear the Lord just as Yeshua (Jesus) went to Jerusalem during this feast and taught in the Temple.  God desires to dwell/tabernacle among His people and in the book of Revelation we see that the day is coming when God will tabernacle forever among His people and we will worship Him as our God.

What we did:

Sukkot is one of my favorite feasts.  Unfortunately, here in Minnesota, the weather most usually doesn't cooperate with having a temporary structure, but we keep trying...

The first couple of days the wind was strong and there was no way we
could put up our booth, so we used our sauna haus.

       

Often our Feast days involve learning about the Feast, Biblical instruction, our Messiah in the Feast, and traditional observances.  One of the customs of Sukkot is with the Lulav & Etrog... In Leviticus 23:40 (part of the Sukkot verses) we read: "And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim seven days."  I could write a whole post just on this custom, but to try to keep it short, "Lulav" is Hebrew for palm branch, "Etrog" is Hebrew for citron.  (Willow & Myrtle branches are also included in the bunch).  The etrog is held separately from the branch bundle and one recites a blessing & waves the species (wave offering).  As you might guess, palm branches are not readily available in a East Central Minnesota small-town farming/cowboy community, neither are citrons for that matter.  So we improvised -- I was able to get some fern branches that look a lot like palm branches from the florist and we do have a few wild willow bushes close to our house so that was easy.  We used lemons for the citrons (there is a difference, but not much), and we just had to forgo the myrtle.  It was a great learning experience!

It's fun making special meals for the Feasts.
This is one of the dishes I made (for a sauna haus night).
Jamie Oliver's "famous" chicken in milk.  It was good, but
I can't say it was as super as everyone raves.  I did like being able
to use some of our fresh sage from the herb garden though.
 

    

After a couple of days, the wind died down some, but we still chose a somewhat sheltered
area in front of our house to put up our Sukkah (Heb. "booth").
Very Fun!

The weather turned better, but still chilly, plus all the table decor had to come indoors each night to protect it from the weather and any animals that might wander through (like munching deer).

 

 

Our barn cat didn't understand the concept of a table outdoors and wanted
to join us. I fixed a big crockpot of stew to help keep us warm -- not fancy, but functional.   

 

We hung my little chandelier in the tent and used a battery-operated volite.


Unfortunately, our little sukkah dwelling was short-lived.  We had been out all day Sunday and upon our return, we saw that the wind had picked up, and picked up our sukkah and moved it several feet, dropping it next to our front step and mangling one of the tent legs (which I now have to see if I can order a new one). ~ sigh

Between the cold & the wind, and breaking our tent, that pretty much put an end to our Sukkot.  It was fun while it lasted!!! And we are always hopeful of a better celebration next year -- perhaps invite friends.  

That's All from our Home!
Now we look forward to Hanukkah
(not a part of the appointed feasts of Lev. 23, but it's in the Bible)

Blessings, jane