Thoughts on Yom Teruah / Rosh HaShanah as Yom Zikaron (A Day of
Remember) In Lev 23:24 the text says Speak to the children of
Israel saying, In the seventh month on the first of the month
there shall be for you a Sabbath, a memorial of trumpet sound, a
holy gathering. The day itself is called Yom Teruah in Num 29:1
What is meant by zikaron in Lev 23:24? The word itself is formed
on the verb zachar, “to remember,” and is usually translated a
“memorial,” a “remembrance,” or a “reminder.” Thus, Yom Teruah
is a day on which the shofar is to be blown, and the purpose of
blowing the shofar is to evoke a reminder. But of what does it
remind, and who is to be reminded? Some of the Sages taught that
the sounding of the shofar on Yom Teruah was a reminder of the
kingdom of God, based on the fact that the shofar was sounded at
the time of a king’s coronation (1Ki 1:39, cf. Sipra Emor;
b.Rosh HaShanah 16a). Extending this idea, others taught that on
Rosh HaShanah, the fate of the world was decided (m.RoshHaShanah
1:2), a