- "1 And Yehovah spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." (From Exodus 12, JPS 1917)
- "3 And Moses said unto the people: 'Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yehovah brought you out from this place; there shall no leavened bread be eaten. 4 This day ye go forth in the month Aviv." (From Exodus 13)
- "And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation: ye shall do no manner of servile work; it is a day of blowing the horn unto you." (Numbers 29:1. This might look familiar ๐.)
- "And on the tenth day of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls; ye shall do no manner of work;" (Number 29:7)
- "Then shalt thou make proclamation with the blast of the horn on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye make proclamation with the horn throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof; it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you; ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines." (From Leviticus 25)
- "The spirit of Adonai Yehovah is upon me; because Yehovah hath anointed me to bring good tidings unto the humble; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the eyes to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the year of Yehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance of Eloheinu; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called terebinths of righteousness, the planting of Yehovah, wherein He might glory." (From Isaiah 61)
- "And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the broad place of the city; and the old man said: 'Whither goest thou? and whence comest thou?'" (Judges 19:17)
Ken...anachu tovim? Anachu tovim achshi'av?
Ken. Anachu tovim. Anachu tovim achishi'av.
So, why the long drash of verses here? Well, to answer the question as to why Yehovah give us Yom Teru'ah in the middle of the year, and Rosh HaShanah in the spring:
- If for nothing else, Yom Teru'ah marks the middle of the year to both prepare us for the next year—especially if the year is the Shanah HaYovel—and have us thank Yehovah that we've survived the year so far—see especially Passages 3-6.
- Yom Teru'ah and Yom Kippur help us reflect on the year so far, where we're going and where we've been in terms of walking with Yehovah, and what we can do differently with the rest of the year and with the coming year—see especially Passages 2, 6, and 7. Also note how Yom Teru'ah parallels with Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur with the picking out of the Pesach lamb (See Exodus 12:3-17), and Pesach with Sukkot (ibid.).
- In light of Yom Teru'ah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot being times of reflection (since—remember—we should, if we can, dwell in sukkot during Sukkot to remember that we were strangers in Egypt—not to mention gerim v'toshavim like Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Ya'akov Avoteinu. Thus, no day of the year is unto our ourselves—every day is to Yehovah and thus for what we might do to both glorify Yehovah and to help others (and glorify Yehovah in doing so). See especially Passages 3-6.
There are other reasons as well. Meanwhile, these are the three main reasons: preparing for the rest of the year and the coming of the next year, stopping to take stock of where we're going and where we've been, and renewing our commitment to Yehovah and to helping others commit and recommit to Yehovah.
PS:
- I wasn't afraid to change the euphemisms "The LORD", etc. to "Yehovah", nor "Abib" to the more-correct "Aviv".
- In full disclosure, I'm a Jewish Christian and see additional reasons as to why Yom Teru'ah is in the middle of the year and Rosh HaShanah in the spring, although I think that everyone can agree on the reasons that I cited above—regardless of what each of us believes about Yeshua (Jesus)—thus, I think to cite the reasons that I cited is sufficient.