Rosh Hashanah, “Head of the year,” is a time of celebration, both looking back and looking ahead to newness. In the Original Testament, Rosh Hashanah is the “Feast of Trumpets” where the shofar, or ram’s horn, was blown (Lev.23-25). It is the first feast of three commanded by God in the wilderness. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) is followed by Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles). Through each, God gives ways to enter into His presence, shows His faithfulness and prophesies what is to come. 

Last week our students in the MA in Biblical Hebrew & Translation Consulting celebrated the end of their study in Jerusalem and the new year with a special ceremony. They ate a meal with the traditional challah, apples and honey, signifying a “sweet” new season. They sang songs, told stories, gave thanks and looked together at the journey of returning home.

“This is part of His-story, God’s story of redemption. And let us give thanks, because you have been given a very precious key– the ability to enter into His-story in the source language where the intimate windows of God’s revelation open…We live in unprecedented times, and all over the world our lives are brutally disrupted. The world is trying to make sense of what the future will be…But the promise of Jesus in Matthew 5:8 is ‘Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.’”

As we stand at the beginning of a new year, we are believing God to multiply the work of these translators and consultants and to bring about more in order to accelerate the translation of the full Bible for all languages.

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Shana Tova,
The Whole Word Institute team
The Whole Word for the Whole World