I still remember the streets of Israel falling into an almost eerie silence on Yom Kippur. The usual bustle disappeared. Cars vanished from the roads, shops closed, and inside synagogues prayers were offered in hushed tones. Even as a child, I sensed the gravity of a day when people were reflecting on their lives before God.
For Jewish people around the world, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur form the heart of the High Holidays. It is a season of remembrance, repentance, and hope. This year, they are set to begin at sundown on the 11th of September and the 20th of September respectively.
Rosh Hashanah, beginning on the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, was biblically known as Yom Teruah, the Day of Trumpet Blasts. It is the second of the seven God appointed feasts that we read about it Leviticus: “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord” (23:24–25). At its center is the sound of the shofar (ram’s horn), calling God’s people to remember his covenant faithfulness, to awaken, and to return to him.
The traditional Jewish calendar connects Rosh Hashanah with the Days of Awe, a ten-day period leading to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur confronts us with a profound reality: sin matters, reconciliation is necessary, and we cannot simply make ourselves right before a holy God.
In Leviticus 16, we read that Yom Kippur is the one day a year where the high priest is allowed to enter the Holy of Holies with sacrificial blood on behalf of himself and the nation. In this holy day, two goats portrayed the seriousness of sin and the mercy of God. One goat sacrificed, while the other, the scapegoat, symbolically carried Israel’s sins away into the wilderness.
As a Jewish believer in Yeshua (Jesus), I see these themes reaching their fulfillment in the Messiah. Hebrews tells us that Yeshua is both our High Priest and our sacrifice. What the sacrifices of Yom Kippur portrayed, Messiah accomplished: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:11-12).
The shofar also points beyond the present. Scripture speaks of a coming day when the trumpet will sound and the Lord will gather his people. In Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessaloniki he writes, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:16–17). The call to awaken, repent, and return ultimately points toward the King who is coming.
For Christians, the High Holidays offer more than an opportunity to learn about Jewish tradition. They invite us to examine our own hearts. Where do we need to repent? With whom do we need to reconcile? Are we resting in our own goodness, or in the mercy God has provided?
They also offer an opportunity to love our Jewish neighbors. In a time when antisemitism has caused many Jewish people to feel fearful and isolated, our church community can respond with humility and friendship. We can wish Jewish friends a meaningful holiday, ask what these days mean to them, listen to their stories, and pray for the peace and salvation of the Jewish people. This guide may be helpful for you to pray specifically for Jewish people during these Days of Awe.
Rosh Hashanah calls us to return. Yom Kippur reminds us of our need for atonement. And the gospel declares that in Yeshua, God has provided the ultimate hope of forgiveness and reconciliation. May these holy days move all of us toward repentance, mercy, and a deeper longing for the day when the trumpet sounds and the King returns.
Dan Sered serves as the COO at Jews for Jesus.