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It explains how people once personified natural forces, then uses the Canaanite sea god Yam and the rain god Ba'al, whose cycle with death and rescue parallels seasonal change. When Jews entered Palestine, they rejected Canaanite myths but retained the seasonal timing, reshaping it into Jewish rituals marking the “death” of the old year and the birth of the new.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/happy-new-year-a-short-explanation-of-rosh-hashanah/443681/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/happy-new-year-a-short-explanation-of-rosh-hashanah/443681.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Putri","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does Rosh Hashanah mean according to the text?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Rosh means “head,” and the rest refers to “the year,” so it is described as the head or beginning of the year for Jews.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the text link the Jewish New Year to ancient myths?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It argues that ancient people personified natural forces, and that when Jews adopted the region’s seasonal understanding, they changed the emphasis and kept the timing while rejecting the old myths.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How does the myth of Ba'al relate to the season and the calendar?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Ba'al is described as a rain and life-giving god whose capture by the god of death stops rain, and whose rescue restores the rains, matching the fall arrival of rains.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},443681,1791290659,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":44,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962085571259,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Happy New Year  \nGerald A.Larue,University of Southern California professor emeritus  \n\"Dad,Jacob said that he was going to a New Year celebration一rosh'something....\"  \n\"Rosh means 'head'and the rest is hashanah,which meansthe year'—so we get 'Rosh Hashanah.'The head or beginning ofthe year for Jews.\"  \n\"But celebrating the new year in September—that doesn'tmake sense.\"  \n\"Well,it does if you understand how it all began—interested?\"\"Yeah—if it isn't too long or too heavy.\"  \n\"Okayhere is the short form.A way back,before the days ofscience,humans tried to make sense of their world.There wereforces in nature that they could not control.For example,we nowknow why the days get shorter during the falluntil December andthe winter solstice—then they become longer unti the summersolstice.But before science,how could people know this?Sothey personified the forces of nature.\"  \n\"What does that mean?\"  \n\"They gave these natural forces human personalities.Forexample,the sun became a god named Mithra who was rebornevery December 25—so the birth and death of the sun was per-sonified in the god Mithra.When King Constantine becameChristian,Mithra's birthday became Jesus'birthday.\"  \n\"What's this got to do with the Jewish New Year?\"  \n\"I just wanted to show you how natural forces became per-sonifiedSo back to Rosh Hashanah.some 3,500 years ago.before the Hebrews came into Palestine,the Canaanites wholived there had developed a tremendous kingdom—powerfulcities were surrounded by huge walls.The people raised foodand animals in the surrounding areas and engaged in trade andbusiness and all the other things that made a good life possible.They had their myths or stories about the gods that explainednature in their part of the world.\"  \n\"Dad,I am still waiting for you to explain Rosh Hashanah!\"  \n\"Here it comes.Do you remember when we walked along thebeach?\"  \n\"Yeah.\"  \n\"And do you remember how the waves seem to reach in as if  \nT H E N E W S L E TT E R OF T H E S E C ULA R FA M ILY N ET W O B K  \nto take possession of the land but then fell back?\"\"Yeah—high and low tides—I remember.\"  \n\"Well,the ancient Canaanites personified the sea—gave it aname,\"Yam,\"and a personality.Yam was a god—the sea godwho was a member of a family of gods.There was El,the father;Asherah,the mother;Ba'al,the god of rain;Mot,the god of death;Anat who was Ba'al's sister;and so on.All clear so far?”  \n\"Yeah.\"  \n\"Well,according to the myth,Ba'al and Yam battled to see whowould control the land—and Ba'al won.So that's why the oceancan only come in so far and then has to retreat.Ba'al,the raingod,was the life-giver—the one who provided the moisture need-ed for crops.Now Ba'al was captured by Motthe god of deathand taken to the underworld where the dead go.While he wasthere,there was no rain to nourish the land.Fortunately,Anat res-cued Ba'al,and the rains came.In Palestine,the rains come inthe fall of the year—just as they do in southern California.By per-  \nwinter 2003/04  \nEditor:Jan Loeb Eisler  \n# Family Matters'Goals:\n\nHAPPY NEW YEAR,continued from page 1  \nsonifying the forces of nature and developing a story aroundthese personalities,he ancient Canaanites could explain thecycle of nature.\"  \n\"But what has this got to do with the Jews?\"  \n\"When the Jews entered Palestine,their thinking and inter-pretation of nature was influenced by what the Canaanites haddeveloped.Ultimately there came a time when the Jews arguedthat there was only one god—their god Yahweh—and he provid-  \ned the rain.So they abandonedthe Canaanite myth but kept thedate of Ba'al's resurrection andthe coming of the fall rains as thestart of the year.That's why wecelebrate Rosh Hashanah,thenew year,in the falljust beforethe rains come.\"  \n\"So the Jewish New Year isjust a Jewish version of theCanaanite story?\"  \nContributors:Joe Beck,Joseph F.Bohren,Diana Brown,Bugsy.Lyse Hurd,Anne Kurz,Gerald Larue,Cailin Loyd.Mugsy.Robert Price,BobRiehemann,Gerald Renner,James Strayer,and U.Prax Sophie.  \nPublished by:Sec","cbCaifwfGgDqJecc","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifwfGgDqJecc","pdf",2945601,"English","# HAPPY NEW YEAR\n## Origins and meaning of Rosh Hashanah\n## Canaanite myths and seasonal cycles\n## From Canaanites to Jewish rituals","[{\"question\":\"What does Rosh Hashanah mean according to the text?\",\"answer\":\"Rosh means “head,” and the rest refers to “the year,” so it is described as the head or beginning of the year for Jews.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the text link the Jewish New Year to ancient myths?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that ancient people personified natural forces, and that when Jews adopted the region’s seasonal understanding, they changed the emphasis and kept the timing while rejecting the old myths.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the myth of Ba'al relate to the season and the calendar?\",\"answer\":\"Ba'al is described as a rain and life-giving god whose capture by the god of death stops rain, and whose rescue restores the rains, matching the fall arrival of rains.\"}]","Happy New Year - A Short Explanation of Rosh Hashanah | PDF",1790704926,14]