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How many Judgment Days are there in Judaism?

How many Judgment Days are there in Judaism and why is this Day of Judgment – Yom HaDin/Rosh HaShana - different from all other Days of Judgment?


• Every Day – 365 days a year

 

You inspect him every morning, Examine him every minute. Job 7:18

And may these words of mine, which I have offered in supplication before the LORD, be close to the LORD our God day and night, that He may do justice by His servant and for His people Israel, according to each day's needs. 1 Kings 8:59

* Four Judgment Days

 

At four times of the year the world is judged: On Passover judgment is passed concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on Rosh HaShana, all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: "He Who fashions their hearts alike, Who considers all their deeds" (Psalms 33:15); and on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water, i.e., the rainfall of the coming year.   Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16a

* One Judgment Day

The Gemara explains: As it is taught in a baraita: All are judged on Rosh HaShana, and their sentence is sealed on Yom Kippur; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: All are judged on Rosh HaShana, and their sentence is sealed each in itsown time: On Passover the sentence is sealed concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water; and mankind is judged on Rosh HaShana, and the sentence is sealed on Yom Kippur. Tractate Rosh Hashanah 16a

* ONE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE

Ps 50:1-6

1         The Mighty One, God the LORD, Has spoken and called the earth From the rising of the sun to its going down.

2          Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.  

3          Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him.

4           He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people:

5          "Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."

6          Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge.

 

 

As we are already in the month of mercy (elul – the 6th month of the Hebrew calendar) where the shofar is sounded during the morning (Shacharit) prayers as a call to make teshuva (repentance), may the fear of HaShem come upon us so that we would walk circumspectly before Him and before one another (Eph 5:15).

Publish Date: 
Thursday, August 23, 2018