In the Book of Psalms we read a very interesting statement concerning Joseph and Rosh HaShanna:

[3] Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
[4] For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
[5] This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

(Psalm 81:3-5 KJV)

Verse 5 (which is verse 6 in Jewish editions) is translated by Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg as follows:

As a testimony for Jehoseph, He ordained it, when he went forth over the land of Egypt, [when] I understood a language that I had not known.

(Psalm 81:6 Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg Translation)

Rashi makes some very interesting comments to this verse. 

In regard to the phrase “As a testimony for Jehoseph, He ordained it” Rashi comments “On Rosh Hashanah, Joseph went out of prison.” 

And in regard to the phrase “[when] I understood a language that I had not known” Rashi comments: “It is explained in tractate Sotah (36b) that [the angel] Gabriel taught him seventy languages.”

Rashi here refers to an account concerning Joseph, found in the Talmud: 

Rabbi Hiyya ben Abba said in the name of Rabbi Johanan: “At the moment when Pharaoh said to Joseph, And without thee shall no man lift up his hand, Pharaoh’s astrologers exclaimed: ‘Wilt thou set in power over us a slave whom his master bought for twenty pieces of silver!’ He replied to them, ‘discern in him royal characteristics.’ They said to him, ‘in that case he must be acquainted with the seventy languages.’ Angel Gabriel came and taught [Joseph] the seventy languages, but he could not learn them. Thereupon [Gabriel] added to his name a letter from the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and he knew [the languages]…”

(b.Sotah 36b)

The Book of Jasher also gives an account of this event:

And the angel roused him from his sleep, and Joseph rose up and stood upon his legs, and behold the angel of the Lord was standing opposite to him; and the angel of the Lord spoke with Joseph, and he taught him all the languages of man in that night, and he called his name Jehoseph.

(Jasher 49:14)

And the Targum (Aramaic paraphrase) to these verses of Psalm 81 reads:

4. Blow the horn in the month of Tishri, in the month in which the day of our festivals is concealed.
5. For he made a covenant for Israel; it is a legal ruling of the God of Jacob.
6. He made it a testimony for Joseph, who did not go near the wife of his master; on that day he went out of the prison and ruled over all the land of Egypt. The tongue I did not know I have taught [and] heard.

(Targum of Psalms on Ps. 81)

So according to the traditions of our fathers, on Rosh HaShanna, an angel appeared by night to the patriarch Joseph, and through the gift and power of Elohim, Joseph understood a language that he did not know, through which Elohim “made a covenant with Israel.”

This event was to foreshadow a second fulfillment of these verses in Psalm 81. 

The Second Fulfillment

On Sept. 22, 1823 (during Sukkot) an angel appeared by night to another Joseph. This Joseph was also, through the gift and power of Elohim, given the ability to understand a language that he did not know, and thus was revealed thru this gift, the Stick of Joseph, another “covenant with Israel.”

Joseph Smith Jr. (Yosef ben Yosef) made the following record of the experience he had on September 22, 1823:

While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in the room which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen, nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrists. So also were his feet naked, as were his legs a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open so that I could see into his bosom. Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him I was afraid, but the fear soon left me.

He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me and that his name was Nephi, that God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting gospel was contained in it as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants; also, that there were two stones in silver bows — and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim — deposited with the plates, and the possession and use of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.

(T&C 1; Joseph Smith History Part 3:2-3)

This initial visit with the angel was repeated each year for four more years, culminating on Rosh HaShanna 1827 (Sept. 22, 1827), when Joseph received the record of The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim, together with the means to translate it. These events fulfill the pattern and tradition of the patriarch Joseph in every particular.

And Yet Another Fulfillment

What’s more, the Hebraic Roots version of the Stick of Joseph was also first published on Rosh HaShanna, 2019!  Thus, Rosh HaShanna now symbolizes the renewal of God’s offered covenant to all of Israel and three-fold offering of salvation and renewal to his people.

Joseph the Patriarch was sent into Egypt to save the House of Israel. Tradition tells us he arose from prison to inherit power on Rosh HaShanna, including the power to understand another language.

Joseph Smith (Yosef ben Yosef) met with an angel and received the renewal of God’s covenant in the Stick of Joseph record on Rosh HaShanna, including the power to understand and translate its language.

And finally, 192 years later, on Rosh HaShanna 2019, the record was published in a language version targeted to the House of Israel.

As we observe Rosh HaShanna this year, we should remember that it was “ordained for Joseph in a testimony” and the prophetic revelation of the Stick of Joseph at Rosh HaShanna of 1827.