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I've seen multiple people tonight share a post claiming
in Jewish tradition, a person who dies on Rosh Hashanah, which began tonight, is a tzaddik, a person of great righteousness.
I was surprised to see this, as I've never anything like it before. Are there traditions that follow this custom? Are there any rabbinic texts that back this claim up?
I found something regarding Yom Kippur
Based on Ketubot 103b
והתניא כשחלה רבי נכנס ר' חייא אצלו ומצאו שהוא בוכה אמר לו רבי מפני מה אתה בוכה והתניא מת מתוך השחוק סימן יפה לו מתוך הבכי סימן רע לו פניו למעלה סימן יפה לו פניו למטה סימן רע לו פניו כלפי העם סימן יפה לו כלפי הכותל סימן רע לו פניו ירוקין סימן רע לו פניו צהובין ואדומים סימן יפה לו מת בע"ש סימן יפה לו במו"ש סימן רע לו מת בערב יוהכ"פ סימן רע לו במוצאי יוהכ"פ סימן יפה לו מת מחולי מעיים סימן יפה לו מפני שרובם של צדיקים מיתתן בחולי מעיים The Gemara asks: But isn’t it taught in a baraita: When Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi fell ill, Rabbi Ḥiyya entered to be with him and found him crying. He said to him: My teacher, for what reason are you crying? Isn’t it taught in a baraita: If one dies while laughing, it is a good sign for him; while crying, it is a bad sign for him. If one dies with his face upward, it is a good sign for him; with his face downward, it is a bad sign for him. If one dies with his face facing the people standing around him, it is a good sign for him; with his face facing the wall, it is a bad sign for him. If one’s face is sallow, it is a bad sign for him; if his face is yellow or ruddy, it is a good sign for him. If one dies on the Shabbat eve it is a good sign for him, because he is heading straight into the Shabbat rest; if one dies at the conclusion of Shabbat it is a bad sign for him. If one dies on the eve of Yom Kippur, it is a bad sign for him, as his sins have not yet been forgiven; if one dies at the conclusion of Yom Kippur it is a good sign for him, because he died after his sins have been forgiven. If one dies due to an intestinal disease, it is a good sign for him, because most of the righteous die due to intestinal disease.
I never heard of it either.
I can guess that they are misapplying or misunderstanding the Gemora Sotah 13B which says
דברים לא, ב) ויאמר אליהם בן מאה ועשרים שנה אנכי היום שאין ת"ל היום היום מלאו ימי ושנותי ללמדך שהקב"ה משלים שנותיהם של צדיקים מיום ליום ומחדש לחדש דכתיב (שמות כג, כו) את מספר ימיך אמלא
Moshe said to the Jewish people at the end of his life: I am a hundred and twenty years old this day What is to be learned from “this day.”? Moshe said it to indicate: On this day, my days and years have been completed to be precisely one hundred and twenty, in order to teach you that Hashem completes the years of the righteous from day to day and from month to month, as it is written: “The number of your days I will fill” (Exodus 23:26), indicating that the righteous will live out their years fully.
The Gemara is referring to dying on birthdays and dying at one's correct allocated time. Not dying on Rosh Hashana.
The people being quoted in the media however are probably misunderstanding it to be meaning that living out and completing the full year is from Rosh HaShana to Rosh Hashana (ie a full calendar year)
