Plates given to Joseph on Rosh Hashanah

Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith three times during the night of Sept. 21, 1823 repeating the same message, which included the reciting of many scriptural passages relating to the last days. If we have time, we’ll take a look at the scriptures, because certainly they were important enough for Moroni to quote 3 different times during the night of Sept. 21 – each time adding a little bit more information.

The next day Moroni again appeared and told Joseph to tell his father about everything.

JS-History 1: 50 I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and told me to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left the field, and went to the place where the messenger had told me the plates were deposited; and owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived there.
So Joseph went to the hill where the Book of Mormon plates were buried. He met Moroni and saw the plates, but was told that he would not receive them for four years. He was to begin an important period of preparation that would make him equal to the sacred task of translating the Book of Mormon. Joseph returned to the hill each September 22 for the next four years to receive further instructions from Moroni.

Sept. 22 is also the autumnal equinox, the date when days and nights are of equal length. In 1827, the year Joseph Smith finally received the plates, Sept. 22 was also the date of the Feast of the Trumpets, Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashanah. Is there anything significant about that?
That evening Jews all over the world would have been in synagogues praying that God would remember His covenant people and that He would restore lost truths. Surely Moroni’s turning over the gold plates to Joseph Smith was a fulfillment of these Jewish prayers and traditions.

And what else would have happened during those synagogue services? A trump – the shofar – would have been sounded 100 times. Now, think of one of the most prominent modern-day symbols of the restoration of the gospel. It is atop nearly every temple: Moroni himself with a trump in his hands sounding the “everlasting gospel”. Is it possible that the Lord picked that date for the very reason that it is so significant to the House of Israel?
(For more information see John Pratt's calendar research.)