Rosh Hashanah is the first holiday of the Jewish year, and begins the cycle of fall holidays which include Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah. These holidays hold deep meaning for Jews around the world, and are celebrated in synagogue and at home with rituals, music, and food.
Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, "head of the year" or "first of the year." Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year. This name is somewhat deceptive, because there is little similarity between Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days of the year, and the American midnight drinking bash and daytime football game.
There is, however, one important similarity between the Jewish New Year and the American one: Many Americans use the New Year as a time to plan a better life, making "resolutions." Likewise, the Jewish New Year is a time to begin introspection, looking back at the mistakes of the past year and planning the changes to make in the new year.
The name "Rosh Hashanah" is not used in the Bible to discuss this holiday. The Bible refers to the holiday as Yom Ha-Zikkaron (the day of remembrance) or Yom Teruah (the day of the sounding of the shofar). The holiday is instituted in Leviticus 23:24-25.
The shofar is a ram's horn which is blown somewhat like a trumpet. One of the most important observances of this holiday is hearing the sounding of the shofar in the synagogue. A total of 100 notes are sounded each day. There are four different types of shofar notes: tekiah, a 3 second sustained note; shevarim, three 1-second notes rising in tone, teruah, a series of short, staccato notes extending over a period of about 3 seconds; and tekiah gedolah (literally, "big tekiah"), the final blast in a set, which lasts (I think) 10 seconds minimum. The Bible gives no specific reason for this practice. One that has been suggested is that the shofar's sound is a call to repentance. The shofar is not blown if the holiday falls on Shabbat.
No work is permitted on Rosh Hashanah. Much of the day is spent in synagogue, where the regular daily liturgy is somewhat expanded. In fact, there is a special prayerbook called the machzor used for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because of the extensive liturgical changes for these holidays.
Another popular observance during this holiday is eating apples dipped in honey, a symbol of our wish for a sweet new year. We also dip bread in honey (instead of the usual practice of sprinkling salt on it) at this time of year for the same reason.
Another popular practice of the holiday is Tashlikh ("casting off"). We walk to flowing water, such as a creek or river, on the afternoon of the first day and empty our pockets into the river, symbolically casting off our sins. Small pieces of bread are commonly put in the pocket to cast off. This practice is not discussed in the Bible, but is a long-standing custom. Tashlikh is normally observed on the afternoon of the first day, before afternoon services. When the first day occurs on Shabbat, many synagogues observe Tashlikh on Sunday afternoon, to avoid carrying (the bread) on Shabbat.
Religious services for the holiday focus on the concept of God's sovereignty.
The common greeting at this time is L'shanah tovah ("for a good year"). This is a shortening of "L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem", which means "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."
You may notice that the Bible speaks of Rosh Hashanah as occurring on the first day of the seventh month. The first month of the Jewish calendar is Nissan, occurring in March and April. Why, then, does the Jewish "new year" occur in Tishri, the seventh month?
Judaism has several different "new years," a concept which may seem strange at first, but think of it this way: the American "new year" starts in January, but the new "school year" starts in September, and many businesses have "fiscal years" that start at various times of the year. In Judaism, Nissan 1 is the new year for the purpose of counting the reign of kings and months on the calendar, Elul 1 (in August) is the new year for the tithing of animals, Shevat 15 (in February) is the new year for trees (determining when first fruits can be eaten, etc.), and Tishri 1 (Rosh Hashanah) is the new year for years (when we increase the year number).
List of Dates
Rosh Hashanah will occur on the following days of the Gregorian calendar:
Jewish Year 5769: sunset September 29, 2008 - nightfall October 1, 2008
Jewish Year 5770: sunset September 18, 2009 - nightfall September 20, 2009
Jewish Year 5771: sunset September 8, 2010 - nightfall September 10, 2010
Jewish Year 5772: sunset September 28, 2011 - nightfall September 30, 2011
Jewish holidays in general and certainly the High Holidays in particular are products of layers of tradition that span millennia. The High Holiday season begins in some traditional communities with special penitential prayers, selichot services, said the week before Rosh Hashanah either in the evening or before morning services. The daily morning services end with Psalm 27 and the blowing of the shofar. This is the time when the traditional liturgy hearkens us to prepare for Rosh Hashanah - the holiday that begins the season where we are held accountable for our deeds from the past year.
The Torah is at its most cryptic when it comes to Rosh Hashanah. It says, "In the seventh month on the first day of the month you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts." (Leviticus 23:24) Later on, in the Book of Numbers, the holiday is described similarly as a "... day when the horn is sounded." (Numbers 29:1) The only cues we are given from the Torah are that we are not supposed to engage in work, and that we are to punctuate, or commemorate this day with horn blowing.
The Biblical book of Psalms, traditionally attributed to King David, gives us a little more information. In Psalm 81 it is written: "Blow on the new moon a shofar, during the hidden-ness of our day of feasting, for it is a law, a judgment of the God of Jacob ..." This verse which is part of the liturgy in the Rosh Hashanah service and is also the signifying verse by which we sanctify the day for Kiddush is read closely in order to add another layer of meaning to the verses rendered in the Torah. The words "a judgment of the God of Jacob" are interpreted to mean that these are the days that Jacob, i.e. the nation of Jacob, is judged.
The shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah literally heralds the season of judgment that culminates with the fast of Yom Kippur. It is a time where the tradition teaches that the Creator is more accessible, and it is a time of favor and forgiveness, a time of growth and improvement, a time of new beginnings, not only for ourselves, but for family, for friends and community.
Apples and Honey
Toward this end, we eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah to concretize our wish for a good sweet year. It is customary to be inventive with food puns on Rosh Hashanah and customize a blessing that can belong uniquely to the person who expresses it.
When was the World Created?
There is a Talmudic dispute on whether the world was created on the first day of Nissan - the spring month which heralds the liberation of Israel from Egypt, or Rosh Hashanah. Generally, most commentators agree that Rosh Hashanah is considered the day the world was either conceived or created.
It is not only the day when the tradition acknowledges the past creation of the world, but that the tradition sees everyone as being created anew - every year at this time, but real change does not just magically occur. It takes effort and faith from the individual that change is truly possible and we can truly be profoundly transformed. The framework for returning to our ideal selves has been created by our Creator and as we hear the shofar, we assert the following verse, "... Return us and we will return ..." (Lamentations 5:21)
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