Rosh Hashana is the start of a new year in the Jewish calendar, and a moment to take
stock of your soul. Unlike January 1st, it’s serious stuff - it’s said that on
this day, God takes special note of us and our behaviors, writing us into
the Book of Life.
It's a time for reflection - where have you missed the mark?
How can you grow and improve yourself this year?
Where do you need to seek forgiveness?
The last line of a poem read on Rosh Hashana - Unetanah Tokef - is a super-concise guide
to how to start the new year off right:
t’shuvah and tefillah and tzedakah. Let’s break those down.
“teshuva,” - the word for spiritual realignment - comes from a Hebrew root
that means return - it gets translated as “repentance” - it’s more like remembering
who you truly are...and striving to return there.
Rosh Hashanah is actually a step along in the process of teshuva which starts a month
earlier on the first of Elul, and then kicks into high gear with the High Holidays
Rosh Hashana is two days long.
It’s full of food, prayer and some creative rituals.
Its name means Head of the Year...and it has a lot of other names too.
The meals are a big deal - dinners and lunches.
Most memorable is the blessing over apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year.
You’ll also see round challahs, sometimes with raisins, honeycake, sweet foods like
honeyed carrots, kugels and tzimmis - plus some people have a tradition of eating new fruits
- a fiesta of things to taste for the first time in the new year!
Sephardi Jews have a Rosh Hashana seder including foods with names that are puns in Hebrew
- for instance, the head of a fish gives you an excuse to say “So that
we may be like the head and not the tail.”
It’s like saying, “Get your head in the game!”
When you see people on Rosh Hashanah at synagogue or on the street, you can shout out
"Shana tova,” which means “have a good year!”
Speaking of synagogue, if you go you’ll encounter a lot of special liturgy in a book
called the holiday machzor.
This is Tefillah, connecting through prayer.
A highlight for many is singing the beloved melody Aveinu Malkeinu.
You’ll also hear the Torah stories of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael and the famous
Binding of Isaac story
And you will hear the sounding of the Shofar.
Rosh Hashana is
a blast, literally
In the Torah, hearing the cries from a ram’s horn is a key mitzvah, or commandment,
of Rosh Hashana.
The 100 shofar blasts - there are 3 types
are meant to arouse and to awaken each person.
There’s a beautiful daytime ritual that is very engaging for kids called Tashlich
People toss bread crumbs into a nearby body of water to symbolically cast away old
habits and mistakes.
Rosh Hashana is also a time of year to consider how to do more Tzedakah - justice - in the
world - through community projects, taking a stand on important issues or giving charity,
say, after the High Holidays appeal, to your synagogue.
At the New Year we turn the pages in our own life’s book –
be it tattered, torn or terrific.
Rosh Hashana is an auspicious moment in time that invites us to wonder, “What’s the
next chapter in my life all about?”
Teruah! (blasts)
And then the big one...Tekiah Gedolah! (blast)
And then everyone claps, it's amazing!