Celebrating Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is one of the major holidays on the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah, literally meaning “head of the year,” celebrates the Jewish New Year as well as the birthday of the world and all of mankind. This year, on September 16, the world will turn 5,773 years old.     

How do Jewish people observe Rosh Hashanah?  We reflect on the previous year and think about how we will make the next year even better. This reflection is much like the New Year’s resolutions people of every religion make on January 1 each year.

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday of prolonged and intense prayer. Lots of time is spent in a synagogue, or a place where Jewish people worship, together as a community with friends and family. The synagogue services are longer than a weekly Sabbath service and involve extra prayers not recited any other time throughout the year. These prayers are found in a special prayer book called a Machzor.  We seek forgiveness for our previous sins through these prayers, through charitable giving and through repentance.      

While in the synagogue, we listen to the sound of 100 blasts of the shofar, the hollowed out horn of a ram. It just might be the oldest wind instrument known to man. The shofar sounds something like a trumpet but has no mouthpiece. Its sound wakes us up and reminds us to take charge of our lives.  

Besides the synagogue, Rosh Hashanah is also celebrated in the home.  We light special candles, recite blessings over wine and share large meals with family and friends.  At these meals we eat sweet foods such as apples dipped in honey; honey cake; and raisin-filled challah bread, a delicious traditional braided bread eaten on the Sabbath and other holidays. These sweet foods awaken our senses and encourage us to begin the year on a sweet note. We eat these foods for their symbolism, but all these sweet foods taste very yummy too.  In addition, round challah bread on the table instead of the usual braided shape represents the cycle of the year, and we hope our year should run smoothly with much happiness and good fortune. Many people eat a pomegranate. This fruit has many seeds that represent the numerous good deeds we can do.

Some people observe Rosh Hashanah in one day’s time while others observe it over two days. Adults may take time off from work, and many children will miss school in order to attend synagogue services, as this holiday is observed as a day of rest. “L’Shana Tova” is the greeting we say to our family and friends that means, “May you have a happy and sweet new year!”

For my family, Rosh Hashanah is a holiday when we spend quality time together. My father-in-law reads in Hebrew from the Torah, where the first five books of the Old Testament are located.  It is a special treat to attend synagogue services and listen to Grandpa read this important text. Afterward we eat a scrumptious meal together with the rest of our extended family. My children and I make homemade challah bread and mold it into big circle-shaped loaves.  Plenty of apples and pieces of challah bread are dipped in honey as we pass around the plate for all to share.

L’Shana Tova!

A Mountain Brook resident graciously shared this submission on Rosh Hashanah.