About the Jewish New Year

This Sunday, at sundown, begins the Jewish New Year of 5782. This holy day of Rosh Hashanah, which means, “head of the year,” follows the Hebrew calendar which is determined by the lunar cycles. It always falls on the New Moon closest to the autumnal equinox. Days on the Hebrew calendar begin at sundown and end the following day at sundown. Rosh Hashanah, occurs during the phase of the New Moon, when the moon is not visible. However, during Passover, which takes place in the spring, it always takes place on a Full Moon.

Even though Rosh Hashanah celebrates a New Year, it isn’t a time to dress up in sparkly gowns and sip champagne. It kicks off the Ten Days of Awe, which are about introspection and repentance. It culminates on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement.)

Customs of Rosh Hashanah:

-We don’t work and use the day for reflection and worship.

-We listen to the sounds of the shofar, a trumpet-like instrument made from a ram’s horn. There are set patterns and the sound is a call to the soul for repentance of the deeds of the past year.

-We eat round challah to symbolize the never-ending cycle of the seasons and years.

-We eat apples dipped in honey for a sweet year.

-We participate in the ritual of Tashlich, which means “casting off,” and refers to casting off our sins into a flowing body of water, which has great healing and purifying powers.

Each autumn, like the leaves, we turn from those things that have led us astray, off the path of being our best selves. We make amends to God and to each other.

If you’d like to wish someone a Happy New Year in Hebrew you’d say:

L’ Shanah Tovah! Pronounced (Leh shaNAH toeVAH!)

Thought you’d like to know.

Stay enchanted.