Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

High Holy Days In Judaism, the High Holy Days, also known as High Holidays or Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim; , ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm'') consist of: #strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year") and Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"); #by extension, th ...

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

Shemini Atzeret Shemini Atzeret (—"Eighth ayof Assembly") is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 22nd day of the Hebrew calendar, Hebrew month of Tishrei, usually coinciding with late September or early October. It directly follows ...

Simchat Torah Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible ...

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year (wh ...

lunar new year Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally, lunisolar calendars. Lunar calendar years begin with a new moon and have a fixed number of lunar months, usually twelve, in contrast to lunisolar calendar ye ...

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

exodus from Egypt The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Pentateuch (specifically, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuterono ...

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' shofar (a hollowed-out ram's horn), as prescribed in the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to "raise a noise" on Yom Teruah. Eating symbolic foods that represent various wishes for the new year is an ancient custom recorded in the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

. Other rabbinical customs include the " tashlich", attending synagogue services and reciting special

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

about teshuva, as well as enjoying festive meals.

Etymology

is the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word for "head", is the definite article ("the"), and means year. Thus means "head of the year", referring to the day of the New Year. The term in its current meaning does not appear in the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. Leviticus 23:24 refers to the festival of the first day of the seventh month as ("a memorial of blowing f horns). Numbers 29:1 calls the festival ("day of blowing he horn). The term appears once in the Bible (Ezekiel 40:1), where it has a different meaning: either generally the time of the "beginning of the year", or possibly a reference to

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

, or to the month of

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...

. In the prayer books (

siddur A siddur ( ''sīddūr'', ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ''tef ...

s and

machzor The ''machzor'' (, plural ''machzorim'', and , respectively) is the prayer book which is used by Jews on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized ''machzorim'' on the three pilgrimage festiva ...

s), Rosh Hashanah is also called ''Yom haZikkaron'' "the day of remembrance", not to be confused with the modern Israeli remembrance day of the same name.

Origin

The origin of the New Year is connected to the beginning of the economic year in the agricultural societies of the

ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

. The New Year was the beginning of the cycle of sowing, growth, and harvest; the harvest was marked by its own set of major agricultural festivals. Semitic speakers generally set the beginning of the new year in autumn, while other ancient civilizations chose spring for that purpose, such as the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

or

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

or Hindus; the primary reason was agricultural in both cases, the time of sowing the seed and bringing in the harvest. Some scholars posit a connection between the Babylonian festival

Akitu Akitu or Akitum () () is a spring festival and New Year's celebration, held on the first day of the Assyrian and Babylonian Nisan in ancient Mesopotamia and in Assyrian communities around the world, to celebrate the sowing of barley. Akit ...

and Rosh Hashanah, as there are some striking similarities. The Akitu festival of Ur was celebrated in the beginning of Nisanu (first month), which lasted at least five days, and again in Tashritu, the seventh month, which lasted eleven days. Akitu was also strongly tied to the creation myth of Enuma Elish and the victory of Marduk over the sea monster Tiamat, and the creation of the universe from her corpse. Similarly it is said that the world was created on Rosh Hashanah.

The Four "New Years"

Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the numbering of a new year in the Hebrew calendar. According to the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

, four different New Years are observed: Rosh Hashanah (the first of

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year (wh ...

), the first of

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...

(when

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yəṣīʾat Mīṣrayīm'': ) is the Origin myth#Founding myth, founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four of the five books of the Torah, Pentateuch (specif ...

began), the first of

Elul Elul (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ) is the twelfth month of the civil year and the sixth month of the Jewish religious year, religious year in the Hebrew calendar. It is a m ...

, and Tu BiShvat (the fifteenth of Shevat). Each one delineates the beginning of a year for different legal or ecclesiastical purposes. The Talmudic distinctions among the New Years are discussed in the tractate on Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is the new year for calculating ordinary calendar years, Sabbatical years, Jubilee years, and dates inscribed on legal deeds and contracts. Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of Man. In Jewish practice, the months are numbered starting with the spring month of Nisan, making

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year (wh ...

the seventh month; Rosh Hashanah, the first day of the new calendar year, is also actually the first day of the ''seventh'' month. The second of these "New Years", the first of the lunar month

Nisan Nisan (or Nissan; from ) in the Babylonian and Hebrew calendars is the month of the barley ripening and first month of spring. The name of the month is an Akkadian language borrowing, although it ultimately originates in Sumerian ''nisag' ...

(usually corresponds to the months March–April in the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

) is the beginning of the ecclesiastical year; the months are numbered beginning with Nisan. It marks the start of the year for the

Three Pilgrimage Festivals The Three Pilgrimage Festivals or Three Pilgrim Festivals, sometimes known in English by their Hebrew name ''Shalosh Regalim'' (, or ), are three major festivals in Judaism—two in spring; Passover, 49 days later Shavuot (literally 'weeks', or ...

. Its injunction is expressly stated in the Hebrew Bible: "This month shall be unto you of months" ( Exodus 12:2). Their injunction is expressly stated in the Hebrew Bible: "Three times in the year you shall keep a feast unto me... the feast of unleavened bread (

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

)... the feast of harvest (

Shavuot (, from ), or (, in some Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi usage), is a Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday, one of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It occurs on the sixth day of the Hebrew month of Sivan; in the 21st century, it may ...

)... and the feast of ingathering (

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

) which is " (Exodus 23:14–16). "At the departing of the year" implies that the new year begins here according to the

Babylonian Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewi ...

. It is also when a new year is added to the reign of Jewish kings. The third New Year, the first of Elul, the new year for animals, began the religious taxation period for tithing animals in Biblical times. Elul corresponds to the Gregorian August/September, after the spring birthings, when it was relatively simple to count the number of animals in herds. However, the halacha follows the second opinion that the day coincides with Rosh Hashanah itself,Rambam Hilkhot Maasar Beheimah 7:6. and therefore this third new year has no bearing in halacha. The fourth New Year, Tu Bishvat, the new year for trees, began the religious taxation period for tithing fruits and nuts from trees. Shevat corresponds to the Gregorian January/February, the end of the Mediterranean wet season when the majority of the year's rainfall had occurred. Taking fruit or nuts from a tree younger than three years old, with the birthday counted as Tu Bishvat, was prohibited.

Religious significance

The

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

contains the second known reference to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of judgment" (''Yom haDin''). In the Talmud tractate on Rosh Hashanah, it states that three books of account are opened on Rosh Hashanah, wherein the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those of the intermediate class are recorded. The names of the righteous are immediately inscribed in the Book of Life and they are sealed "to live". The intermediate class is allowed a respite of ten days, until Yom Kippur, to reflect, repent, and become righteous; the wicked are "blotted out of the book of the living forever." Some

midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

ic descriptions depict God as sitting upon a throne, while books containing the deeds of all humanity are opened for review, and each person passes in front of him for evaluation of his or her deeds. "The Holy One said, 'on Rosh Hashanah recite before Me erses ofSovereignty, Remembrance, and Shofar blasts (): Sovereignty so that you should make Me your King; Remembrance so that your remembrance should rise up before Me. And through what? Through the Shofar.' (Rosh Hashanah 16a, 34b)" This is reflected in the prayers composed by classical rabbinic sages for Rosh Hashanah found in traditional machzors, where the theme of the prayers is the "coronation" of God as King of the universe, in preparation for the acceptance of judgments that will follow on that day.

Shofar blowing

The best-known ritual of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the shofar, a musical instrument made from an animal horn. The shofar is blown at various points during the Rosh Hashanah prayers, and it is customary in most communities to have a total of 100 blasts on each day. The shofar is not blown on

Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...

.

Jewish Law ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

permits the Shofar to be blown in the presence of a rabbinical court called the

Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...

, which had not existed since ancient times. A recent group of Orthodox rabbis in Israel claiming to constitute a modern Sanhedrin held, for the first time in many years, an Orthodox shofar-blowing on Shabbat for Rosh Hashanah in 2006
TheSanhedrin.net: Shofar Blowing on Shabbat
(translation o

article) While the blowing of the shofar is a Biblical statute, it is also a symbolic "wake-up call", stirring Jews to mend their ways and repent. The shofar blasts call out: "Sleepers, wake up from your slumber! Examine your ways and repent and remember your Creator." Additionally, the act of blowing the shofar, like the rainbow, is ordered by God as a reminder to God of humanity and our plight.

Prayer service

On Rosh Hashanah day, religious poems called are added to the regular services. A special prayer book, the

machzor The ''machzor'' (, plural ''machzorim'', and , respectively) is the prayer book which is used by Jews on the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Many Jews also make use of specialized ''machzorim'' on the three pilgrimage festiva ...

(plural ), is used on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Some additions are made to the regular service, most notably in the Ashkenazic rite (both Nusach Ashkenaz and Nusach Sefard) an extended repetition of the

Amidah The ''Amidah'' (, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' during each of the three services prayed on week ...

prayer for both

Shacharit ''Shacharit'' ( ''šaḥăriṯ''), or ''Shacharis'' in Ashkenazi Hebrew, is the morning '' tefillah'' (prayer) of Judaism, one of the three daily prayers. Different traditions identify different primary components of ''Shacharit''. E ...

and

Mussaf Mussaf (also spelled Musaf or Musof) is an additional service that is recited on Shabbat, Yom Tov, Chol Hamoed, and Rosh Chodesh. The service, which is traditionally combined with the Shacharit in synagogues, is considered to be additional to t ...

including piyyutim; even communities that omit most piyyutim throughout the year recite some selection of these piyyutim. In the contemporary Sephardic rite, no piyyutim are recited inside the repetition, and in the Italian rite very few are recited, but many Sephardic communities recite piyyutim before or after the Torah reading. The shofar is blown during Mussaf at the conclusion of each of the middle blessing of the Chazzan's repetition; in some communities, it is also blown during the silent Musaf. (In many synagogues, even little children come and hear the shofar being blown.). The ''Aleinu'' prayer is recited during the silent prayer as well as the repetition of the Mussaf

Amidah The ''Amidah'' (, ''Tefilat HaAmidah'', 'The Standing Prayer'), also called the ''Shemoneh Esreh'' ( 'eighteen'), is the central prayer of Jewish liturgy. Observant Jews recite the ''Amidah'' during each of the three services prayed on week ...

. Among the most well-known and widely recited liturgical poems () in all Jewish communities is '' Unetaneh Tokef'', traditionally recited around the Musaf prayer on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The special

Avinu Malkeinu Avinu Malkeinu (; "Our Father, Our King") is a Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They als ...

prayer is also recited on Rosh Hashanah. In the Ashkenazic rite, Avinu Malkeinu is never recited on Shabbat (except in

Ne'ila Ne'ila (), the ''concluding service'', is a special Jewish prayer service that is held only on Yom Kippur. It is the time when final prayers of repentance are recited at the closing of Yom Kippur. Neilah marks the fifth Amidah of Yom Kippur, the ...

on Yom Kippur), and it is also omitted at Mincha on Fridays. The narrative in the Book of Genesis describing the announcement of Isaac's birth and his subsequent birth is part of the Torah readings in synagogues on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, and the narrative of the sacrifice and

binding of Isaac The Binding of Isaac (), or simply "The Binding" (), is a story from Book of Genesis#Patriarchal age (chapters 12–50), chapter 22 of the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God in Abrahamic religions, God orders A ...

is read in synagogue on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. The Mussaf Amidah prayer on Rosh Hashanah is unique in that, apart from the first and last three blessings, it contains three central blessings making a total of nine. These blessings are entitled "Malchuyot" (Kingship, and also includes the blessing for the holiness of the day as in a normal Mussaf), "Zichronot" (Remembrance), and "Shofarot" (concerning the shofar). Each section contains an introductory paragraph followed by selections of verses about the "topic". The verses are three from the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

, three from the

Ketuvim The (; ) is the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible, after the ("instruction") and the "Prophets". In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually titled "Writings" or "Hagiographa". In the Ketuvim, 1–2 Books ...

, three from the

Nevi'im The (; ) is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the () and (). The Nevi'im are divided into two groups. The Former Prophets ( ) consists of the narrative books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings ...

, and one more from the Torah. During the repetition of the Amidah, the shofar is sounded (except on Shabbat) after the blessing that ends each section. Recitation of these three blessings is first recorded in the

Mishna The Mishnah or the Mishna (; , from the verb ''šānā'', "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century CE, it is ...

, though writings by

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; ; ; ), also called , was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian J ...

and possibly even Psalms 81 suggest that the blessings may have been recited on Rosh Hashanah even centuries earlier. In many Ashkenazic communities, primarily those from Germany or Hungry, a

kittel 220px, A kittel A ''kittel'' ( ) is a white linen or cotton robe worn by some religious Ashkenazi Jews on holidays, in the synagogue or at home when leading the Passover seder. Grooms sometimes wear kittels. It is also customary for Jews to be ...

is worn during daytime Rosh Hashanah prayers, just as one is worn on

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

. In other Ashkenazic communities, only the prayer leaders wear a Kittel on Rosh Hashanah.

Customs

Days before Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is preceded by the month of Elul, during which Jews are supposed to begin a self-examination and repentance, a process that culminates in the ten days of the ''Yamim Nora'im'', the Days of Awe, beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with the holiday of Yom Kippur. The shofar is traditionally blown on weekday mornings, and in some communities also in the afternoon, for the entire month of Elul, the month preceding Rosh Hashanah. The sound of the ''shofar'' is intended to awaken the listeners from their "slumbers" and alert them to the coming judgment.

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

, '' Yad'', Laws of Repentance 3:4 The shofar is not blown on Shabbat. In the period leading up to Rosh Hashanah, penitential prayers called '' selichot'', are recited. The Sephardic tradition is to start at the beginning of Elul, while the Ashkenazic and Italian practice is to start a few days before Rosh Hashanah. The day before Rosh Hashanah day is known as ''Erev Rosh Hashanah'' ("Rosh Hashanah eve"). It is the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Elul, ending at sundown, when Rosh Hashanah commences. Some communities perform hatarat nedarim (a nullification of vows) after the morning prayer services. Many Orthodox men immerse in a

mikveh A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or (Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual washing in Judaism#Full-body immersion, ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve Tumah and taharah, ...

in honor of the coming day.

Symbolic foods

Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples dipped in honey to symbolize a sweet new year; this is a late medieval

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

addition. Other foods with a symbolic meaning may be served, depending on local '' minhag'' ("custom"), such as the head of a fish (to symbolize the prayer "let us be the head and not the tail"). Many communities hold a "Rosh Hashanah seder" during which blessings are recited over a variety of symbolic dishes. The blessings have the

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

"''Yehi ratzon''", meaning "May it be Thy will." In many cases, the name of the food in Hebrew or Aramaic represents a play on words (a pun). The Yehi Ratzon platter may include apples (dipped in honey, baked or cooked as a compote called ''mansanada''); dates; pomegranates; black-eyed peas; pumpkin-filled pastries called '' rodanchas''; leek fritters called '' keftedes de prasa''; beets; and a whole fish with the head intact. It is also common among

Sephardim Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendan ...

to eat stuffed vegetables called ''legumbres yaprakes''. Some of the symbolic foods eaten are dates,

black-eyed pea The black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean is a legume grown around the world for its medium-sized, edible bean. It is a subspecies of the cowpea, an Old World plant domesticated in Africa, and is sometimes simply called a cowpea. The common commerci ...

s,

leek A leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek (synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of Leaf sheath, leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a "s ...

s,

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central Asia, Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed eit ...

, and

gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly '' Cucurbita'' and '' Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. Many gourds ha ...

, all of which are mentioned in the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

: "Let a man be accustomed to eat on New Year's Day gourds (קרא), and fenugreek (רוביא), leeks (כרתי), beet

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

(סילקא), and dates (תמרי)."

Carrots The carrot (''Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in colour, though heirloom variants including purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the Daucus ...

can have multiple symbolic meanings at the Rosh Hashanah table. The Yiddish word for carrot is ma’rin (מערין), which also means "increase." By eating carrots one asks for their merits and blessings to be increased. Sliced carrots are also typically eaten to symbolize gold coins and hopes for continued wealth and prosperity. In Hebrew the word for carrot is gezer (גזר) which sounds similar to the word g’zar – the Hebrew word for "decree." Serving carrots on Rosh Hashanah symbolizes a desire to have God nullify any negative decrees against us.

Pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

s are used in many traditions, to symbolize being fruitful like the pomegranate with its many seeds.''Spice and Spirit: The Complete Kosher Jewish Cookbook'', 1990, New York, p. 508 Typically, round

challah Challah or hallah ( ; , ; 'c'''hallot'', 'c'''halloth'' or 'c'''hallos'', ), also known as berches in Central Europe, is a special bread in Jewish cuisine, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat ...

bread is served, to symbolize the cycle of the year. Raisins are occasionally incorporated into the dough to symbolize a sweet New Year. From ancient to quite modern age, lamb head or fish head were served. Nowadays, lekach (honey cake) and gefilte fish are commonly served by Ashkenazic Jews on this holiday. On the second night, new fruits are served to warrant the inclusion of the shehecheyanu blessing. The general Ashkenazic custom is to eat sweet foods, such as honey cake and

teiglach Teiglach , also spelled taiglach or teglach (, singular teigel, literally "little dough") are small, knotted pastries boiled in a honeyed syrup. They are a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish treat for Rosh Hashana, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Purim. His ...

, to augur a sweet year. The Sephardic and Mizrahi custom is frequently to eat light-coloured foods, or rather, to avoid dark ones, so as to avoid a dark year.

Tashlikh

The ritual of

tashlikh ''Tashlikh'' or Tashlich ( "cast off") is a minhag, customary Atonement in Judaism, Jewish atonement ritual performed during the High Holy Days on Rosh Hashanah. In some Judaeo-Spanish-speaking communities the practice is referred to as ''sakudirs ...

is performed on the afternoon of the first day of Rosh Hashanah by most Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews (but not by Spanish and Portuguese Jews or some Yemenites, as well as those who follow the practices of the

Vilna Gaon Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, ( ''Rabbi Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman''), also known as the Vilna Gaon ( ''Der Vilner Goen''; ; or Elijah of Vilna, or by his Hebrew acronym Gr"a ("Gaon Rabbenu Eliyahu": "Our great teacher Elijah"; Sialiec, April 23, 172 ...

). Prayers are recited near natural flowing water, and one's sins are symbolically cast into the water. Many also have the custom to throw bread or pebbles into the water, to symbolize the "casting off" of sins. In some communities (primarily Ashkenazim), if the first day of Rosh Hashanah occurs on Shabbat, ''tashlikh'' is postponed until the second day. The traditional service for ''tashlikh'' is recited individually and includes the prayer "Who is like unto you, O God... And You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea", and Biblical passages including ("They will not injure nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea") and , and , as well as personal prayers. Though once considered a solemn individual tradition, it has become an increasingly social ceremony practiced in groups. Tashlikh can be performed any time until Hoshana Rabba, and some

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

communities perform Tashlikh on the day before

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

.

Greetings

The

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

common

greeting Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between individ ...

on Rosh Hashanah is ''Shanah Tovah'' (; in many Ashkenazic communities and in Israeli and Sephardic communities), which translated from Hebrew means " ave agood year". Often ''Shanah Tovah Umetukah'' (Hebrew: ), meaning " ave aGood and Sweet Year", is used. In

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

the greeting is אַ גוט יאָר "''a gut yor''" ("a good year") or אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר "''a gut gebentsht yor''" ("a good blessed year"). The formal Sephardic greeting is ''Tizku Leshanim Rabbot'' ("may you merit many years"), to which the answer is ''Ne'imot VeTovot'' ("pleasant and good ones"); while in Ladino, they say אנייאדה בואינה, דולסי אי אליגרי "''anyada buena, dulse i alegre''" ("may you have a good, sweet and happy New Year"). A more formal greeting commonly used among religiously observant Jews is ''Ketivah VaChatimah Tovah'' (Hebrew: ), which translates as "A good inscription and sealing n the Book of Life, or ''L'shanah tovah tikatevu v'techatemu'' meaning "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year". In many German communities, the greeting ''L'shanah tovah tikatevu'', "May you be inscribed for a good year" is used, leaving out the sealing. After Rosh Hashanah ends, the greeting is changed to ''G'mar chatimah tovah'' (Hebrew: ) meaning "A good final sealing", until

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

. After Yom Kippur is over, until

Hoshana Rabbah Hoshana Rabbah (, ) is the seventh day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the 21st day of the month of Tishrei. This day is marked by a special synagogue service, the Hoshana Rabbah, in which seven circuits are made by the worshippers with their ...

, as

Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...

ends, the greeting is ''Gmar Tov'' (Hebrew: ), "a good conclusion".

In Karaite Judaism

Unlike the denominations of Rabbinical Judaism,

Karaite Judaism Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a Rabbinic Judaism, non-Rabbinical Jewish religious movements, Jewish sect characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme religious text, authority in ''halakha'' (religious law) and t ...

believes the Jewish New Year starts with the first month and celebrates this holiday only as it is mentioned in the Torah, that is as a day of rejoicing and shouting. Karaites allow no work on the day except what is needed to prepare food (Leviticus 23:23, 24).

In Samaritanism

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; ; ), are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah that ...

preserve the biblical name of the holiday, ''Yom Teruah'', and do not consider the day to be a New Year's Day.

Duration and timing

The Torah defines Rosh Hashanah as a one-day celebration, and since days in the Hebrew calendar begin at sundown, the beginning of Rosh Hashanah is at sundown at the end of 29

Elul Elul (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ) is the twelfth month of the civil year and the sixth month of the Jewish religious year, religious year in the Hebrew calendar. It is a m ...

. Since the time of the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the time of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai,

normative Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A Norm (philosophy), norm in this sense means a standard for evaluatin ...

Jewish law appears to be that Rosh Hashanah is to be celebrated for two days, because of the difficulty of determining the date of the

new moon In astronomy, the new moon is the first lunar phase, when the Moon and Sun have the same ecliptic longitude. At this phase, the lunar disk is not visible to the naked eye, except when it is silhouetted against the Sun during a solar eclipse. ...

. Nonetheless, there is some evidence that Rosh Hashanah was celebrated on a single day in Israel as late as the thirteenth century CE. Orthodox and

Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, is a Jewish religious movements, Jewish religious movement that regards the authority of Jewish law and tradition as emanating primarily from the assent of the people through the generations ...

now generally observe Rosh Hashanah for the first two days of

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year (wh ...

, even in Israel where all other Jewish holidays dated from the new moon last only one day. The two days of Rosh Hashanah are said to constitute "''Yoma Arichtah''" (Aramaic: "''one'' long day"), with certain practical implications in Halacha. In

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...

, while most congregations in North America observe only the first day of Rosh Hashanah, some follow the traditional two-day observance as a sign of solidarity with other Jews worldwide.

Karaite Jews Karaite Judaism or Karaism is a non-Rabbinical Jewish sect characterized by the recognition of the written Tanakh alone as its supreme authority in ''halakha'' (religious law) and theology. Karaites believe that all of the divine commandme ...

, who do not recognize Rabbinic Jewish oral law and rely on their own understanding of the Torah, observe only one day on the first of Tishrei, since the second day is not mentioned in the Written Torah.

Date

Originally, the date of Rosh Hashanah was determined based on observation of the new moon ("

molad ''Molad'' (מולד, plural ''Moladot'', מולדות) is a Hebrew word meaning "birth" that also generically refers to the time at which the New Moon is "born". The word is ambiguous, however, because depending on the context, it could refer to th ...

"), and thus could fall on any day of the week. However, around the third century CE, the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar (), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance and as an official calendar of Israel. It determines the dates of Jewish holidays and other rituals, such as '' yahrze ...

was fixed such that the first day of Rosh Hashanah never fell out on Wednesday or Friday,Tractate Rosh Hashanah 20a and by the ninth century it had been fixed so that it also could not fall out on Sunday (''lo AD'U rosh''). Rosh Hashanah occurs 163 days after the first day of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

, and thus is usually (but not always) determined by the new moon closest to the autumnal equinox. In terms of the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

, the earliest date on which Rosh Hashanah can fall is 5 September, as happened in 1842, 1861, 1899, and 2013. The latest Gregorian date that Rosh Hashanah can occur is 5 October, as happened in 1815, 1929, and 1967, and will happen again in 2043. After 2089, the differences between the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar will result in Rosh Hashanah falling no earlier than 6 September. Starting in 2214, the new latest date will be 6 October. The connection between the date of Rosh Hashanah and the memory of the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 has been noted, for example by the British Chief Rabbi.Office of the Chief Rabbi
Marking October 7 during a season of anniversaries
published on 7 October 2024, accessed on 8 October 2024 In 2020 the Jewish President of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

,

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy (born 25 January 1978) is a Ukrainian politician and former entertainer who has served as the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. He took office five years after the start of the Russo-Ukraini ...

, announced that Ukraine would declare Rosh Hashanah a national holiday. This makes Ukraine the only country besides Israel where the day is a national holiday.

Gallery of Rosh Hashanah greeting cards

File:Happynewyearcard.jpg, United States, 1900 File:The National Library of Israel, Jewish New Year cards C AH 033.JPG, Austria, 1904 File:Seattle - Old Temple De Hirsch.jpg, United States, 1908 File:Wiener Werkstätte - New Year Greeting - Google Art Project (2773115).jpg, Austria, 1910 (

Wiener Werkstätte The Wiener Werkstätte ("Vienna Workshop"), established in 1903 by the graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and the patron Fritz Waerndorfer, was a productive association in Vienna, Austria that brought to ...

) File:Shanah Tova 1914.jpg, Austria-Hungary/
Germany, 1914 File:PikiWiki Israel 2022 Happy New Year Card שנה טובה תרפquot;ח.jpg, Tel Aviv, 1927 File:PikiWiki Israel 219 Immigration to Israel שנה טובה.jpg, Poland, 1931 File:Rosh Hashana Montevideo 1932.jpg,

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, 1932 File:Shana Tova Card.jpg, Israel, 2012 File:Chocolat Poulain Rosch Haschanah.jpg, France, undated. (

Jewish Museum of Switzerland The Jewish Museum of Switzerland in Basel provides an overview of the religious and everyday history of the Jews in Basel and Switzerland using objects of ritual, art and everyday culture from Middle Ages, the Middle Ages to the present. Hist ...

.)

Notes

References

Bibliography

*

External links

Torah Content on Rosh Hashana
– Text, audio & video classes, Times, and Q&A about Rosh HaShana
Marking the New Year From the Yad Vashem's Collections
– Online exhibition on the celebration of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur before, during, and after the Holocaust
Rosh Hashanah Prayers by Chazzanim
– an audio, video and printed guide to the Rosh Hashanah prayers

– BBC video and more! {{Authority control Rosh Hashanah, Adam and Eve Autumn festivals Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law Tishrei observances New Year celebrations Autumn equinox

Etymology

Origin

The Four "New Years"

Religious significance

Shofar blowing

Prayer service

Customs

Days before Rosh Hashanah

Symbolic foods

Tashlikh

Greetings

In Karaite Judaism

In Samaritanism

Duration and timing

Date

Gallery of Rosh Hashanah greeting cards

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links