Rosh Hashanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה) is the Jewish New Year.

This year on September 15th, we will be celebrating the 5784nd anniversary of the creation of the world, but more precisely, the creation of Adam and Eve. The holiday is on the first and second day of tishrei. Then begins the ten days of penance, and lasts until Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

THE NAMES OF THE HOLIDAY

The head of the year

Judgement day – In the next 10 days, it will be decided whether we will enter the book of the good, the bad or the neutral in the coming year.

The day of the shofar blowing

The birthday of the world

TRADITIONAL FOODS

POMEGRANATE

Traditionally consumed on the second night of the holiday, it symbolizes the new fruit and the richness of the new year. It is customary to eat fruit on the holiday that we have not eaten yet during the year, which in many cases is the pomegranate. The fruit contains 613 seeds, which for the Jews symbolizes the 613 commandments of the Torah.

APPLE

Apples dipped in honey so that our year will be round and sweet.

ROUND CHALLAH

During Rosh Hashanah, we eat sweet and round challah so that our coming year can be just as good. Often times, people put honey into the dough of the challah and when we say the prayer over it, we will dip our challah into honey instead of salt as well.

HONEY

We dip everything in honey so that our new year will be sweet.

TZIMMES

A sweet salad made of carrots, dates, pineapple and honey (you can find the recipe here).

FISH

It is customary to eat fished cooked in whole as it is a sign of abundance. The head of the fish is always kept on because it symbolizes that the holiday is the head of the year.

Tashlich

The word means ‘casting off’. The name of the tradition refers to us casting off our sins from ourselves. To do this, we go to the bank of a river or a lake and we throw bits of bread into the water, which symbolizes that we are freed from our sins.

TRADITIONS

Blowing of the shofar

From the first of Elul all the way to Yom Kippur, the shofar is blown which is a horn made out of the horn of a ram. By clicking the video above, you can hear the sound it makes.

New year greetings

During this time, it is customary to send all kinds of funny or nice new year’s greeting cards, emails, messages, or emojis. It can be as simple as “Shanah Tova!” or “Happy new year!”, or you can add on “Tikatevu”, which means “be inscribed”, since we want to be inscribed into the book of life.