The Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana, starts at sundown. While most New Year celebrations celebrate the turning of a calendar, Rosh Hashana celebrates the creation of mankind:
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, commemorates the creation of mankind. God gave Adam a soul, distinguishing him from all other living beings, in his ability to make moral choices and to build a relationship with the Creator. On Rosh Hashana, each person's allotment of life and livelihood is subject to renewal. The Talmud says that on Rosh Hashana, the prayers of the barren women -- Sarah, Rachel and Chana -- were answered; on this day they became pregnant with Isaac, Joseph and the prophet Samuel, respectively. (Sarah's story is the Torah reading on the first day of Rosh Hashana, and Chana's story is the Haftarah.)
May the New Year bring you Health, Wealth and Happiness!
The festival of Rosh Hashanah--the name means "Head of the Year"--is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in G‑d's world.
Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G‑d and humanity: our dependence upon G‑d as our creator and sustainer, and G‑d's dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashanah, "all inhabitants of the world pass before G‑d like a flock of sheep," and it is decreed in the heavenly court, "who shall live, and who shall die... who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise." But this is also the day we proclaim G‑d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependent upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G‑d's kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which also represents the trumpet blast of a people's coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man's first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the "Ten Days of Repentance" which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Altogether, we listen to 100 shofar blasts over the course of the Rosh Hashanah service.
Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include:
a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year's blessings.
b) Blessing one another with the words
Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."
c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean,
river, pond, etc.) in evocation of the verse,
"And You shall cast their
sins into the depths of the sea."
And as with every major Jewish
holiday, after candlelighting and prayers we recite Kiddush and make a
blessing on the Challah.
New Year's Blessings From Latima
May this New Year bring you Health, Wealth and Joy.
