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This holiday has little in common with our usual understanding of the New Year. No champagne and tangerines, no fireworks, and in general not the slightest hint of unbridled fun. Rosh Hashanah is a time of rethinking the past, repentance and hope for the future.
Why is the Jewish New Year celebrated in autumn?
Rosh Hashanah falls at the beginning of the month of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. This calendar is lunisolar, and hence the Jewish holidays are mobile relative to the civil calendar.
The first month is the spring month of Aviv, also called Nisan. It falls in March-April of the Gregorian calendar.
Accordingly, the seventh month of Tishrei falls in September-October. Jews believe that God created the world in the seventh month. Therefore, the reckoning is conducted from it.
The creation of the first people, the eating of the forbidden fruit, the end of the Flood, the miraculous salvation of Isaac during the sacrifice and other important events of biblical history are associated with this holiday.
Meaning of the Jewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah is not only the day of the creation of the world, but also the day of judgment. That is, on the day of the birth of the world, God judges this world. The main task of a person on these holidays is to remember everything that happened during the year, listen to the voice of conscience, admit to himself all his bad deeds and sincerely repent of them.
The holiday of Rosh Hashanah begins 10 days of prayer and repentance, called the Days of Awe. Their culmination is the next holiday – Yom Kippur – the day of reconciliation. It is believed that at the beginning of this period, God sits on the throne of a just judge and carefully evaluates the actions of all people. But then God “transplants” to the throne of mercy and gives people one more chance to improve.
Three books are open before God at this time. The first contains the names of the righteous, whose good deeds outweigh the evil ones. The second book contains the names of sinners, those who more often committed unkind deeds. And finally, in the third book, the one that lies in the middle, the names of most people are recorded. They are not righteous, but they are not inveterate sinners either. The bowls of their scales with good and evil deeds are, so to speak, in balance. It is these people who have a chance to correct their fate by sincere repentance.
Thus, the Jewish New Year is both the beginning of human history, and God’s judgment, and an opportunity to renew relations with God, to make a “reset”.
Jewish New Year Traditions
The highlight of the holiday is the blowing of the shofar – the ram’s horn. This action is deeply symbolic. The sound of the shofar calls believers to God’s judgment. But the ram’s horn also reminds of the lamb that Abraham sacrificed instead of his son Isaac. This symbolizes the readiness of every believer for self-sacrifice.
There are other interpretations of this custom. It is believed that the sounds of the shofar reach heaven and confuse Satan, who at this moment reports to God about all human sins. The accuser is deafened by the trumpets and cannot read his entire accusatory list.
For two festive days, Jews go to the synagogue to pray and listen to the sacred sounds of the shofar, which appeals to the human conscience. These days it is decided what the next year will be like for each member of the community. Someone is waiting for good luck and honor, and someone grief and illness.
There is another ritual associated with the Jewish New Year. It is called tashlih and symbolizes deliverance from the sins of the outgoing year. Believers gather on the shore of some reservoir, read prayers and shake crumbs from their pockets into the water, as if feeding their sins to the fish.
What treats are served on the Jewish New Year
The traditional fruit associated with the Jewish New Year is the pomegranate. But in regions where pomegranates did not grow, they were replaced with apples. Honey is certainly part of the meal so that the coming year is sweet. The wish for a sweet year is part of the traditional New Year’s greetings.
Often a fish is served on the table, and certainly with a head, so that, as they say, “to be in the head, not in the tail.” Moreover, the very name of the Rosh Hashanah holiday literally means “head of the year”. They also serve carrots cut into circles, reminiscent of golden coins, because on the fateful days of the New Year, the material well-being of a person for the next year is also determined. Necessarily present on the festive table is round, in the form of a wreath, challah bread. This form is a symbol of the cyclical nature of time.
It is strictly forbidden to eat bitter and sour food, so that the coming year does not bring sorrow and misfortune. It is not customary to eat nuts, because the numerical value of the word “nut” in Hebrew is equal to the numerical value of the word “sin”. And at this time it is impossible to mention sin in any case.