A New Season, a New Year - Celebrating Rosh Hashanah

Sep 21, 20205 min read

Updated: Nov 14, 2020

Shanah Tovah!

This Hebrew phrase means "good year" and is the traditional greeting/good wishes that Jewish people exchange during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and one of the holiest days of the Jewish faith.

I hope everyone reading this is safe and healthy as we continue to battle the coronavirus pandemic and quarantine. Once again, fair warning, I am not Jewish and I have never celebrated Rosh Hashanah; please know that I do not intend to misrepresent or disrespect this important holiday, and if I do in some way, please correct me!

Alternate Name: Jewish New Year; Yom Teruah (Day of Shouting); Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance); Yom Hadin (Day of Judgement); yom arichta (the long day); the Feast of Trumpets

Date: 1st and 2nd day of Tishri

Place: Jewish communities around the world

Type: Religious; Ethnic/cultural

Celebrants: Jewish people

Rosh Hashanah is the first day of the new year in the Jewish calendar, and the name literally means "head of the year." It begins at sundown on the first day of the month of Tishri, which usually occurs in September, and ends at sunset two days later. This year Rosh Hashanah began at sunset on Friday, September 18th, and ended at sundown on Sunday, September 20th.

Rosh Hashanah not only marks the beginning of a new year, but it also commemorates the beginning of creation, celebrating God's making of the universe. A time of great joy and festivity, it is also a time of prayer and reflection, for it begins the period of time known as the 10 Days of Remembrance or Return, leading up to the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. It is thought that on Rosh Hashanah, God passes judgement on all people -- the righteous are inscribed in the "Book of Life," destined for Heaven, while the wicked are inscribed in the "Book of Death," to face punishment in the afterlife. People caught "in between" righteousness and wickedness have the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to repent of their sins and turn back to God.

"Blowing The Shofar on Rosh Hashanah." Image taken from Wikimedia Commons

Rosh Hashanah has been celebrated since Biblical times, and its origin lies in both the traditional start of the "economic year in the agricultural societies of the ancient Near East" and the Book of Leviticus, found in the Torah and the Christian Old Testament. In Levitcus 23: 24 - 25, God declared to Moses:

"Speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts. You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall present the Lord’s offering by fire."

Though Tishri is the first month of the civil year, hence why it's called the Jewish New Year, it is also the seventh month of the liturgical year, beginning with Passover in the month Nisan, in the spring. (For Catholics, this is similar to beginning the secular year on January 1st but the liturgical year on the first Sunday of Advent). Jewish Talmudic scholars therefore linked Tishri and Rosh Hashanah to the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week and a day of rest and prayer.

The blasts from a trumpet, or shofar, as seen above, is one of the most important aspects of the holiday. The shofar is sounded in the morning on both days during prayer services, between 30 and 100 times over the course of the holiday. Its cries are meant to evoke praise to God as King of the Universe, and to call sinners to repentance. Significantly, it is made out of a ram's horn, to remind people of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac on God's command, and the fact that God provided a ram in Isaac's place. The birth and binding of Isaac are some of the central liturgical readings of the holiday.

Traditional food platter. Image taken from Needpix

Though Rosh Hashanah is a time of reflection and repentance in preparation for Yom Kippur, it is also a joyful holiday meant to be spent with family, friends, and good food. Obviously this year, due to the pandemic and quarantine, following such traditions is harder than ever -- but, ultimately, may be more important. Video conferences, drive-bys, small outdoor gatherings, and other socially responsible ways of celebrating are possible.

Traditional foods eaten at Rosh Hashanah include challah bread and apples dipped in honey. On the first night, before eating the apple, Jews say a ha'eitz -- a prayer of thanksgiving for food and drink -- and add, “May it be Your will to renew for us a good and sweet year.” Some families also eat fish heads, to symbolize their desire to be "heads" instead of "tails," or leaders instead of followers. Similarly, some Jews eat pomegranates in the hope that their "merits be many like the [seeds of the] pomegranate.”

Other traditions include the lighting of candles -- the women of the household light candles on both nights while performing a special blessing; the second night it is recommended everyone keep in mind the new fruit that they will eat after the prayer is said. Additionally, there is the taslich ceremony, a practice begun in the Middle Ages. Jews rip up pieces of bread or other food and cast them into a body of water, such as lakes, rivers, creeks, ponds, or the ocean; the pieces symbolize sins being washed away. It links back to a verse in the book of the prophet Micah, Chapter 7:19,

"He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities under foot.

Yes, You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Image taken from Wikimedia Commons

Unique to this year (as so many things are) was the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on September 18th, 2020, the first night of Rosh Hashanah. RBG, as she is known, was the second woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court after Sandra Day O'Connor and the first female Jewish Justice, as well as the sixth Jewish Justice after Louis Brandeis, Benjamin Cardozo, Abe Fortas, Felix Frankfurter, and Arthur Goldberg. Justice Ginsburg was an intelligent and accomplished professor, lawyer, and Justice, and worked her entire career to fighting legal discrimination against women and other minorities in the United States.

While her death on the Jewish New Year may seem like a sad coincidence, there is actually a Jewish tradition that puts this event into a hopeful light. According to tradition, those who die on Rosh Hashanah are considered tzadik -- saintly or righteous. National Public Radio journalist and a close friend of Ginsburg, Nina Totenberg, explained the concept on Twitter:

"God has held [the tzadik] back until the last moment bc they were needed most & were the most righteous"

Rosh Hashanah symbols. Image taken from Pixy

While researching Rosh Hashanah this weekend, I noticed similarities to Nowruz, the Persian New Year, for its use of candles, eating apples for a sweet new year, and its focus on reflecting on one's life; and the Islamic "Feast of Sacrifice," or Eid al Adha, one of the holiest days in Islam. The story of Abraham's sacrifice is also central to that celebration, and Muslims often eat sheep or rams due to this. This isn't too surprising, since ancient Persia and ancient Israel were closely connected both geographically and culturally, and that Islam is also an Abrahamic religion and borrows heavily from Jewish scriptures.

If you do observe Rosh Hashanah, then I hope you were able to celebrate with family and friends in some meaningful way this year, and that the coming year will be a sweet one for all of us. Again, if I have made a mistake or misrepresented your faith or holy day in any way, please correct me! This blog is meant to be a celebration of different cultures, faiths, and celebrations, not an appropriation or misrepresentation.

And to all of my readers, I hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well during this crazy time! Remember to wear masks and keep your distance while out in public -- and that physical distancing doesn't have to be social distancing.

Until next time. God bless.

References:

A New Season, a New Year - Celebrating Rosh Hashanah

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