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51黑料 CELEBRATES... Rosh Hashana
Posted 02/10/24
2nd to 4th October 2024 : Shanah Tovah! (鈥淕ood year!鈥�) to all of our Jewish members, friends and colleagues around the UK.
Rosh Hashana - New Year in the Hebrew calendar - is a time for celebrating the creation of the world, through reflection, worship and enjoying good food!
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What is Rosh Hashana?
Rosh Hashanah is the name of the annual festival that celebrates Jewish New Year, and the title literally means 鈥榟ead of the year鈥�. This festival varies in date from year to year, but this year begins on Wednesday 2 October and ends on Friday 4 October.
These dates vary each year because they are decided by the Hebrew calendar, and this is why the Jewish New Year is placed in autumn, as opposed to being on 1 January each year. Rosh Hashana takes place at the start of the month of Tisheri, which is the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar.
Rosh Hashanah is not only a celebration of there being another year, but also a celebration of the creation of the world and a time to mark making a fresh start. Jewish people traditionally mark this as a holy day, on which they are not expected to work. Many people also take this as an opportunity to reflect on what is important to them and what they might want to prioritise for the coming year. It is therefore an important time for introspection as well as festivities.
This festival is also a time when Jewish people believe that God judges a person鈥檚 good actions throughout the previous year against their negative acts and decides what their next 12 months will be like. The two days of Rosh Hashanah usher in the Ten Days of Repentance, which culminate in the major fasting day of Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement.
The History of Rosh Hashanah
The origins of Rosh Hashanah may come from Babylonian times, but it has come to be important as an anniversary of when the world was created. It鈥檚 significance may also derive from its place in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, therefore marking 鈥榯he Sabbath of the year鈥�.
Other theories about the origin of this festival include that it may have begun as a royal enthronement ritual from Biblical times, however, the Torah (Old Testament) never mentions the New Year or Day of Judgement aspects of the festival, so this is just one of many possible stories surrounding its history.
How is Rosh Hashanah Celebrated?
During Rosh Hashanah, Jewish people will traditionally say 鈥淟鈥檚hanah tovah鈥�, meaning 鈥渇or a good New Year鈥�, and many Jewish families will spend some of the festival at synagogue, the Jewish place of worship. One of the traditions during Rosh Hashanah is to blow a special horn called a 鈥渟hofar鈥�, and one hundred notes are blown on it to create a special rhythm. The shofar is one of the world鈥檚 oldest wind instruments and its sound marks the beginning of the 10 days leading up to the next Jewish festival, Yom Kippur, which is the most solemn day in the Hebrew calendar.
In celebrating Rosh Hashanah, food is very important, and honey is used in many dishes to symbolise the desire for a sweet forthcoming year. Some of these include apples dipped in honey, honey cake, and challah (the Jewish bread used on the Sabbath and during festivals) dipped in honey. There may also be pomegranate on the table, as there is a tradition that each of these fruits contains 613 seeds, one for each commandment that a Jewish person is supposed to keep throughout the year.
Fascinating Facts
- One custom during Rosh Hashanah is for Jewish people to walk to a river or stream and recite prayers of penitence, before throwing breadcrumbs in the river to symbolise casting away sins
- Throughout the year, challah (the bread baked for the Jewish day of rest each week, the Sabbath) is baked in braided loaves. But for Rosh Hashanah, it is baked into round loaves and dipped in honey
- Leonard Cohen鈥檚 famous song 鈥榃ho By Fire鈥� draws on a prayer from this time in the Jewish calendar called the Unetanah Tokef.
Find out more . . .听
You can read more about Rosh Hashanah on the , the , or watch a helpful BBC Teach video:
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