At sunset on September 15 many will begin celebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, one of the most important Jewish holidays. Rosh Hashanah literally translates to “head of the year” from Hebrew and symbolizes making a fresh start in life. It’s a time for reflection, to set priorities and think about what is truly important. It is a time to start to reflect on how the actions one has taken may have affected others throughout the past year and about who to make amends with and ask for forgiveness as one enters into the new year.
The holiday is celebrated with sweet foods, for a sweet year, round challah, as the year is circular, and pomegranate, which is said to contain 613 seeds representing the number of commandments a Jewish person is to keep. Another way this holiday is celebrated is with the blowing of the shofar, a ram’s horn, to welcome the new year.
I wish everyone who is celebrating this High Holiday Shanah Tova!
