What is Rosh Hashanah? 2024 dates, greetings, traditions

The holiday of Rosh Hashanah is now taking place for people of the Jewish faith.

Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Jewish New Year, which is different from the one celebrated on January 1st each year. The schedule is based on the Hebrew calendar, which is different from the calendar we use on a daily basis.

Rosh Hashanah is now celebrated until the evening of October 4th, and the next major holiday after that is Yom Kippur, which closes the book on the previous year and is considered the holiest of all Jewish holidays because it focuses on reconciliation with Judaism focuses on God.

Here’s what you should know about the holidays.

What is Rosh Hashanah?

It is the Jewish New Year and this year marks the year 5785 in the Hebrew calendar. The name means “head of the year” and celebrates the birth of the universe and the creation of Adam and Eve.

Celebrations of Rosh Hashanah include blowing the shofar — a ram’s horn — on both mornings of the holiday, “which typically occurs in the synagogue as part of the day’s services,” according to Chabad.org. The horn symbolizes a feeling of remorse.

“The festival begins on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, which falls in September or October,” according to History.com.

How long is Rosh Hashanah?

It started on October 2nd and ends on the evening of October 4th.

How is Rosh Hashanah celebrated?

The holiday is a time of prayer and is marked by gatherings in synagogues, penance (with the Tashlich prayer being said near bodies of water) and food.

Jewish people eat “challah” bread on this holiday. It is a plaited bread with a semi-sweet taste. Blessings are also usually said by candlelight.

According to Chabad.org, Jews typically attend synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and abstain from “creative work” and other activities.

What is the greeting for Rosh Hashanah?

A typical greeting is “Happy and Sweet New Year,” but you can also wish someone a Happy New Year, according to Chabad.org.

In Hebrew, you can wish someone “shanah tovah umtukah,” which according to Reform Judaism means “May I have a good and sweet New Year.” The greeting can be shortened to “shanah tovah” (“a good year”).

What is Yom Kippur?

After Rosh Hashanah in the calendar, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for people of the Jewish faith. On this holiday, God’s judgment for the year is final and repentance is crucial. Yom Kippur is known as the Day of Atonement.

It falls on October 11th and 12th this year.

“The purpose of Yom Kippur is to bring about individual and collective purification through the practice of forgiving the sins of others and through sincere repentance for one’s own sins against God,” according to Britannica.com.

There are 10 days between Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, a period known as the “10 Days of Awe.” During this time, God will judge whether a particular Jewish people will live or die in the coming year.

“Jewish law teaches that God writes the names of the righteous in the ‘Book of Life’ and sentences the wicked to death on Rosh Hashanah; People who fall between these two categories have until Yom Kippur to perform ‘teshuvah,’ or penance,” according to History.com.

What is Rosh Hashanah? 2024 dates, greetings, traditions

ByJasper

What is Rosh Hashanah?

How long is Rosh Hashanah?

How is Rosh Hashanah celebrated?

What is the greeting for Rosh Hashanah?

What is Yom Kippur?

By Jasper

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