It is now Jewish New Year 2018!
Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year, and it is celebrated around the world. It is one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar.
The holiday began in Leviticus 23:24:
Speak to the children of Israel, saying: in the seventh new moon, on the first day of that new moon, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation. You are not to do any kind of servile work and you are to bring to the Lord a fire-offering.
But why do we celebrate the new year on the first day on the seventh month?
There are several answers to this questions:
- According to Kabbalah, G-d created the first man on Rosh HaShanah.
- The Talmud says there are a number of other events that happened on the same day, such as the birthdays of Abraham and Jacob, the birthdays of Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah, Samuel’s mother, and Joseph’s release from Pharaoh’s prison were all on this day.
- Biblical anthropologist Theodore H. Gaster suggests that the juxtaposition of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot follows a pattern that typifies the ancient world’s understanding of the turning of the year: mortification, purgation, and renewal and jubilation.
Oh wait, but there is another part of Rosh HaShanah!
There is another reason to say Happy Jewish New Year 2018!
It is also the holiday that we stand before G-d to be judged if we are going to be written in the Book of Life or the Book of Death.
If we are written in the Book of Life, we will have a good and happy year. If we are written in the Book of Death, we may not die that year, but we will have a year of misfortune.
Now technically there are three books are opened on Rosh HaShanah: one for the righteous, one for the wicked, and one for those on the borderline. Until the holiday of Yom Kippur when our fates are sealed, these books are open and your name can be put into a different book.
How do we celebrate this two- folded holiday?
What makes Jewish New Year 2018 special?
At the end of the afternoon services on the day before Rosh HaShanah, we sing a liturgical song. It is called Ahot ketanah, or “Little Sister,” and written by 13th century Spanish poet Hazzan of Geronda. It goes something like this:
The little sister—hear her prayers
As she prepares and proclaims her praises.
O G-d, please heal her ailments
Let the year and its curses end.
Left her up from degradation to lofty majesty,
For in the pit of exile her soul had melted.
When the lowest are elevated, her heart is poured out;
Among the poorest of the poor are her dwellings.
Let the year and its curses end.
When will you raise up the daughter from her pit;
And break the dungeon’s yoke? Won’t you?
May you act wondrously when you go forth like a hero,
To bring an end and to her ailments.
Let the year and its curses end.
Be strong, rejoice that her plunder is ended;
Place hope in the Rock and keep His covenant.
You will ascend to Zion and He will say:
Pave! Pave her paths.
Let the year and its curses end.
During the services of the holiday itself, some prayers are added or stressed. One example is when the cantor finishes reciting the Hashkivenu prayer, the congregation says “Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our festival day, for it is a statute for Israel, an ordanance of the G-d of Jacob.”
In addition to these prayers, a special tradition is done called tashilch. Jews go to a body of water and drop bread as symbols of the sins of the last year. Now they are clean and pure for the new year.
The Blowing of the Shofar
The blowing of the shofar is toward the end of the services of Rosh HaShana, and one of the most well-known symbols of the Jewish New Year.
It is not allowed to speak until the service is over after the Shofar.
There are four patterns of the blowing of the shofar:
- Tekiah (tuuuuu)
- Shevarim (u-tu, u-tu, u-tu)
- Teruah (tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, tu)
- Tekiah gedolah (a very long tuuuuuu)
Where does this practice come from? Pslam 147: G-d has ascended with a blast, the Lord with the sound of the shofar.
So what do we eat during the two days of the Jewish New Year?
It is customary to make challah, or bread eaten on Jewish holidays and Shabbat, in a circular shape instead of a long braid. Some bake in in the shape of a crown as a reminder of G-d’s ruling over us. The circle also symbolizes the circle of life and our hope that our lives will continue without end.
Many Jews will eat apples and honey for a sweet Jewish new year, as well.
During the meal carrots are a common dish you will see at the table, as is fish, as symbols of good things to come in the new year. That is because they are signs of fertility and fruitfulness.
A Jewish New Year 2018 Blessing
Rosh HaShanah may seem just like another Jewish New Year (after all we have several new years, including one for trees). But it is quite the opposite. It is one where we look both to the past and the future. We remember all that we did the past year, good and bad, and we thing of how to improve ourselves from the upcoming year. We hope to have a bright future despite our mistakes in the past.
In conclusion, I am sending Rosh HaShanah blessings to Jews around the world:
Rosh HaShanah may seem big and scary
On the outside, I see why
Somehow I can’t remember all last year
However, I am hopeful for the future.
Hopeful for a year of love, joy and success
As we aim for our goals and dreams
Searching for our greatest potential,
Honoring our families and their memories,
And never forgetting where we came from.
Never lose sight of your sweet dreams of joy and happiness
And make them as sweet as the honey we eat with our family.
Have a happy, happy Jewish New Year 2018!
