Rosh Hashanah: Shanah Tovah “Good 12 months” | Naming the Days

Rosh Hashanah is the two-day pageant that marks the Jewish New 12 months, starting at sunset. Neil Gillman of the Jewish Theological Seminary explains its significance: “This pageant has advanced via our custom to signify a season of private and common renewal. Each human being wants a chance to start once more, to wipe out the previous and dream desires about what his or her life can turn out to be. . . . We are saying goodbye to the previous time and hiya to the brand new. Within the course of we are saying goodbye to our previous selves and hiya to our new ones.”

Conventional customs and practices for Rosh Hashanah embody listening to the sounding of the shofar, the lighting of pageant candles, particular prayers and readings within the synagogue, and the consuming of meals which might be candy (for the 12 months forward), spherical (for the cycle of the 12 months), and ample (for fruitfulness). Many additionally carry out a model of the Tashlich ceremony by going to the closest physique of free-flowing water and casting into it an emblem (typically bread crumbs) of the sins of the previous 12 months.

To Identify These Days:

Web sites & Organizations

• Discover articles with private experiences, explanations of symbols, and full ceremonies for Rosh Hashanah at Ritualwell.org. They provide a tremendous assortment of views to be used in lots of settings.

Non secular Practices

See directions from Rabbi Michael Lerner for the practices of repentance and forgiveness used in the course of the ten days from the eve of Rosh Hashanah to the top of Yom Kippur. These are applicable for folks of any non secular custom.