Jewish People Celebrates the 5772 New Year
Rosh Hashana
September 27, 2011
Jewish people around the globe are celebrating the new 5772 year. In the commercial calendar the date is tomorrow Wednesday, 28 September and conclude at nightfall on Friday, 30 September. In Hebrew, Rosh Hashana, “Head of the Year,” is the beginning of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve and the birthday of mankind, which highlights the relationship between G‑d and humanity.
The primary theme of the day is our acceptance of G‑d as our King. As one of the prayers of these two days says, “We are Your people and You are our King.”
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which represents, among other things, the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king and a call to repentance.
Rosh Hashanah is also characterized by two special customs. The first is the eating of apple slices dipped in honey, symbolizing the hope that the coming year will be “sweet.”
We also observe the new year by going to a lake, river or to the sea and recite the Tashlich prayers, where we symbolically cast our sins into the water, in evocation of the verse, “And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea.” We leave our old shortcomings behind us, thus starting the new year with a clean slate.
Some of the common questions people ask about Rosh Hashanah are:
- Why don’t we celebrate New Year’s in January? The calendar that begins in January and ends in December is known as the Gregorian calendar and was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. This calendar is based on an even earlier calendar, the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. The Jewish calendar not only is of much earlier origin but also differs from the Gregorian calendar in that the Jewish calendar is based on the moon (lunar) and not the sun (solar).
- Is Rosh Hashanah a happy day or a sad day? Rosh Hashanah is a happy day, a festival, and at the same time it is a very serious day. It is a serious day because it is the day of judgment, and it is a happy day because we are confident that if we understand the meaning of the day and use it properly, we will indeed receive a favorable judgment.
- Why does God judge us? Because life is serious matter. If we feel that we are being judged, we are more apt to treat life with the proper gravity.
Several Jewish holidays – some of which are full legal holidays in Israel – will take place this year between 28 September and 20 October, including:
- Rosh Hashanah
- Yom Kippur (Hebrew for “The Day of Atonement”) begins at sunset on Friday, 7 October, and concludes at nightfall on Saturday, 8 October
- Sukkot festival, begins at sunset on Wednesday, 12 October and concludes at nightfall on Wednesday, 19 October
- Shemini Atzeret (Simhat Torah), (literally “The Eighth Day of Assembly” in Hebrew) beginning at sunset on Wednesday, 19 October and concluding at nightfall on Thursday, 20 October
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