Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and the beginning of the High Holy Days. It starts at sundown before 1 Tishrei, usually in September or early October. Synagogue worship centers on prayer and the sound of the shofar, while home observance includes festive meals and wishes for a good year. The holiday opens ten days of reflection that culminate in Yom Kippur.

What Rosh Hashanah Means

The Hebrew phrase Rosh Hashanah means “head of the year.” Jewish tradition associates the day with creation, divine judgment and the possibility of renewal. Its mood holds celebration and seriousness together: families greet a new year, while worship asks each person to examine conduct and relationships.

The Torah calls the first day of the seventh month Yom Teruah, a day of sounding or blasting, rather than Rosh Hashanah. The later name appears in the Mishnah around the second century. Rabbinic tradition developed the day into the annual new year and opening of the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe.

The image of a Book of Life appears in High Holy Day liturgy. Popular greetings wish that someone be written and sealed for a good year. The language is theological poetry, not a prediction that removes human responsibility. Repentance, prayer and righteous giving remain active tasks.

How the Rosh Hashanah Date Is Set

Rosh Hashanah begins on 1 Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar. Since a Jewish day starts at sundown, the holiday begins on the Gregorian evening before its first daytime date. Traditional communities observe two days, ending after nightfall on 2 Tishrei.

The Hebrew calendar combines lunar months and a solar year. Seven leap months within a 19-year cycle keep the fall holidays in their season. Month lengths and postponement rules determine which civil date receives 1 Tishrei. A date calculator should implement the calendar rather than approximate it from a moon phase.

Rosh Hashanah can fall on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday under the fixed calendar; it does not begin on Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. These restrictions help prevent other holidays from creating difficult sequences in the religious calendar.

For a year-specific view, the table below links to calendars such as 1998, where the first day fell on September 21. Remember that the service and dinner began the previous evening.

Why the Seventh Month Starts a New Year

Nisan is called the first month in the Torah and anchors Passover. Yet Jewish sources recognize several beginnings for legal and ritual counting. Tishrei became the boundary for changing the year number, sabbatical cycles and many civil purposes.

This is not as unusual as it sounds. The US calendar year begins in January while a federal fiscal year begins in October and a school year in late summer. Different “years” can organize different activities without contradicting one another.

Rabbinic tradition associated 1 Tishrei with the creation of humanity and a universal day of judgment. Reform Judaism’s historical overview notes the development from biblical Yom Teruah through Babylonian-era themes of remembrance and judgment to the name Rosh Hashanah.

Shofar and Synagogue Worship

The shofar is a hollowed ram’s horn sounded in structured calls. Tekiah is a sustained note; shevarim is broken into three sounds; teruah is a rapid series; and tekiah gedolah is an extended final blast. Congregations combine these patterns through the service.

The sound is often described as a spiritual alarm: direct, wordless and difficult to ignore. It recalls biblical passages, the binding of Isaac and hope for moral awakening. In traditional practice the shofar is not sounded when the first day falls on Shabbat, though worship continues.

The prayer book for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is called a machzor. Services are longer than an ordinary Sabbath service and include distinctive poetry and themes of sovereignty, remembrance and shofar. Many congregations require tickets or advance arrangements because attendance is high; others make services open or stream them.

Tashlich is a custom performed near flowing water, often on the first afternoon. Participants recite verses and symbolically cast away wrongdoing. Bread crumbs were once common, but many communities now avoid throwing food because it can harm waterways and wildlife.

Holiday Meals and Greetings

Round challah can symbolize the cycle of the year. Apples dipped in honey express a wish for sweetness. Pomegranates, dates, carrots, fish heads and other foods carry meanings in particular Sephardi, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi traditions. No single menu represents all Jewish households.

The greeting Shanah tovah means “a good year.” A longer greeting may wish for a good and sweet year. Cards became popular among European and American Jews in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and messages now travel by phone and social media as well as mail.

Honey is a wish, not a guarantee that the coming year will be easy. The season’s liturgy openly acknowledges uncertainty, loss and responsibility. That balance is why a celebratory meal can sit beside serious self-examination without either mood canceling the other.

Families light candles and make Kiddush over wine or grape juice. Meals can include new fruit not yet eaten in the season, providing an occasion for the Shehecheyanu blessing of gratitude for reaching a new moment.

Rosh Hashanah is not a countdown party equivalent to December 31. There is joy and family gathering, but the day’s themes lead directly into repentance and repair.

From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur

The ten-day period beginning with Rosh Hashanah ends with Yom Kippur. It is a focused time for teshuvah, often translated as repentance or return. Apologizing to another person cannot be replaced by prayer alone; Jewish teaching emphasizes seeking forgiveness and making amends directly.

The Sabbath within these days has special readings and is called Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Return. Communities may hold cemetery visits, study sessions and charitable drives during the season.

Yom Kippur begins on 10 Tishrei, so it starts nine civil dates after the first day of Rosh Hashanah. Because both begin at sunset, a planning calendar should use full start and end times rather than treating them as ordinary midnight-to-midnight holidays.

Rosh Hashanah in the United States

Rosh Hashanah is not federal, but observant Jews may avoid work, writing, commerce and travel under traditional law. Students may miss classes, and employees may need two days plus an early departure before sundown. Reform congregations often emphasize one primary day, while Orthodox and Conservative practice commonly keeps two.

American services reflect varied backgrounds and denominations. Music, pronunciation, length and gender roles differ. A respectful calendar labels the holiday without assuming that every Jewish person observes it identically.

The dates table below gives the first full day and notes the evening beginning. Use the linked year page to place it among other dates, but consult a congregation for exact local service times and practice.