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Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. In contrast to the revelry associated with the secular New Year which begins on January 1st, it is a time of solemnity. Family and friends try to get together, cards may be sent, but essentially, it is a time to focus on our actions, what we have done wrong, how we can do better. Rosh Hashanah is preceded by the month of Elul which gives us special opportunities to prepare for this time, and the Machzor, (High Holyday Prayer Book of the Movement for Reform Judaism) contains a special calendar of Elul readings. It is the start of the ten days which culminate in Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.

The observance of Rosh Hashanah has its origins in three short verses in the Torah, Leviticus 23:23-25 Moses is commanded to tell the people of Israel that ‘on the first day of the [seventh] month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts’.

It may sound surprising that the New Year is in the seventh month, but it is one example of a new year in the Jewish calendar, just as in the secular year, in addition to January 1st, we have, for example, a new academic year, a new financial year.

From these verses, evolved the observance of what has become known as Rosh Hashanah. It is now celebrated in Israel and in most Reform communities, for two days. The ‘loud blasts’ refer to the blowing of the Shofar, and there is an elaborate ritual to accompany this. The readings from the Torah on these days tell of the birth of Isaac and the sending away of Ishmael, and then of the binding of Isaac.

While there is a solemnity about Rosh Hashanah, with longer services, there are special foods, such as apple dipped in honey, and honey cake, which express the hope that there will be ‘sweetness’ in the coming year.

Some Reform communities now observe the Rosh Hashanah tradition of Tashlich, when symbolically one casts ‘sins’ into the water. In the synagogue, the dominant colour is white which is associated with purity and renewal.