Jews Pray, Reflect On New Year Rosh Hashana Opens ‘Days Of Awe,’ Which End With Yom Kippur
Wednesday at sundown, Jews around the globe joined in wishing the world a happy new year.
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, marks the traditional anniversary of the creation 5,758 years ago - the birthday of the world - and opens the Jewish High Holy Days season.
It’s a holiday of many moods and faces, at once joyous, fearful, reflective and awe-inspiring. It’s a time when Jews pray for a healthy and prosperous new year and seek forgiveness for the previous year’s transgressions to a God who is at once majestic ruler, loving parent and righteous judge.
“It is both solemn and celebratory,” said Rabbi Randall J. Konigsburg of Temple Sinai, a Conservative congregation in Hollywood, Fla. “The more someone is connected to … Judaism throughout the year, the more meaning this season is going to have. … But when this is a time (that) you only touch base with Judaism … it’s a chance to reconnect, not just with the liturgy, but the historical entity of the Jewish people … the pageantry and the ancient ritual.”
Known also as the Day of Judgment, Rosh Hashana opens the Jewish penitential season, a 10-day period known as the “Days of Awe,” which climaxes next week with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
On Rosh Hashana, Jews believe that God takes out the Book of Life and evaluates each soul. On Yom Kippur, tradition has it, final judgment is passed. Repentance, prayer and charity can mitigate a bad outcome.
“Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are about taking the notion of the possibility of transformation really seriously,” said Judy Petsonk, author of “Taking Judaism Personally,” a 1996 book about the ways in which Jews can connect with tradition. “But the whole season is also full of warm fuzzies, big family feasts, lots of singing and lots of special foods. … You know that you’re supported, you’re OK, you’re loved, and that’s the atmosphere in which change is possible.”
The holiday is observed with foods, especially the apples and honey symbolic of a sweet new year, and with such rituals as Tashlich, when traditional Jews walk to a natural body of running water such as a river and toss out crumbs of bread symbolic of tossing away sin.