"The Meaning of Rosh Hashanah"

Religion in Daily Life By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min. Rector, All Saints' Church 9601 Frankford Ave. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114 (215) 637-5225 Written 24 September 2000

"Rosh Hashana," the Jewish New Year, begins this year on Friday, September 29. The name "Rosh Hashana" means the "head of the year." Ten days later is "Yom Kippur," the "Day of Atonement." Rosh Hashana is a two-day festival in Israel and throughout the world, however Reform Jews celebrate it for only one day. The origin of this festival is in the Bible (Leviticus 23:23-25). The passage speaks of loud blasts of the "shofar," the ram's horn. In Talmudic times, Rosh Hashana became an anniversary of the world's creation. Ancient Jewish calendar-makers said this took place 3,760 years before the Common Era. In the Jewish calendar, the New Year is 5,760.

As Judaism greets its new year, it looks within and does "chesbon hanefesh," an accounting or inventory of the soul. Jews take this time as an opportunity to look back at the mistakes of the past year and to look forward to making changes in the New Year. The ten days starting with Rosh Hashana and ending with Yom Kippur are known as the "Day of Awe." God brings out his scales and weighs the deeds of every person. As he weigh a person's good and bad deeds, God begins to write down in his books who will live and die in the next year. The books are sealed on Yom Kippur. In the intervening ten-day grace period, returning (to God), prayer and good deeds can tip the scales in one's favor.

Part of Rosh Hashana is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn. It sounds during the synagogue service to acclaim God as king, to recall when God gave the Torah (teaching) at Mount Sinai, to serve as a prelude to the announcement of God's judgment. The shofar sounded during the days when the people of Israel wandered in the desert after their escape from Egypt and before they reached the Promised Land. The sound of the horn called them to move on, to change locations, to avoid getting stuck in one place, to improve and grow.

On the afternoon of Rosh Hashana, Jews sometimes go to a flowing body of water-a river, a lake, an ocean. There, the people symbolically throw away their sins. The person throws breadcrumbs, or pebbles, or pocket dust. The ceremony is called "tashlich," literally "casting" or "throwing." It recalls the words of the prophet Micah, who said of God: "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). The Rosh Hashana greeting is, "May it be a good year!"