There are many different cultures across the globe that have their own New Year celebrations: for example, the Chinese have their New Year, the Ethiopians have theirs, and both are characterized by their own set of customs. I celebrate the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, which literally means “head of the year” in Hebrew. The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar that differs from the commonly used Gregorian one year to year. This time around, it transitions from 5776 to 5777, and Rosh Hashanah falls on October 2 on the Gregorian calendar.
The holiday is characterized by beginning to reread the Torah—the Jewish bible, consisting of only the Old Testament—from B’reshit (Genesis) Chapter One, which starts with “When God began to create the earth….”
Rosh Hashanah marks 10 days before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. These days collectively are called the Days of Awe, during which we are supposed to recognize God in all His glory and prepare to atone for our sins. We do this on Rosh Hashanah by doing what is called “Tashlich,” or “casting off,” in which we metaphorically cast off our sins from the previous year by throwing bread into a stream, symbolically breaking off the sins and sending them away. The custom is that on Rosh Hashanah, God opens a book that declares whether we’re going to have a good or bad year, and the idea is that we have 10 days to look at our deeds and make amends with friends to try and change the book. On Yom Kippur, after a long fast and much prayer and self-reflection, the book is closed and the deal is sealed until next year.
Another custom for Rosh Hashanah is blowing the shofar, a ram’s horn that is hollowed out and blown like a trumpet. A shofar is blown to announce a new month and the piercing sound of the shofar can remind people of many different things. Rabbi Abihu said that the shofar is sounded in order to remind people of the binding of Isaac—how a ram was sacrificed instead of Abraham’s son Isaac as a test of Abraham’s faith in God. The shofar, in Leviticus 23:24-25 (“…on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts”) is used to remind people that this is a holy day. It is an obligation for Jews to hear a shofar sounded live every Rosh Hashanah.
One more tradition that occurs on Rosh Hashanah is the eating of apples and honey. These foods remind us to have a sweet new year, as the foods themselves are sweet. Every year my family and I bake honey cake to try and make the new year as sweet as possible. This goes along with a popular saying on Rosh Hashanah: “L’shanah tova,” or “To a good year.”
Rosh Hashanah provides each of us with an opportunity to be a better person, strengthen relationships, and do more mitzvahs, or good deeds. Because there is no official concept of heaven and hell in Judaism, the bettering of ourselves throughout the year is purely to be a better person for the world. Anyone, at any time, can right the people they have wronged, turn over a new leaf, and start fresh with vows to be a better person, whether or not religion is involved.