What is Rosh Hashanah? 2024 dates, greetings, traditions

For people of the Jewish faith, the holiday known as Rosh Hashanah is happening now.

Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Jewish New Year, which is different than the one that is celebrated on Jan. 1 every year. It’s set using the Hebrew calendar, which is different than the calendar we use on a daily basis.

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated now through the evening of Oct. 4, and the next big holiday after that is Yom Kippur, which “closes the book” on the former year, and is considered the holiest of Jewish holidays because it focuses on a reconciliation with God.

Here’s what to know about the holidays.

What is Rosh Hashanah?

It is the Jewish new year, and this year will mark the year 5785 on the Hebrew calendar. The names translates to “Head of the Year” and it is celebration of the birth of the universe and creation of Adam and Eve.

The observance of Rosh Hashanah includes blowing the shofar – a ram’s horn – on both mornings of the holiday “which is normally done in synagogue as part of the day’s services,” according to Chabad.org. The horn represents a sense of repentance.

“The festival begins on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, which falls during September or October,” according to History.com.

How long does Rosh Hashanah last?

It started on Oct. 2 and will end on the evening of Oct. 4.

How is Rosh Hashanah celebrated?

A time of prayer, the holiday is marked with gatherings synagogues, repentance (with the Tashlich prayer recited near bodies of water) and food.

Jewish people eat a “Challah” bread on the holiday. It is a braided bread with a semi-sweet flavor. Blessings are also typically said over candles.

Jewish people usually go to the synagogue for services on Rosh Hashanah and refrain from “creative work” and other activities, according to Chabad.org.

What is the greeting for Rosh Hashanah?

A typical greeting is “Have a Good and Sweet New Year,” according to Chabad.org, you can also wish someone a Happy New Year.

In Hebrew, you can wish someone “shanah tovah umtukah,” which means “may you have a good and sweet new year,” according to Reform Judaism. The greeting can be shortened to “shanah tovah” (“a good year”).

What is Yom Kippur?

Following Rosh Hashanah on the calendar, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the year for people of the Jewish faith. With this holiday, God’s judgment is final for the year, and repentance is crucial. Yom Kippur is known as a day of atonement.

It falls this year on Oct. 11-12.

“The purpose of Yom Kippur is to effect individual and collective purification by the practice of forgiveness of the sins of others and by sincere repentance for one’s own sins against God,” according to Britannica.com.

There are 10 days between Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, a time period referred to as “10 Days of Awe.” During this period, God will judge whether given Jewish people will live or die in the coming year.

“Jewish law teaches that God inscribes the names of the righteous in the ‘book of life’ and condemns the wicked to death on Rosh Hashanah; people who fall between the two categories have until Yom Kippur to perform ‘Teshuvah,’ or repentance,” according to History.com.