Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated on the first and second day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei. The holiday has deep spiritual significance in Jewish tradition as it begins the “Ten Days of Repentance,” which end on Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the four holidays that fall during Tishrei, followed by Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simcḥat Torah (Shemini Atzeret).

In the biblical text, the holiday is called “Yom Tru’ah” (lit. "the day of sounding" [of the shofar] and “Zikhron Tru’ah” (lit. "remembrance of the sounding"), and is celebrated for only one day, with the ceasing of all work and the offering of sacrifices. The Jewish sages added the name “Rosh Hashanah,” as well as the two main meanings of the holiday accepted today in Jewish tradition: the first is the Day of Judgment, when God judges everyone in the world based on their deeds over the past year. The essence of the second is the renewal of God's coronation as King of the World.

The second day of the holiday was added due to the uncertainty surrounding the exact date of the beginning of the month, which is determined by the lunar cycle. According to one of the commentaries, Rosh Hashanah is also called Kassa (lit. "to cover"), to denote the "covered" moon that begins to be revealed with the beginning of the holiday on the first of Tishrei. In the biblical period, Tishrei was known as the seventh month and marked the beginning of the new agricultural year, while Nissan was considered the first month. Later, the name Tishrei and its place as the first month in the Hebrew calendar became established, further deepening the holiday’s meaning as the beginning of the new year.

Blowing the Shofar and Holiday Prayers

Blowing the shofar (ram’s horn) is the main commandment associated with Rosh Hashanah. Various explanations for this have been given, and according to one, the purpose of the shofar was to rouse the soul. The shofar is blown on both days of the holiday, except when the holiday falls on the Sabbath. It is customary to blow at least a hundred blasts each day. The blasts are divided into three types of sounds: tekiah, shevarim and tru’ah (a medium-length blast, a series of short blasts, and one long blast).

On Rosh Hashanah, special prayers are recited, and many who are not regular synagogue goers during the year make a point to attend. The wording of the prayers varies among the different ethnic groups and include many piyyutim (liturgical hymns) in a variety of melodies. Special passages recited in the Mussaf prayer (deriving from the Hebrew word meaning supplement, blessings traditionally recited after the morning prayers and Torah reading), around the blowing of the shofar, are Malkhuyot (lit. kingdoms), Zikhronot (lit. commemoration) and Shofarot (plural for shofar), whose contents express the day’s essence. The holiday prayers are gathered into a special prayer book (mahzor), with variations across different ethnic groups, reflecting various traditions.

On the eve and next afternoon of the holiday, it is customary to hold Hatarat Nedarim ceremonies, during which vows made over the past year can be annulled under certain conditions. Another tradition involves going to a body of water (for example, a stream, lake or sea) and reciting the Tashlikh prayer, which literally means "to cast off", in the context of casting off one’s sins. Many hold a special Rosh Hashanah meal called a Seder Simanim, where a series of blessings are recited over symbolic foods. Others greet the New Year with blessings over foods such as the pomegranate, date and an apple with honey.

Rosh Hashanah at the National Library

The National Library preserves many historical items relating to various aspects of Rosh Hashanah. The Library has collected rare prayer books (mahzorim) of great historical value, texts that have had an impact on Jewish and Israeli culture, special New Year postcards, calendars and recordings of prayers, piyutim and holiday songs. In addition, you can read stories about the holiday on the Library’s blog, or find lesson plans, photographs, and ads related to Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah Greetings

On Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to greet each other with a New Year's greeting - Shanah Tova ("Good Year"). The origin of the custom lies in the ancient Jewish belief that whether one will have a good or bad year is decided on Rosh Hashanah. The first explicit evidence of a Jewish New Year greeting was found in a reply written by the 14^th-century Ashkenazi halakhic adjudicator known as Maharil (Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin), proving the custom’s practice in Jewish communities in Germany. From the 18th century, the custom began to spread to other communities in Eastern Europe, especially Poland. By the end of that century, special letters of greeting were being sent ahead of Rosh Hashanah, featuring unique stationary and other embellishments. By the 19th century, the custom was common among all Ashkenazi communities.

In the 1880s, Jewish entrepreneurs began printing commercial Rosh Hashanah greeting cards. These cards soon made up a majority of all postcards sent by Jews, a record maintained for almost a century. From the end of the 19th century through World War I (1898–1918), a period that includes the so-called “Golden Age of Postcards”, the vast majority of mail sent by Jews in Europe and America were Rosh Hashanah greetings.

The motifs that appeared on the postcards were usually traditional Jewish and ideological symbols or illustrations commemorating major Jewish current events. With the crystallization and strengthening of the Zionist movement, Rosh Hashanah postcards became a platform for ideological messages and Zionist sentiments based on important public events and figures. Thus, one can find postcards with portraits of Herzl and Nordau, a postcard showing Herzl and the Ottoman Sultan and even postcards conveying contemporary messages during the Dreyfus Affair.

Rosh Hashanah Songs

The Hebrew songbook includes songs describing the past year along with New Year greetings. Among them, the song Shanah Tovah by the author and poet Levin Kipnis (1890–1890) stands out. In the song, the boy wishes a "Happy New Year" (Shanah Tovah) to his parents, his “hero uncle on duty,” the “laborer in the field” and “every girl and boy.” The National Library’s music archive contains many special recordings of songs for Rosh Hashanah.

Rosh Hashanah in Pictures

Rosh Hashanah and its unique customs, rooted in Jewish tradition and Israeli life, arouse great anticipation every year. The preparations and excitement also leads to moments of unity among the country’s different Jewish ethnic groups. In the Library’s collections are photographs that capture unique moments in preparation for the holiday. For example: the blowing of a shofar in Sinai during the War of Attrition, Tashlikh ceremonies in Dizengoff Square and at the beach, prayers at the Western Wall, people on their way to synagogue and stalls selling Rosh Hashanah greeting cards.

Calendars

Each fall, around Rosh Hashanah, it is customary in Israel to renew one's calendars for the coming year, whether at home or at work. Nowadays we can choose from among a beautiful wall calendar, a useful desk or pocket calendar, or simply rely on digital calendars that contain important information for the coming year. But what did people use in the past? Until the 19th century, calendars that gathered useful data were commonly in the format of books or notebooks. These calendars, known as almanacs, included such diverse information as currency exchange rates, statistical facts and details about officials or organizations in countries around the world, planetary movements in the solar system, tidal data and seasonal agricultural information.

Almanacs in their conventional form are known from as early as the Middle Ages. They eventually evolved into simpler, modern calendars that could be placed on a wall, on a desk or in a briefcase. One of the main functions of the traditional Jewish calendar is to coordinate between the Gregorian and Jewish calendars. From the 19th century, a variety of bodies published Jewish calendars, including community councils, municipalities, businesses, political parties, yeshivas, publishing houses, and even the Mandatory Railway during the British Mandate period.

These promotional calendars typically publicized an organization’s achievements and marked special days and useful information related to its unique agenda. In the National Library, you can browse through a variety of unique, intriguing and rare calendars published over the last few centuries.

Lesson Plans for Rosh Hashanah

The array of items in the National Library’s collections offers teachers creative, interactive and fun ways to teach their students about Rosh Hashanah. The Library website offers educators ready to use, enriching and imaginative lesson plans that include worksheets, resource packages and ideas for discussing original sources.