Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe). It weds seriousness with celebration and begins the 10 days of repentance that culminate in Yom Kippur. The new year focuses our attention on themes of judgment, repentance, memory, and the divine presence in the world. At the same time, Rosh Hashanah invites us to celebrate birth and creation on many levels. The liturgy suggests that Rosh Hashanah commemorates the creation of the world. Family-oriented services often include a birthday cake for the world—a big hit for kids of all ages! We dip apples in honey to emphasize the sweetness of starting the cycle of seasons once again, and eat round challot to remind us of the cycles of life. The Torah and Haftarah readings for the holiday also address birth and the preciousness of all human life. These stories remind us that the arrival of every child—each and every one of us—is a promise for a renewed world. We renew ourselves at Rosh Hashanah in order to reconnect with this promise and to help ourselves fulfill it in the year ahead.

Latest Rituals

a river running through the woods
A kavannah (intention) focused on awe.
clouds in the heaven
“Sweet, viscous, and dripping off an apple…”
a honey dish and cut apple
“May we never forget that we are all connected, historically, relationally, energetically, and that harm to one is harm to all.”
the sun is setting in an orange sky with purple sky on top of the orange. Wildflowers appear in the forefront of the sunset.
“The silent air before it is blown into sound inside the horn of a beast…”
woman blowing shofar
“How do you steer this thing? / Which end is helm and which is the stern?”
small yellow boat
A poem of admiration for pomegranates
bowl of pomegranates
“We are at the beginning / Of new cycles / In a world that is ours / Transcending time and space.”
two people holding fire poi
woman blowing shofar
Selikhot ritual connected to the four directions
woman with long straight brown hair shown from behind looking toward body of water and shore of wheat and sky of clouds in pink and yellow and grayish.

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