Rosh Hashanah | |
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A shofar, symbol of the Rosh Hashanah holiday
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Official name | ראש השנה |
Also called | Jewish New Year |
Observed by | Jews |
Type | Jewish |
Observances | Praying in synagogue, personal reflection, and hearing the shofar. |
Begins | Start of first day of Tishrei |
Ends | End of second day of Tishrei |
2018 date | sunset, September 09 – nightfall, September 11 |
2019 date | sunset, September 29 – nightfall, October 01 |
2020 date | sunset, September 18 – nightfall, September 20 |
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה), literally meaning the "beginning (also head) [of] the year" is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה), literally "day [of] shouting/blasting". It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים Yamim Nora'im. "Days [of] Awe") specified by Leviticus 23:23–32, which usually occur in the early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day celebration, which begins on the first day of Tishrei. Tishrei is the first month of the Jewish civil year, but the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year.
According to Judaism, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the year because it is held on the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, and their inauguration of humanity's role in God's world. According to one secular opinion, the holiday owes its timing to the beginning of the economic year in Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa, marking the start of the agricultural cycle.