Celebrating the "New Year"

בס"ד

Upon the occasion of Gregorian "New Year's Eve" 2021-2022, we were drawn into a lively discussion celebrating "New Year's" traditions around the world and across different cultures.

During the course of this discussion, we were not sure that we agreed with another participant's representation of the Jewish New Year, "Rosh HaShana" (literally, the "Head of the Year" in Hebrew) as a "solemn" occasion.

While it is most definitely a religious occasion which marks the beginning of the most meaningful period of prayer and repentance for Jewish people — 10 days called the "Yomim Noraim", or the "Days of Awe" (and, more literally, "Days of Enlightenment") in English, Rosh HaShana is not "solemn", a word which would more properly refer to "Yom Kippour", the last of these 10 days of repentance.

We celebrate the two days of Rosh HaShana joyfully by sharing traditional meals with family, friends, and members of the community, the first day of Rosh Hoshana being marked by two formal "seders" (ceremonial religious meals with special prayers, "ritual order", and customs). As Persian people do for Nowrouz, we eat from an abundant table showing gratitude for the sustenance with which G-d has provided us, partaking of many symbolic foods which each correspond to specific prayers, such as:

- apples and honey, a prayer for a sweet New Year ("LeShana Toba OuMetouka");
- leeks, a prayer for protection against and defeat of our enemies;
- black-eyed peas and/or carrots, a prayer that our merits may increase;
- pomegranate, a prayer for the bounty and abundance of our blessings;
- fish, a prayer for fertility and children, that our family may live on in future generations;
- the head of a fish or goat, a prayer for blessing in leadership and stewardship...

The above list is indicative, and not exhaustive.

On Rosh HaShana, we also say a special prayer called "Tashlikh" over an open body of water, which can be the sea or a river, for example, in order to spiritually "cast off" our sins, which is a very beautiful tradition.

And, finally, as mentioned during the course of the discussion in question, we are called to the importance of this time, the beginning of the Jewish New Year and the next 10 days to follow, by the blowing of the "shofar" (typically, an ancient ritual "ram's horn"), which has actually been blown, in any case, during each day of the month prior on the Jewish calendar, the month of Eloul, a time of deep spiritual preparation for Rosh HaShana and the Yomim Noraim.

Thus, for Jewish people, the days of Rosh HaShana, though of very significant and serious religious weight, are also a very festive, joyful time...not "solemn" or "muted". The solemnity follows as the Yomim Noraim progress, ending with Yom Kippour, our most significant day of religious observance, prayer, and repentence during the Jewish calendar year...which is then immediately followed by another period of joy: Soukkot!



~ Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham, ISRAELrealNATION,
27 Tebet 5782, 31 December 2021


© 2009-2021
ISRAELrealNATION / Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham

(As edited and republished from the original text published in a commentary made by Ruth Rachel Anderson-Avraham to the Global News video reportage "How Different Cultures Celebrate the New Year" on 27 Tebet 5782, 31 December 2021.)

Global News (Official YouTube; video in English):
https://youtu.be/7SwFmMHEV_c?si=D4CESVF2ryO2oHtI