Right now, tonight, Jewish communities across the world are sitting down to Rosh Hashanah dinners. There are round challah loaves on the table, jars of honey, sliced apples, and the particular mix of solemnity and celebration that makes the Jewish High Holidays unlike anything else in the calendar.
If you've never experienced Rosh Hashanah — or if you grew up with it but want to understand it more deeply — here's what you need to know.
What is Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה) literally means Head of the Year in Hebrew — it is the Jewish New Year. It falls on the first and second days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, which typically places it in September or October of the Gregorian calendar.
Unlike New Year's Eve in the secular calendar — which is primarily a celebration — Rosh Hashanah is both a celebration and a day of reflection. It marks the anniversary of the creation of the world in Jewish tradition, and it opens a ten-day period of introspection and repentance that culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The Ten Days of Awe
The period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as the Aseret Yemei Teshuva — the Ten Days of Repentance, or the Days of Awe. This is a time for reflection on the past year: the wrongs committed, the relationships that need repair, and the intentions for the year ahead.
Jewish tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, God opens three books. The fully righteous are immediately inscribed in the Book of Life. The fully wicked are immediately inscribed in the Book of Death. And the rest of us — the majority, it's assumed — have until Yom Kippur to tip the scales through repentance, prayer, and acts of charity.
It is a remarkably honest theological framework: most people are neither fully righteous nor fully wicked. They are, like all of us, somewhere in between — and they are given ten days to do something about it.
The Sounds of the Shofar
The most distinctive sound of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar — a ram's horn blown in the synagogue as both a call to prayer and a wake-up call to the soul. The shofar produces a raw, ancient sound that cuts through everything: the distractions, the habits, the comfortable routines. It says: pay attention. This is a serious moment.
There are four distinct sounds the shofar makes:
- Tekiah — one long, sustained blast
- Shevarim — three medium broken notes
- Teruah — nine rapid staccato notes
- Tekiah Gedolah — one very long blast, held as long as breath allows, that closes the service
The shofar is blown one hundred times over the course of the Rosh Hashanah prayers. It is one of the most powerful sonic experiences in religious practice anywhere in the world.
Rosh Hashanah Food and Customs
The Rosh Hashanah table is full of symbolism. Almost everything served carries meaning:
- Apples and honey — dipped together and eaten with the blessing for a good and sweet new year. The apple represents the year; the honey, the sweetness we hope it holds.
- Round challah — unlike the braided loaves eaten on regular Shabbat, the Rosh Hashanah challah is round, symbolising the cycle of the year and the crown of God's sovereignty.
- Pomegranate — eaten with the wish that our merits should be as numerous as the pomegranate's seeds (traditionally said to number 613, corresponding to the 613 commandments).
- Fish head — eaten to symbolise being at the head of the year, not the tail.
- New fruit — a fruit not yet tasted that season, eaten with a special blessing for new experiences.
Shanah Tovah
The traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting is Shanah Tovah (שנה טובה) — a good year. The fuller version is Shanah Tovah u'Metukah — a good and sweet year. During the Ten Days of Awe, many Jews add G'mar Chatimah Tovah — may you be sealed for good in the Book of Life.
Rosh Hashanah cards, calls, and messages are exchanged widely. It is the Jewish world's equivalent of the New Year card — an occasion for reaching out, for reconnecting, for wishing people well.
Rosh Hashanah in Israel
In Israel, Rosh Hashanah is a national holiday. The cities quiet down. Families gather. The beaches of Tel Aviv, usually packed, are calm. Synagogues fill. The shofar sounds across neighbourhoods. And then, after the solemnity, there is food — because there is always food — and the particular warmth of a holiday that asks you to look back and forward at the same time.
It is, by any measure, one of the most beautiful occasions in the Jewish calendar.
Gifts for Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah is an increasingly common gifting occasion, particularly among diaspora communities. The best gifts are those that feel warm, home-focused, and meaningful — something for the table, the home, or the person.
The Shana Tovah T-Shirt is a simple, meaningful way to mark the season. Browse the full Jewish Holidays collection for more Rosh Hashanah gifts, or explore New Arrivals for the latest drops.
Shanah Tovah u'Metukah — wishing you a good and sweet New Year.