Happy New Year!

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, the first of the High Holy Days, it happens in the fall, it’s a two day celebration, beginning in the evening, erev, at sundown,and following through to sundown the next day. This is a time of celebration, the beginning of a new year, a time of reflection and self examination.

There are a few wonderful symbols and traditions that make this holiday special. One is the blowing of the shofar, a rams horn; it represents waking people from their slumber, to alert them to the coming judgement, we’ll talk about Yom Kippur in another post.

It is an honor to be chosen to blow the shofar as it is not an easy thing to do, it takes years of practice to truly perfect it, but there is nothing like seeing and hearing little kids who give it a go! Here is a link for a brilliant cantor, blowing the shofar.

Another tradition is having sweet foods, like apples with honey, for a sweet year. You saw by the title of this post, L’Shana Tova, meaning have a good year, in Yiddish, it’s ah gut yohr, which means a good year.

You might greet someone with Shana Tova, and a response, my favorite, is to wish someone a happy, healthy and sweet year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

So, my dear sweet friends and family, I say to you, L’Shana Tova, I wish you a good, healthy, happy and sweet year.