Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah (pronounced [ˌʁoʃ haʃaˈna]; Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, romanized: rôš haššānāh, lit. 'head of the year') is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for the holiday is Yom Teruah (IPA: [joːm təruːˈʕaː]; Biblical Hebrew: יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, romanized: yôm terûʿāh, lit. 'day of blasting'). It is the first of the High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, yāmīm nōrāʾīm, 'days of awe'), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–32, which occur in the late summer and early autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah commences the Ten Days of Repentance (עֲשֶׂרֶת יְמֵי תְּשׁוּבָה, ʿăśeret yəmê təšûvāh), culminating in Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. It is followed by the festival of Sukkot, which is immediately followed by Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, ending the High Holy Day season. Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the Hebrew year. Like all Jewish holidays, it follows a lunisolar calendar and begins the evening prior to the first day. Rosh Hashanah is one of four Jewish New Years and marks the beginning of the civil year. It is the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman according to the Hebrew Bible, as well as the initiation of humanity's role in God's world. The Amoraim, the Jewish sages whose debates are recorded in the Gemara in the Talmud, characterized the day of Rosh Hashanah as the day of God's coronation as king over all living beings. This is effectuated through the shofar blasts delivered throughout the High Holiday season—and in the month preceding it—that symbolize the horns sounded at God's coronation, as well as a call for repentance. Other customs include the consumption of symbolic foods meant to represent the sweetness of a new year....