Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana, which literally means the Head of the Year, is the Jewish New Year. Rosh Hashana is Yom Harat Olam, The Birthday of the World.

According to the Biblical narrative, it took six days to create the world, and on the sixth day God created Adam. During the first six days, animate and inanimate objects were formed, but the world was inactive until after the creation of the first human, who could appreciate and use God’s creations. Rosh Hashana is actually the day that Adam was created, but, even though there was prior creativity, it is nevertheless considered the birthday of the world because on this day the world came to life. With the creation of Adam, time was sectioned into hours, days, years, etc., and, therefore, we begin counting the years from this day.

Rosh Hashana is celebrated on the first and second days of Tishrei.

In the Torah, Rosh Hashana is given several names, each of which characterizes the day:

Yom Hazikaron – The Day of Rememberance – It is the day on which God recalls all of humankind’s deeds of the past year.

Yom Hadin – The Day of Judgement – It is the day on which God judges the actions of humankind.