September 15, 2022
Have questions about the High Holidays? We've got answers.
Read on to learn more about Jewish customs, practices, and traditions on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simhat Torah.
And check out our special High Holidays section for even more!
During the High Holidays, Jews fill the synagogues for special religious services. The holidays combine celebration and joyfulness with sacred reflection and repentance. It is a time for Jews to celebrate the world's birthday and take stock of their lives from the prior year, seeking forgiveness and commiting to improvement.
Practices, prayers, and customs differ depending on the level of observance and the traditions and heritage of the Jews.
These are generally considered the major denominations of Judaism: Orthodox (including Ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox), Conservative, Reform, Humanistic, Jewish Renewal, and Reconstruction.
There are also differences in customs and traditions between Ashkenazi Jews, who trace their heritage to Eastern, Central and Northern Europe; and Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews, whose roots are in Spain, Portugal, North Africa, Greece, Italy, the Middle East, Central Asia, and India.
Rosh Hashanah, which means "head of the year" in Hebrew, is the Jewish New Year. On Rosh Hashanah, Jews attend religious services and have celebratory meals at home. It is a festive holiday.
But Rosh Hashanah also marks the beginning of the "Ten Days of Repentance," also known as the "Days of Awe" or "Ten Days of Turning," which conclude on Yom Kippur and are devoted to deep reflection and soul searching.
Sunset on Sunday, September 25, through sundown on Tuesday, September 27.
Among the popular greetings for Rosh Hashanah are:
Happy New Year: Yes, this is fine, especially if you're worried about using Hebrew.
Shanah Tovah: (pronounced shah-NAH toe-VAH), which means "a good year" in Hebrew.
L'shana Tova: a variation on Shanah Tovah, which means "for a good year" in Hebrew.
Chag Sameach (pronounced khahg sah-may-ACH): "Happy Holidays" in Hebrew.
Anyada Duena, Dulse i Alegre: This greeting is sometimes used by Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. It means "May you have a good, sweet, and happy New Year" in Ladino, a centuries-old Judeo-Spanish language.
Hearing the shofar is one of the religious services' most cherished and anticipated rituals. It is considered a mitzvah, a commandment, to hear the horn blown.
A series of different shofar blasts are blown throughout the High Holidays services. The loud blasts symbolize a wake-up call for worshipers to pay attention to their actions and a soulful plea to God, asking for forgiveness.
There are a few biblical references to the blowing of the shofar or sounding a loud blast on Rosh Hashanah. Among them is a verse in Leviticus: “In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts.”
Scholars have noted that the ram is referenced in the biblical story of the Binding of Isaac, which is read during the Rosh Hashanah religious service. In the story of Abraham's allegiance to God, Abraham is prepared to follow God's commandment to sacrifice his son, Isaac. When God sends an angel to stop him, Abraham sacrifices a ram that appears in the nearby brush.
The Mishnah, the first major work of rabbinic literature dating from around 200 CE, defines Rosh Hashanah as a holiday in the fall.
The Jewish calendar follows the lunar cycle, unlike the secular calendar, which is based on the sun. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first day of the seventh month (Tishrei) on the Jewish calendar.
A favorite tradition is to enjoy slices of apples dipped in honey, symbolizing the hopes for a sweet new year ahead.
On the first day of the holiday, Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews hold a ceremonial meal called a Rosh Hashanah seder. The rituals and customs vary, but typical foods include dates, pomegranates, apples, leeks, pumpkins, and gourds.
For more, see:
The Central Rosh Hashanah Prayer Explained
New Prayers for Ancient Jewish Holidays
Yom Kippur is known as the Day of Atonement. Jews observe Yom Kippur with a 25-hour fast (this does not include children or those unable to fast for health/safety reasons) and religious services. It is the holiest day of the year in Judaism and focuses on atonement and repentance.
Sundown on Tuesday, October 4, through sunset on Wednesday, October 5.
Yom Kippur is a solemn, holy day of introspection and fasting.
In Hebrew, the word for repentance is teshuvah (pronounced tih-shoo-VAH), which means returning in Hebrew. Among many commentaries is one from Rabbi Kalmish Shapira, the rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland in the early 1940s, who compared repentance to creativity, the idea that people repent to return to a better self, to who we are meant to be but have not yet become.
Jewish people ask forgiveness from people they may have wronged and from God. Repentance is achieved through prayer and a vow not to repeat past sins.
The Al Het ("For the Sin" in Hebrew) prayer, said multiple times on Yom Kippur, is a compendium of sins recited collectively by the congregation. It begins, "We have sinned against You [God] unwillingly and willingly, and we have sinned against You through hardening our hearts." While not all people have committed each sin, the prayer involves the community as a whole. Stanzas end with the poignant plea to God, "For all these [sins], God of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, and grant us atonement."
For more, see What Do Jews Mean by Repentance (Teshuvah)?
The Hebrew Bible states that on Yom Kippur, Jews should practice "self-denial." This has traditionally been interpreted to mean fasting.
It's called a "break fast." Friends, family and fellow congregation members gather at the synagogue or home and share a meal. Traditional foods include bagels and lox, challah and honey cake. Jews of Moroccan descent sometimes serve mint tea, marzipan cookies, and fried pastries in sweet syrup. Jews in Latin America go for traditional regional dishes such as rice and beans and fried plantains.
People who are fasting do not drink water. One exception is anyone who is healthy enough to be able to fast but needs water to take medications.
No. Under Jewish law, anyone with health concerns or who is ill or at health risk from fasting is instructed not to fast on Yom Kippur. This includes anyone who may need food or water for medication.
A solemn evening service on the night before the day of Yom Kippur.
Kol Nidre means "all vows" in Aramaic. It features the Kol Nidre, a dramatic, Aramaic prayer that declares that all vows and promises made during the prior year before God are nullified, reflecting a theme of starting the new year with a blank slate and evoking a sense of a new chance and new beginning.
The service also features a reading from the book of Jonah, the dramatic, moral tale in the Hebrew Bible about the perils of sin, the power of repentance, and God's capacity to forgive.
Sunday evening, October 4.
Curious about the strange Yom Kippur tradition of chicken twirling? Read about its history and meaning.
Beginning five days after Yom Kippur, Sukkot is the plural in Hebrew for sukkah, a type of hut the Israelites lived in during their exodus from Egypt and which Jews today build and dwell in to commemorate this time.
Sukkot is also a harvest holiday and the beginning of the season of prayers for rain. Important ritual objects on sukkot include the lulav (pronounced loo-LAHV), a bundle of different types of branches, and an etrog (pronounced et-ROWG), a species of citrus fruit commonly found in the Middle East (known as a citron).
For more, see The History of the Etrog in America.
Sundown on Sunday, October 9, through sundown on Sunday, October 16.
A sukkah is a temporary open-air structure loosely covered with branches or stalks to allow views of the night stars. People set up the sukkah in yards and on porches, decks, and the roofs of apartment buildings.
Popular decorations include hanging gourds, strings of cranberries and popcorn, and paper-cut designs. Generations of kids have had fun making long, colorful paper chains and holiday-themed drawings.
In New York, a sukkah design competition called Sukkah City attracted hundreds of entrants from around the world https://sukkahcity.com/.
The most notable tradition is to eat meals and spend time in the sukkah, which is a mitzvah, a commandment. Some people even sleep overnight in the sukkah. One of the cherished traditions of the holiday is inviting guests to your sukkah to share a meal.
Yes. During religious services, worshipers hold and wave and recite a blessing over the lulav, a bundle of different types of branches, and an etrog, a species of citrus fruit commonly found in the Middle East (known as a citron).
Shemini Atzeret, or "The Eighth Day of Assembly" in Hebrew, falls on the eighth day of Sukkot and marks the beginning of Simchat Torah. It is one of three holidays when the memorial service, Yizkor, is recited, recalling deceased family members. Also notable is that beginning on Shemini Atzeret, a prayer for rain is added to the liturgy based on the start of the rainy season in Israel.
Sundown on Sunday, October 16, through sundown on Tuesday, October 18.
Simchat Torah, or "Rejoicing with the Torah," marks the completion of one Torah reading cycle and the beginning of a new one. (The Torah consists of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). The synagogue-based service is festive, with music, Hebrew songs, and dancing. Chocolates and other candies are also sometimes part of the festivities.
Sundown on Monday, October 17, through sunset on Tuesday, October 18.
