Rosh Hashana for Hebrew Year 5786 begins at sundown on Monday, 22 September 2025 and ends at nightfall on Wednesday, 24 September 2025 & with those we have lost
Yehuda Lave is an author, journalist, psychologist, rabbi, spiritual teacher, and coach, with degrees in business, psychology and Jewish Law. He works with people from all walks of life and helps them in their search for greater happiness, meaning, business advice on saving money, and spiritual engagement.
The Three are Rabbi Yehuda Glick, famous temple mount activist, and former Israel Mk, and then Robert Weinger, the world's greatest shofar blower and seller of Shofars, and myself after we had gone to the 12 gates of the Temple Mount in 2020 to blow the shofar to ask G-d to heal the world from the Pandemic. It was a highlight to my experience in living in Israel and I put it on my blog each day to remember.
The articles that I include each day are those that I find interesting, so I feel you will find them interesting as well. I don't always agree with all the points of each article but found them interesting or important to share with you, my readers, and friends. It is cathartic for me to share my thoughts and frustrations with you about life in general and in Israel. As a Rabbi, I try to teach and share the Torah of the G-d of Israel as a modern Orthodox Rabbi. I never intend to offend anyone but sometimes people are offended and I apologize in advance for any mistakes. The most important psychological principle I have learned is that once someone's mind is made up, they don't want to be bothered with the facts, so, like Rabbi Akiva, I drip water (Torah is compared to water) on their made-up minds and hope that some of what I have share sinks in. Love Rabbi Yehuda Lave.
Rosh Hashana for Hebrew Year 5786 begins at sundown on Monday, 22 September 2025 and ends at nightfall on Wednesday, 24 September 2025.
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה), (literally "head of the year"), is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first two days of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. It is described in the Torah as יום תרועה (Yom Teruah, a day of sounding [the Shofar]).
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, Rōʾš hašŠānā, lit. 'head of the year') is the New Year in Judaism. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, Yōm Tərūʿā, lit. 'day of cheering or blasting'). It is the first of the High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm, 'Days of Awe'), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25,[1] that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins the ten days of penitence culminating in Yom Kippur, the day of repentance. It is followed by the Fall festival of Sukkot which ends with Shemini Atzeret in Israel and Simchat Torah everywhere else.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day observance and celebration that begins on the first day of Tishrei, which is the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year. The holiday itself follows a lunar calendar and begins the evening prior to the first day. In contrast to the ecclesiastical lunar new year on the first day of the first month Nisan, the spring Passover month which marks Israel's exodus from Egypt, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the civil year, according to the teachings of Judaism, and 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.
Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a hollowed-out ram's horn), as prescribed in the Torah, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to blast a [horn] on Yom Teruah. Eating symbolic foods that represent wishes for a sweet new year is an ancient custom recorded in the Talmud.[2] Other rabbinical customs include attending synagogue services and reciting special liturgy about teshuva, as well as enjoying festive meals. "Tashlich",[3] which means "to cast" is a ritual performed any time between the first day of Rosh Hashanah and Hoshana Rabbah. Participants recite specific prayers by water, seeking divine forgiveness by symbolically shaking out their garments and casting away their sins into the depths of the waters.[4] In many communities, this is done by throwing stones or pieces of bread into the water.
Shofar blowing
Sequence of shofar sounds: tekiah, shevarim, teruah, tekiah
The best-known ritual of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the shofar, a musical instrument made from an animal horn. The shofar is blown at various points during the Rosh Hashanah prayers, and it is customary in most communities to have a total of 100 blasts on each day.[28] The shofar is not blown on Shabbat.[29]
While the blowing of the shofar is a Biblical statute, it is also a symbolic "wake-up call", stirring Jews to mend their ways and repent. The shofar blasts call out: "Sleepers, wake up from your slumber! Examine your ways and repent and remember your Creator."[30]
Additionally, the act of blowing the shofar, like the rainbow, is ordered by God as a reminder to God of humanity and our plight.[31]
Prayer service
On Rosh Hashanah day, religious poems called piyyutim are added to the regular services. A special prayer book, the machzor (plural machzorim), is used on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.[32] Some additions are made to the regular service, most notably in the Ashkenazic rite (both Nusach Ashkenaz and Nusach Sefard) an extended repetition of the Amidah prayer for both Shacharit and Mussaf including piyyutim; even communities that omit most piyyutim throughout the year recite some selection of these piyyutim. In the contemporary Sephardic rite, no piyyutim are recited inside the repetition, and in the Italian rite very few are recited, but many Sephardic communities recite piyyutim before or after the Torah reading. The shofar is blown during Mussaf at the conclusion of each of the middle blessing of the Chazzan's repetition; in some communities, it is also blown during the silent Musaf.[33] (In many synagogues, even little children come and hear the shofar being blown.)[further explanation needed]. The Aleinu prayer is recited during the silent prayer as well as the repetition of the Mussaf Amidah.[34]
Among the most well-known and widely recited liturgical poems (piyyutim) in all Jewish communities is Unetaneh Tokef, traditionally recited around the Musaf prayer on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
The special Avinu Malkeinu prayer is also recited on Rosh Hashanah. In the Ashkenazic rite, Avinu Malkeinu is never recited on Shabbat (except in Ne'ila on Yom Kippur), and it is also omitted at Mincha on Fridays.
The narrative in the Book of Genesis describing the announcement of Isaac's birth and his subsequent birth[35] is part of the Torah readings in synagogues on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, and the narrative of the sacrifice and binding of Isaac[36] is read in synagogue on the second day of Rosh Hashanah.
The Mussaf Amidah prayer on Rosh Hashanah is unique in that, apart from the first and last three blessings, it contains three central blessings making a total of nine. These blessings are entitled "Malchuyot" (Kingship, and also includes the blessing for the holiness of the day as in a normal Mussaf), "Zichronot" (Remembrance), and "Shofarot" (concerning the shofar). Each section contains an introductory paragraph followed by selections of verses about the "topic". The verses are three from the Torah, three from the Ketuvim, three from the Nevi'im, and one more from the Torah. During the repetition of the Amidah, the shofar is sounded (except on Shabbat) after the blessing that ends each section.[37] Recitation of these three blessings is first recorded in the Mishna,[38] though writings by Philo and possibly even Psalms 81[39] suggest that the blessings may have been recited on Rosh Hashanah even centuries earlier.[40]
In many Ashkenazic communities, primarily those from Germany or Hungry, a kittel is worn during daytime Rosh Hashanah prayers, just as one is worn on Yom Kippur. In other Ashkenazic communities, only the prayer leaders wear a Kittel on Rosh Hashanah.
Symbolic foods
Apples dipped in honey are eaten on Rosh Hashanah to symbolise the wish for a sweet and happy new year
Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples dipped in honey to symbolize a sweet new year;[47] this is a late medieval Ashkenazi addition. Other foods with a symbolic meaning may be served, depending on local minhag ("custom"), such as the head of a fish (to symbolize the prayer "let us be the head and not the tail").[48]
Many communities hold a "Rosh Hashanah seder" during which blessings are recited over a variety of symbolic dishes.[49][50] The blessings have the incipit "Yehi ratzon", meaning "May it be Thy will." In many cases, the name of the food in Hebrew or Aramaic represents a play on words (a pun). The Yehi Ratzon platter may include apples (dipped in honey, baked or cooked as a compote called mansanada); dates; pomegranates; black-eyed peas; pumpkin-filled pastries called rodanchas; leek fritters called keftedes de prasa; beets; and a whole fish with the head intact. It is also common among Sephardim to eat stuffed vegetables called legumbres yaprakes.[51]
Some of the symbolic foods eaten are dates, black-eyed peas, leeks, spinach, and gourd, all of which are mentioned in the Talmud:[52] "Let a man be accustomed to eat on New Year's Day gourds (קרא), and fenugreek (רוביא),[53] leeks (כרתי), beet [leaves] (סילקא), and dates (תמרי)."
Carrots can have multiple symbolic meanings at the Rosh Hashanah table. The Yiddish word for carrot is ma'rin (מערין), which also means "increase." By eating carrots one asks for their merits and blessings to be increased. Sliced carrots are also typically eaten to symbolize gold coins and hopes for continued wealth and prosperity. In Hebrew the word for carrot is gezer (גזר) which sounds similar to the word g'zar – the Hebrew word for "decree." Serving carrots on Rosh Hashanah symbolizes a desire to have God nullify any negative decrees against us.[54]
Pomegranates are used in many traditions, to symbolize being fruitful like the pomegranate with its many seeds.[55] Typically, round challah bread is served, to symbolize the cycle of the year. Raisins are occasionally incorporated into the dough to symbolize a sweet New Year.[55][47] From ancient to quite modern age, lamb head or fish head were served. Nowadays, lekach (honey cake) and gefilte fish are commonly served by Ashkenazic Jews on this holiday. On the second night, new fruits are served to warrant the inclusion of the shehecheyanu blessing.[48]
The general Ashkenazic custom is to eat sweet foods, such as honey cake and teiglach, to augur a sweet year. The Sephardic and Mizrahi custom is frequently to eat light-coloured foods, or rather, to avoid dark ones, so as to avoid a dark year.
Those we have lost
Stories of civilians and soldiers killed since Hamas's onslaught on Israel on October 7, 2023
Every day you can look at another victim and send him/her prayers
