Rosh Hashana invites Jews to celebrate and strengthen connection with God

SALT LAKE CITY — As September marches across Utah, bringing cooler temperatures and the arrival of fall, Jewish synagogues and individuals prepare for the High Holy Day of Rosh Hashana.

The holiday, much like Passover and its religious cousin Easter, varies from year to year because the Jewish holy days follow the lunar calendar, rather than the Gregorian calendar that much of the world currently uses.

This year, Rosh Hashana begins at sundown on Friday, Sept. 11, and ends at sundown on Sunday, Sept. 13. A horn called a shofar is blown to commemorate Rosh Hashana.

Rosh Hashana, sometimes known as the Jewish New Year, is always on the first day of the month Tishrei in the Jewish calendar. Rabbi Benny Zippel, executive director of the Chabad Lubavitch of Utah, said Rosh Hashana is not only the beginning of their year, but in Hebrew literally translates as "head of the year."

"Just like in a human body, the head is the most significant and crucial limb in the entire body," Zippel said. This High Holy Day is the most important day of the year in Jewish traditions, according to Zippel.

Rabbi Moshe Nigri, co-director of Youth and Family Programming and director of Chabad on Campus at the University of Utah, said it commemorates the creation of the world as recorded in the Torah, the five books of Moses in Jewish scripture.

Nigri said Rosh Hashana was a time of spiritual renewal, a time when Jews can recommit to return to God more and more, just as many individuals recommit to exercising and eating healthier for their New Year's resolutions.

Rosh Hashana is a two-day festival, but this year the first day of the festival falls on Saturday, the Jewish shabbat or Sabbath day. In spite of the celebration that the High Holy Day merits, Rabbi Zippel said they would still be honoring their Sabbath day.

"There is special significance," he said. "It brings attention to the importance of shabbat. It supersedes even the blowing of the shofar. It is suspended until the next day, to bring to our attention how powerful the day of shabbat is in and of itself."

The Chabad Lubavitch of Utah will be hosting a Community Rosh Hashana Dinner on Friday before Rosh Hashana, while Chabad on Campus will be hosting a dinner for students at the University of Utah on Sunday.

Additionally, a group of Jewish people will gather in Liberty Park on Sunday to blow the shofar and welcome in the new year. Interested persons are encouraged to RSVP to attend.

"The Torah says blowing that horn is a crying, just like an infant crying," Nigri explained. "It's to try and connect people to God."

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