Happy New Year!

[Willowbirch]

Today is Rosh Hoshanah, it stared Friday night. It lasts two days, and represents several things, which include: the Jewish New Year, the traditional anniversary of Creation, the need for repentance, and the "opening" of the book of life which will "close" on Yom Kippur.

100 times on each day of this New Year, the shofar will be blown, and no speech is allowed until the last note has sounded. (Tomorrow, though, is their sabbath, so they may not blow it that day.)

On Friday night, many Jews would have eaten apples dipped in honey or sugar, so that they might have a "sweet" year ahead of them. They also would have had a basket of "new fruits" on their table - fruits that they had not yet eaten over the course of the past year. Some may have recited various prayers as well as they ate.

On the second day it is tradition to throw bread crumbs on the water, symbolizing how God has thrown our sins into the depths of the sea.

Just a few tidbits of info, since I'd always wondered what Rosh Hashanah was anyway.