- It's the Jewish New Year, and there are many traditions associated with this celebration– including eating a challah or an apple dipped in honey for a sweet year!
- 23ABC neighborhood reporter Avery Elowitt spoke with the Chabad of Bakersfield about how the community celebrates Rosh Hashanah.
- Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 and ends by nightfall on Friday, October 4, 2024.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
While the New Year is widely celebrated on January first, for the Jewish community, they follow the Hebrew calendar.
“Rosh Hashanah means the ‘head of the year,’” said Rabbi Shmuel Schlanger, director of the Chabad of Bakersfield. “The Jewish tradition on this day, the first day of the month of Tishrei, we are going to be celebrating the new year.”
This year, Rosh Hashanah starts on October second.
This date especially stands out since it’s almost been a year since the Israel-Hamas war began.
“It has been a very difficult struggle of a year for the Jewish people and for all good people throughout the world,” said Rabbi Schlanger. But he says the community is holding onto hope for the new year.
“This year, we will particularly contemplate on the message that the darker it is, the greater the light is beyond,” said Rabbi Schlanger.
Many Rosh Hashanah traditions stick with this optimistic trend.
For example, instead of eating grapes to start the new year, it’s Jewish tradition to dip challah or even an apple into honey.
“We use honey for indeed that we should be blessed with a sweet New Year, as an omen that we should have a sweet New Year,” said Rabbi Schlanger.
Instead of a ball drop, Jewish people signify the new year with the “shofar.”
“We crown God with a coronation, and we blow what’s called the Shofar, the Ram’s horn,” Rabbi Schlanger said. “Just as the horn is blown when a king or queen is coronated.”
Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 and ends by nightfall on Friday, October 4, 2024.
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