Rosh HaShanah , the Jewish new year, is a fall holiday, taking place at the beginning of the month of Tishrei. It is both a time of rejoicing and of serious introspection, a time to celebrate the completion of another year while also taking stock of one’s life.

Shanah tovah  means “Have a good year.”

A similar expression is L’shanah tovah umetukah, which means “for a good and sweet year.”  

The origins of Rosh HaShanah may be sought in a royal enthronement ritual from biblical times, though the Bible itself never mentions the “New Year” or “Day of Judgment” aspects of the holiday.  Some of the origin of this tradition may have been adopted from the Babylonians, but the rabbis imbued it with Jewish significance as the anniversary of the day on which the world was created, or of the day on which humanity was created.

A shofar is a ram’s horn that is blown like a trumpet during the Jewish month of Elul that leads up to Rosh Hashanah, at Rosh Hashanah services and at the end of Yom Kippur . The four sounds of the shofar – tekiah, shevarim, teruah and tekiah gedolah – remind many people of a crying voice. Hearing the shofar’s call a reminder for us to look inward and repent for the sins of the past year.