Jewish New Year Archives - American Greetings Blog

Rosh Hashanah is a wonderful time to get together with family and friends to celebrate old traditions, but if you’re looking to offer the holiday a fresh twist, check out some of the ideas below to help make your celebration just as sweet as the new year to come:

Throw a Symbolic Potluck

Invite your friends over and ask everyone to bring a dish that symbolizes something they hope for this year. For example, someone might cook entirely from local organic food, with intentions to pay greater attention to their relationships with the people and things closest to them.

Savor the Sweetness

Gather some family or friends and bake the traditional Challah bread. The way challah is braided and shaped has different symbolic meanings, so each person could try their hand at a different shape. While the challah is baking, you can prepare an impressive display of apples and honey using carved out apples as individual honey pots.

Letters to Ourselves

Prior to your gathering, ask everyone to write a letter to their future selves. The letter should reflect on where they are now and where they want to be in half a year. Collect everyone’s letter as they arrive, and inform them that you will mail them their letters in six months. This is a wonderful way to get everyone to think about the year ahead and all they hope for themselves and others.

However you choose to celebrate, spending time with people you love is the most important part! Please be sure to send them our warmest wishes as you celebrate the High Holy Days.

How will you be celebrating Rosh Hashanah this year?

L’Shanah Tovah—To a Good Year! Our best wishes to you and yours for a happy, healthy year as we celebrate Rosh Hashanah. This holiday, which literally means “Head of the Year,” is the Jewish New Year—and this year is 5773 on the Hebrew calendar. The two-day celebration that began at sundown last night also marks the beginning of the High Holy Days, which end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

Now though, is a time for sending good wishes for the New Year and for gathering together with family and friends. Jews around the world go to temple services on these sacred days, where special prayers are recited, and the shofar is often heard. The striking sound made by the ram’s horn heralds the New Year and calls us to look within and to reflect and see where we need to repent and make amends.

With traditional gatherings, challah and apples dipped in honey are often served to symbolize a sweet New Year. You can make this more meaningful for the children in your family by having them create their very own apple-shaped honey holder. Adults will enjoy it, too! Continue the good wishes by serving tzimmes—a sweet, stew-like dish that is easy to add your own personal touch to, and by making a delicious honey cake for dessert. This start to the High Holy Days is filled with hope and happiness and meant to be shared with those you love.