September is a rich time for religious holy days. For Muslims the month of Ramadan begins. For the Jewish community, this year September (of our calendar) holds Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. I do not know these holy days from the inside, but will do my best as an outsider to describe what I have learned and to set up helpful links during the month. For those of you closer to the events than I, please do share your memories, impressions, experiences of these days. And, please note the request for help in the 1st related blog entry below this article. If you are blogging about these holy days, please add a link to your comment. The more we learn about what is important to each other, the better a community we can become.

The Jewish High Holy Days are observed during the 10 day period between the first day (Rosh Hashanah) and the 10th day (Yom Kippur) of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Tomorrow at sundown, Jews around the world will wish each other L’Shanah Tovah (For a Good Year) as the Jewish year 5,768 begins. Rosh Hashanah will last for two days.

Like all holy days, there are some unique customs that only occur at this time. The most commonly known is the sounding of the Shofar, or Ram’s Horn. The Shofar is blown like a trumpet at the synagogue. One suggestion is that it is a call to wake up one’s heart and to prepare for repentance.

Food served during this holiday is sweeter than at other times -- apples dipped in honey, for example, as a symbol of a wish for a sweet new year. The first night's meal begins with apple dipped in honey. Challah, the bread usually eaten on the Sabbath is not braided as at regular meals but instead is baked in a circle for Rosh Hashanah, - a wish that the coming year will roll around smoothly without complications, unhappiness or sorrow. It is also dipped in honey before eating.

Another practice of this day is Tashlikh, or "casting off". The Orthodox fill their pockets with cubes of bread, walk to flowing water, such as a stream or a river, on the afternoon of the first day and empty their pockets into the river, symbolically casting off sins. I really think this is a lovely ritual and meditative observance.

So for all of you who observe this day, may your name be well-inscribed in the book of Life.

L’Shanah Tovah!

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Related Blogs:
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Ester from
MY URBAN KVETCH asks for Rosh Hashanah help for a friend. Please go directly to HER blog and reply if you can help. Her email is at the bottom of her request.

Important: Rosh Hashanah Help for a Friend
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On the eve of Rosh Hashanah (eve), I'm asking your help.
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A friend of mine is going through cancer treatments and will not be able to attend services this year (crowds, and their accompanying germs are very dangerous for him because his immune system is repairing itself). He's found something for Yom Kippur. But he's still looking for something online, live streaming video, or the like that will enable him to feel like he's at shul, participating in the Rosh Hashanah service, even though he will be homebound. He understands that such services, if available, will likely be Conservative or Reform. But so far we've not been able to find anything for him for Rosh Hashanah. Do you have anything to recommend? Organizations/rabbis/leaders to contact? Put them in the comments section, or email me at esther.kustanowitz at gmail dot com.
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Let me know if you know of anything like this--it would be a real mitzvah...
Wishing us all health in the new year.

If you are in the mood for some tempting dishes and recipes, check out Rosa's Yummy Yums and find mouth watering recipes for :

Lemon Honey Cookies
Pumpkin Apple Bread
Quick No-Fat Apple Cake
Rhubarb Upside-Down Pudding

Need Rosh Hashanah Activities and Crafts for Preschoolers ?
The ABC Home Preschool can help.

Overwhelmed with trying to juggle all the holiday chores and the demands of work and family? Check out the Rosh Hashanah Survival Guide that appears on the Mother In Israel blog, where the author desc4ibes herself as offering:

The cutting edge (!) of homemaking and parenting in Israel and the observant Jewish community. By a mother of many, born in the US and now living in Israel.

Then for some fine thoughts about mothers, holidays, perfection and honey cake, check out the sweet thoughts of Rachel , The Velveteen Rabbi

Last night my honeycake fell. This is not a problem I've ever had before, and it unsettled me. Let's be clear: I'm a decent cook, though not a great one. But the dishes I make well, I generally make really well, and honeycake is one of them.
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Or it has been, anyway. I use a recipe from Love and Best Dishes (the old Agudas Achim Sisterhood cookbook), one which we decided years ago is similar to the one my Nana (of blessed memory) used to make. The sweetness of the honey is tempered with a cup of cold coffee, and the resulting cake is golden-brown and light as air.
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Not this year. This year I messed up one honeycake by trying to get it out of the pan too soon (it tore, all along the bottom), and the other -- to my deep chagrin -- fell like a soufflé, leaving a rift of unbaked batter down the center of the loaf pan. I've never had trouble with my honeycakes before. What gives?
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A few years ago my sister and her family started coming here for Rosh Hashanah. Ever since, my conversations with my mother at this season have had a wistful air. My mother adores her sons, of course, and the wide network of family and friends who enrich her life in San Antonio. But I think she's been wishing to celebrate the turn of the year with her daughters, too. This year my parents are coming to town for this holiday for the first time. Could that have something to do with my unprecedented baking flail?

leah in her blog, leah in chicago|accidentally jewish tells of the meditative joys of baking Challah.

I don't remember how long it has been since I baked challah. Maybe as far back as Christmas or last Rosh Hashanah. Very sad, but I don't bake it as much as I used to. Not even with my new amazing Kitchen Aid mixer. I just don't find the time.
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It is a shame, because if anything gets me into a spiritual place, it is baking challah.
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No really.
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Kneading bread by hand for 5 to 10 minutes. Starting with salt, flour, eggs, water, sugar, yeast and oil and then being able to feed people a mere six hours later. It is an amazing feeling. Really it is.