Jewish Celebrations Learning Objective: To find out about the festival of Rosh Hashanah. www.planbee.com
What How does your family do you normally do? celebrate New Year’s Eve? What do your friends do? www.planbee.com
Rosh Hashanah means ‘head of the year’ and is the Jewish New Year festival. Jews believe Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve. In other words, during Rosh Hashanah, Jews celebrate Adam and Eve’s birthday! Do you remember the story of Adam and Eve? What happened? www.planbee.com
Jews spend a lot of time at the synagogue to worship God during Rosh Hashanah. One of the special parts of the service is to listen to the shofar being blown. A shofar is a ram’s horn that is blown like a trumpet. It symbolises the trumpet blast that sounds when a king is crowned. It reminds Jews that God is their king and they are His people. Did you know that the shofar is blown a hundred times during each day of Rosh Hashanah? What do you think this would sound like? www.planbee.com
As well as a celebration to remember God, Rosh Hashanah is also a judgement day. Jews believe Rosh Hashanah is the day when God balances a person’s good deeds against their bad ones to determine what kind of year they will have. God marks all this down in the Book of Life - He writes who will live, who will die, who will have a good year and who will have a bad year. A common greeting during Rosh Hashanah is, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” www.planbee.com
As well as celebrating at the synagogue, Jews also have celebrations in their homes. They have a special meal together and eat lots of sweet foods, such as apples dipped in honey, as a symbol of the sweet new year they hope lies ahead of them. Pomegranates are also eaten. It is said that there are 613 seeds in a pomegranate, representing the 613 laws written in the Torah. A round challah loaf is also eaten. This symbolises the cycle of life as well as God’s crown. Rosh Hashanah is a time when Jews particularly remember God as a king. www.planbee.com
Rosh Hashanah also marks the start of the ten Days of Awe . During these ten days, Jews think about all the things they have done wrong throughout the last year. They think about who they might have hurt or upset, and take this time to ask for their forgiveness. The Days of Awe lead up to Yom Kippur which is the day God seals the Book of Life for the year. The Days of Awe Can you think of any give Jews the mistakes or things you have chance to make done wrong in the past year? up for what they have done wrong Who would you need to ask so they can start to forgive you? the new year afresh. www.planbee.com
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