ObservanceSaturday, October 2, 2027
Rosh Hashanah
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Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, observed on the first and second days of Tishri and beginning at sunset the evening before the date a civil calendar shows. It opens the ten days of repentance that close with Yom Kippur, and it falls in the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar rather than the first. The Torah commands the day but never calls it a new year; the name, and the idea, belong to the rabbis who compiled the Mishnah.
History
The textual basis is two short passages. Leviticus 23:23-25 instructs the Israelites that "in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts." Numbers 29:1 repeats the instruction and adds, "You shall observe it as a day when the horn is sounded." Both renderings are from the Jewish Publication Society's gender-sensitive Tanakh. Neither passage uses the phrase Rosh Hashanah, and neither calls the day a new year.
Encyclopaedia Britannica dates the shift to the second century CE, when the scholars compiling the Mishnah designated the first of Tishri as the new year of years and tied it to the beginning of creation. The Mishnah is also where the oddity of a new year in the seventh month resolves itself, because it does not treat the Hebrew calendar as having a single new year at all. Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 opens: "They are four days in the year that serve as the New Year, each for a different purpose." The first of Nisan is the new year for kings and for the order of the festivals. The first of Elul is the new year for animal tithes, with Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon dissenting in favor of the first of Tishri. The first of Tishri is the new year for counting years, for sabbatical and jubilee reckoning, for planting, and for tithing vegetables. The new year for trees is the first of Shevat according to Beit Shammai and the fifteenth according to Beit Hillel.
The Hebrew phrase itself does appear in scripture, once, and not as the name of a holiday. Ezekiel 40:1 dates a vision to "the twenty-fifth year of our exile, the fourteenth year after the city had fallen, at the beginning of the year" - and "at the beginning of the year" is how JPS renders b'rosh hashanah.
How long the holiday lasts is still not settled. Britannica describes a "major two-day Jewish holiday," kept for two days in Israel as well as the Diaspora. The Union for Reform Judaism's own answer, written by Rabbi Mark Washofsky, is blunter: "The answer is: one, mostly." Most North American Reform congregations keep one day, some keep two, and the Reform movement has observed single festival days since its nineteenth-century beginnings.
Timeline
- 2nd century CE - The scholars compiling the Mishnah designate the first of Tishri the new year of years and tie it to the beginning of creation. Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 records four separate new years, with Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel still disagreeing about the one for trees.
- 11th or 12th century CE - Unetaneh Tokef - "On Rosh Hashanah it is inscribed, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed" - is attributed to Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, though Britannica notes it may be centuries older.
- 19th century - The Reform movement, from its beginnings, reinstates the observance of each festival day, Rosh Hashanah included, as a single day.
- September 23-24, 2025 - New York City's public schools close for both days of Rosh Hashanah; the system closed again for Yom Kippur on October 2.
- October 1, 2027 - Rosh Hashanah 5788 begins at sundown on Friday, October 1, and runs through nightfall on October 3.
How to observe
The central act is the shofar, a ram's horn. Chabad.org puts the count at 100 blasts across the Rosh Hashanah morning services - thirty after the Torah reading and as many as seventy more during and just after Musaf - and Britannica agrees on the hundred. The two differ on vocabulary: Chabad names three types of blast (tekiah, shevarim, teruah), Britannica four, adding tekiah gedolah, a longer tekiah. If the first day falls on Shabbat, the shofar is sounded only on the second.
On the first afternoon, many go to a body of water for tashlich and cast off the year's sins. Britannica notes that Jewish tradition argues internally about whether anything physical should go into the water at all, which is worth knowing before you turn up with bread.
The food is unusually legible. Apple slices dipped in honey; challah baked round instead of oval and dipped in honey rather than salt; pomegranates, which Britannica says are "said to have" 613 seeds for the 613 commandments; a fish head, from the wish in Deuteronomy 28:13 to be the head and not the tail. On the second night, a fruit you have not eaten since it was last in season, so the Shehechiyanu blessing has something new to attach to.
If you would rather have the holiday's own argument than its atmosphere, Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 is two minutes of reading and free on Sefaria.
Frequently asked questions
When is Rosh Hashanah?
It falls on the first and second days of Tishri, which land in September or October, and it begins at sunset on the evening before the date a civil calendar shows. Rosh Hashanah 5788 begins at sundown on Friday, October 1, 2027.
Is Rosh Hashanah one day or two?
Both, depending on the congregation. Britannica describes a two-day holiday, and it is kept for two days in Israel as well as the Diaspora. But most Reform congregations in North America observe one day - the Union for Reform Judaism's own answer is "one, mostly" - because the movement reinstated single festival days in the nineteenth century.
Is Rosh Hashanah a federal holiday in the United States?
No. Federal law, 5 U.S.C. 6103, sets the list of federal holidays, and Rosh Hashanah is not on it, so federal offices run normally. Some school systems close anyway: New York City's public schools were closed on September 23 and 24, 2025.
Why is the Jewish New Year in the seventh month?
Because the Hebrew calendar has more than one new year. Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1 lists four, each for a different purpose: the first of Nisan for kings and the order of the festivals, the first of Elul for animal tithes, the first of Tishri for counting years and for sabbatical and jubilee reckoning, and Shevat for trees. Rosh Hashanah is the new year for counting years.
How many times is the shofar blown?
A hundred blasts over the course of the Rosh Hashanah morning services. Sources differ on the taxonomy - Chabad names three kinds of blast, Britannica four - and if the first day of the holiday is Shabbat, the shofar is sounded only on the second day.
When is Rosh Hashanah?
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | October 2 | Saturday |
| 2028 | September 21 | Thursday |
| 2029 | September 10 | Monday |
| 2030 | September 28 | Saturday |
| 2031 | September 18 | Thursday |
Sources
- Sefaria, Leviticus 23:23-32, THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition - https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Leviticus.23.23-32 → the Leviticus 23:24 quotation ("complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts").
- Sefaria, Numbers 29:1, THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition - https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Numbers.29.1 → the Numbers 29:1 quotation ("a day when the horn is sounded").
- Sefaria, Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1, William Davidson Edition - https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Mishnah_Rosh_Hashanah.1.1 → the four new years; Nisan for kings and festivals; Elul for animal tithes and the Elazar/Shimon dissent; Tishri for counting years, sabbatical and jubilee, planting and vegetable tithes; the Shammai/Hillel split on the new year for trees.
- Sefaria, Ezekiel 40:1, THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition - https://www.sefaria.org/api/texts/Ezekiel.40.1 → the single scriptural appearance of the Hebrew phrase, rendered "at the beginning of the year."
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Rosh Hashanah - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Rosh-Hashana → Tishri 1 and the two-day description; the 2nd-century-CE Mishnaic designation of the new year of years and its link to creation; Yom Teruah in Numbers 29; Unetaneh Tokef attributed to Rabbi Amnon of Mainz in the 11th or 12th century and possibly older; 100 shofar blasts; the four blast types including tekiah gedolah; tashlich and the internal debate over physical crumbs; round challah, apples and honey, pomegranates "said to have" 613 seeds, the fish head and Deuteronomy 28:13; the Ten Days of Repentance.
- Chabad.org, What Is Rosh Hashanah? - https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4762/jewish/What-Is-Rosh-Hashanah.htm → "Head of the Year"; Tishrei 1 and 2 beginning at sundown the evening before; the 30-plus-70 breakdown of the 100 blasts; the three blast types; the Shabbat exception; tashlich on the first afternoon; apples in honey, round challah dipped in honey, pomegranates, the fish head, the new fruit and Shehechiyanu on the second night; Rosh Hashanah 5788 beginning at sundown Friday, October 1, 2027.
- Union for Reform Judaism, Do Reform Jews Celebrate One or Two Days of Rosh HaShanah? (Rabbi Mark Washofsky) - https://reformjudaism.org/learning/answers-jewish-questions/do-reform-jews-celebrate-one-or-two-days-rosh-hashanah → "The answer is: one, mostly"; most North American Reform congregations keep one day, some keep two; the 19th-century reinstatement of single festival days; two days in Israel and the Diaspora.
- Union for Reform Judaism, Rosh HaShanah - https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/rosh-hashanah → the 2027 dates of October 1-3.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Federal Holidays - https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ → that federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the federal holidays, and the published list on which Rosh Hashanah does not appear.
- New York City Public Schools, 2025-2026 School Year Calendar - https://www.schools.nyc.gov/calendar/2025-2026-school-year-calendar → "September 23-24 Tuesday-Wednesday Rosh Hashanah, schools closed" and "October 2 Thursday Yom Kippur, schools closed."
Not used as sources: nationaltoday, nationaldaycalendar, checkiday, timeanddate, and any aggregator or AI-generated listicle. Britannica's article body could not be read through the plain fetch path (it returns page chrome only) and was read in a browser instead; the quotations above are from the rendered article.
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