Jewish Festivals. Explain the importance for Jews of Rosh Hashanah and its customs.

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Festivals Essay

A) Explain the importance for Jews of Rosh Hashanah and its customs.

Rosh Hashanah and the customs that accompany the festival are important for Jews because of many reasons. Rosh Hashanah is a time for men and women to review their deeds of the year and analyse what exactly they’ve done bad. It is the ‘anniversary’ of the creation of Man and is the chance to look over the year, just as people do in many occupations to see how the year has been.

It is particularly important for Jews as it’s a time to rid of their sins and receive forgiveness from God. Jews blow the shofar in order to help assemble all the acts they need forgiveness for. The first note blown is tekia which means gathering. It gathers all the actions of the year. This is followed by a teruah (disbanding) which then breaks the actions down into much smaller pieces. The two notes are followed by yet another tekia to gather the good actions in which we want to keep. Rosh Hashanah is the only time Man can do this.

Blowing the shofar also has other purposes that are important. We are walking, for no purpose, down life’s road but the loud notes of the shofar wake us up in life. We can then continue doing well in life. Also, the shofar is asking God for mercy judgement so that we aren’t judged too harshly. Abraham was told to kill his only son to show his faith to God, but as Abraham was about to do it, God told him not to and instead kill a ram in the bushes nearby. This is why we blow a ram’s horn (the shofar), as it represents mercy.

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On Rosh Hashanah, many Jews make there way to a source of running water. In the book of Zohar, it says whatever falls deep is lost forever, so Jews go to the water and say a prayer to throw their sins and bad actions away.

Another custom on Rosh Hashanah is to eat meals with honey, usually apple and honey or chollah and honey. This is important for Jews because it is a way of asking for a sweet new year (because honey is sweet). Also, Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew is Yom Teruah. Ruah means friendship, and so ...

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