Being in Israel during Rosh Hashana
If you are in Israel during the Rosh Hashana period, visiting a synagogue to hear the prayers is an amazing experience. Jews attend quite lengthy synagogue services, and recite special prayers and liturgical songs written over the centuries which vary between Jews who have developed different prayers based on where they were living for hundreds of years. The blowing of the shofar (ram’s horn) is an iconic symbol of Rosh Hashana – 100 (or 101) shofar blasts are sounded in the synagogue to symbolize God’s sovereignty over the world, to remind Jews of the giving of the commandments on Mt. Sinai, of Abraham and Isaac’s devotion to God, to arouse people to repentance and to herald the Day of Judgment and the coming of the Messiah.
Symbols of Rosh Hashana in Israel
Other symbols of Rosh Hashana include apple and honey customarily eaten as well as other sweet foods to symbolize a sweet new year. Tashlich is a custom carried out on Rosh Hashanah afternoon where Jews to walk to a river, lakeshore or other open body of water, to shake out one’s pockets and symbolically cast one’s sins into the water. If you come to Israel during this period, it is interesting to see religious Jews performing this custom.