Jewish New Year resources

Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Year – begins Mon., Sept. 6, 2021 at sundown – ushering in ten days of prayer and reflection ending with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

To find religious services that are full of both rejoicing and introspection at local synagogues visit Richmond Jewish Federation. Most all Richmond-area synagogues are offering a remote or Zoom option.

Connect to Richmond-area synagogues’ (online) High Holiday Services:

•Beth Ahabah YouTube page (Reform)

•Temple Beth El YouTube page (Conservative)

•Congregation Or Atid (Conservative)

•Or Ami YouTube page (Reform)

•Keneseth Beth Israel (Orthodox)

•Chabad of Virginia (Orthodox)

•Kehilla (independent)

The web site Kveller explains leading up to Rosh Hashanah and throughout the holiday, Jewish tradition stresses the ideas of judgment and repentance, encouraging us to make amends for the wrongs we may have committed over the course of the previous year and set our ethical and spiritual path for the coming year.

Tradition requires that during the prayer service, the shofar or rams horn blower play four sets of notes on Rosh Hashanah: tekiah, a long blast; shevarim, three short blasts; teruah, nine staccato blasts; and tekiah gedolah, a very long blast.

Jews have a long and vibrant history here in Richmond which you can learn about at the Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives, Richmond’s museum of Jewish history and culture and at the Hebrew Cemetery, located at Shockoe Hill at Fourth and Hospital streets, which is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the South. (Sunday-Friday or by appointment from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.)

The Jewish New Year’s traditional greeting is “Shana Tova! May you have a sweet, happy and healthy new year!”

Below are resources for free and virtual High Holy Day Services at synagogues wherever you may reside

MyJewishLearning.com – has both services and holiday recipes.

chabad.com also has recipes and offers free e-cards.

Haggadot.com, a nonprofit site for crowdsourcing the Passover prayer book, recently added the HighHolidays@Home website with downloadable prayers, guided meditations and advice.

Rosh Hashanah is a reflective and festive holiday to traditionally gather with friends and family, full of traditional and fusion, symbolic foods. There are a plethora of recipes at:

•Epicurious

•Good Housekeeping

•The New York Times

•Martha Stewart

Apples are a traditional dish. So it’s also a great time to check these related posts and get out into the fields and farmers markets for seasonal fruit: