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When is Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah falls on Friday, September 11, 2026.
About Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year. Its name means the head of the year, and it marks the start of the Hebrew calendar's civil year. The festival begins on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei and is usually observed for two days. Rosh Hashanah is both a celebration and a solemn occasion. It opens the High Holy Days, the most sacred period of the Jewish year, and begins a ten-day stretch of reflection and repentance that ends with Yom Kippur. In Jewish tradition it is a time when people consider their actions over the past year and their hopes for the year ahead.
The best-known symbol of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar, a ram's horn that is sounded during synagogue services in a series of distinct blasts. The festival is also marked by special foods, many of them sweet, expressing the wish for a good year. Apple slices dipped in honey are the most familiar, and round loaves of challah bread are eaten. Greetings include the Hebrew phrase Shanah Tovah, meaning a good year. Rosh Hashanah is a public holiday in Israel, and the Gregorian date moves each year, usually falling in September or early October. It begins, like other Jewish holy days, at sundown the evening before the first day.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, and its name means the head of the year. It marks the start of the year in the Hebrew calendar and opens the High Holy Days, the holiest period of the Jewish year. The festival is usually observed for two days. It is both festive and serious, a time for celebrating the new year and for honest reflection on the past one. It begins a ten-day season of repentance that ends with Yom Kippur.
When is Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on the eve of the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar but the start of its civil year. Because the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, the Gregorian date changes each year, falling in September or early October. The festival lasts two days. It is followed nine days later by Yom Kippur, and the period in between is known as the Days of Awe, or the Ten Days of Repentance.
How is Rosh Hashanah celebrated?
Rosh Hashanah is marked by synagogue services, festive meals and time with family. A central feature is the sounding of the shofar, a ram's horn blown in a set pattern of blasts during services. Special foods carry the wish for a sweet new year, above all apple slices dipped in honey, along with round loaves of challah. People greet one another with Shanah Tovah, meaning a good year. The mood combines celebration with serious reflection on the year that has passed.
Why is the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah?
The shofar, a horn usually taken from a ram, is sounded on Rosh Hashanah as one of the central rituals of the day. Its blasts are understood as a call to wake up spiritually, to reflect on one's actions and to turn towards repentance at the start of the new year. The sound also recalls themes from Jewish tradition, including the ram offered in place of Isaac in the biblical story of Abraham. A set sequence of long and short blasts is sounded during services.
Is Rosh Hashanah a public holiday?
Rosh Hashanah is a public holiday in Israel, where both days are observed and most businesses and offices close. Outside Israel it is generally not a public holiday, but it is very widely observed within Jewish communities, and many Jewish people take time off work or school for the festival. Some areas and institutions with large Jewish populations adjust their schedules. The festival's date moves each year with the Hebrew calendar.