Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah holiday tonight

Tonight, Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina are marking the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, or the 5778th year according to the Jewish calendar, reports the Patria agency.

A prayer will be held on this occasion at the Museum of Jews of BiH, the oldest synagogue in Sarajevo, at 7 PM.

In the Torah, this holiday is called Yom Teruah – the Day of Blasting, as it commands the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn) from the Fourth Book of Moses. It is celebrated on the first and second of Tishrei. It is the beginning of the religious calendar in early autumn, a time when man should put his life in order. Jews believe that the world was created on this day.

After the holiday, a period of repentance begins, lasting ten days, and ending with Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is not a family holiday, so apart from a short dinner at home, all ceremonies take place in the temple.

The New Year's dinner has the character of a family gathering, not a mass one like the New Year celebrated in the rest of the world. It is customary for the dinner to begin with an apple and honey (tapuah ve dvash) to symbolize a sweet year.

Rosh Hashanah greetings are simple: Shana tova! – Happy or good New Year. In Ladino, greetings are: Anio bueno! Anios munchos! (Good year! Many years!).

In Israel and around the world, believers greet the New Year with the expression: Leshana tova tikatevu! (May you be inscribed for a good year).