The start of October marks the start of the year’s widely celebrated Jewish holidays.

Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Jewish New Year. However, the celebration starts on the eve of New Year’s Day.

Junior Alan Shvartsman’s family’s festivities begin at sundown. “I read a few short blessings in Hebrew that signify the coming of the New Year, along with all of the love and prosperity we hope it will bring,” he said. The blessings relate to the eve of the New Year, bread, and wine.

Following that, his family sits down for a large dinner. “We eat chicken, horseradish, fish, spinach, peas, and pomegranates,” he said.

All of the foods that make up the dinner have very significant meanings. For example, horseradish, spinach, and peas are all written in the Torah as what ancient Jews ate while captured by the Romans and Greeks. “Also, pomegranates are eaten because their 613 seeds is the same as the number of commandments that Moses gave his people to do,” Shvartsman said.

Another specialty that his family feasts on is apples and honey that symbolize sweetness. “We also eat matzo balls which are millennium-old foods that Jesus in Israel used to eat,” he said.

The dinner continues on to the next day, the actual start of the New Year.

Exactly a week later, the traditions for Yom Kippur begin. Sophomore Ofek Avisar explains the purpose of the holiday. “The point of the holiday is asking for forgiveness and to start fresh because it is the beginning of a new year,” he said.

Throughout the whole day, Jews are not allowed to eat. “There’s a big dinner before and you can’t eat until the next night,” Avisar said.

They also visit the synagogue sometime during the day. “We listen to the rabbi for a few hours,” Shvartsman said. This is where they pray for God to forgive all of their sins for the year.

With the celebration of these holidays, it is vital to all members of the Jewish faith to reflect on the past and look forward to the future.