A sweet beginning: Rosh Hashanah ushers in Jewish New Year

Rosh Hashanah marks the anniversary of creation, and the shofar blast serves as a spiritual wake-up call for the new year.
Photo: Unsplash – Megs Harrison.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins at sunset on Friday, 11 September, and continues until nightfall on Sunday, 13 September. This year marks the beginning of 5787 on the Hebrew calendar.

But unlike the countdowns and celebrations traditionally associated with 1 January, Rosh Hashanah has a quieter and more reflective character. As the sun sets on Friday evening, Jewish communities around the world will welcome the new year with reflection and hopes for a sweet year ahead.

The name means “head of the year”, and it marks the start of the Jewish High Holy Days.

It begins a period of introspection known as the Ten Days of Repentance, which culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
One of the most recognisable traditions of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, an instrument traditionally made from a ram’s horn.

Its piercing call is regarded as a spiritual wake-up call, encouraging people to examine the year that has passed, consider where they may have fallen short and think about how they want to live in the year ahead.

Food also carries meaning during the celebration.

Apples are traditionally dipped in honey as a symbol of the hope for a sweet new year, while other symbolic foods may also be served around the family table.

A common greeting is “Shanah Tovah”, meaning “a good year”, or the longer wish “Shanah Tovah Umetukah”, wishing someone a good and sweet year.

A tradition with deep roots in Oudtshoorn
For Oudtshoorn, it also serves as a reminder that the town’s Jewish heritage is not simply a chapter in its history, but part of the story that helped shape the Klein Karoo town known for generations as “Little Jerusalem”.

During the height of the ostrich feather boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of Jewish families, many of them immigrants from Lithuania and other parts of Eastern Europe, settled in the Klein Karoo.

They became prominent figures in the ostrich feather industry and played an important role in Oudtshoorn’s commercial and civic development.

By the late 1800s the growing community had established synagogues in the town.

The Queen Street Synagogue, situated in what is today Baron van Reede Street, was inaugurated in 1888, while a second synagogue was later established in St John Street.

The community also left its mark on education. In 1904, Oudtshoorn became home to what historical accounts describe as South Africa’s first state-subsidised Jewish day school.

Although the Jewish population declined considerably following the collapse of the ostrich feather industry and later migration to larger centres, reminders of this history remain part of Oudtshoorn’s identity.

Some of that heritage is preserved at the CP Nel Museum, including elements from the former St John Street Synagogue.

That history gives Rosh Hashanah a particular resonance in Oudtshoorn, where the Jewish community once formed such an important part of the town’s identity.

With the sound of the shofar and the wish for a sweet new year, Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of 5787.