As the Jewish community prepares to welcome the year 5785 on the Hebrew calendar, Rosh Hashanah 2024 brings unique challenges and opportunities. Set to begin on Wednesday, October 2, and conclude on Friday, October 4, this year's observance will seamlessly transition into Shabbat, necessitating additional preparations. From traditional foods to the blowing of the shofar, the celebration encapsulates renewal, reflection, and hope for the coming year.

Rosh Hashanah symbols

Every year, on the night of Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat symbols – foods that symbolize blessings for the new year. Each symbol is accompanied by a special blessing and deep spiritual meaning. The holiday symbols are an integral part of the holiday and accompany the family meal in a spirit of renewal and blessing.

1. Pomegranate: The many seeds of the pomegranate symbolize abundance.
2. Apple in honey: Symbolizes a sweet year.
3. Rubia (beans): The rubia symbolizes multiplication and growth.
4. Leek: The leek symbolizes hope for the removal of enemies.
5. Fish head: To be like the head and not the tail.

Shofar blowing

Shofar blowing is one of the central customs of Rosh Hashanah. The blowing symbolizes a call to repentance, the coronation of God as King of the universe, and the opening of the gates of heaven for our prayers. Types of blasts:

1. Tekiah: A straight, long sound.
2. Shevarim: Three short blasts.
3. Teruah: A series of short and continuous blasts, totaling nine.

In every synagogue, 30 blasts are sounded before the Musaf prayer, and another 70 blasts during it. The blasts are considered a central stage in the prayer, and it's important to listen to them with concentration and without distractions.

Eruv Tavshilin: What is it and how to perform it?

When Yom Tov connects to Shabbat, one must perform an eruv tavshilin that allows preparation of food for Shabbat during the second day of Yom Tov. One should take challah bread and a prepared dish, say the blessing, give it to someone else who will also say a blessing, and thus, it is permissible to cook on Yom Tov for Shabbat.

It's important to know that eruv tavshilin permits cooking from the second day of Yom Tov for Shabbat, but not from the first day of Yom Tov to the second. It is forbidden to cook or set the table for the second evening meal of Rosh Hashanah before the end of the first day, that is, Thursday evening, a minute or two before the time corresponding to the end of the second day of Yom Tov on Friday.

Lighting Shabbat and Yom Tov candles

Shabbat and Yom Tov candles need to be prepared in advance, and one should ensure that memorial candles or other candles will burn for the entire required time so that we can transfer fire from existing fire during the holiday and Shabbat.

When is Rosh Hashanah 2024? Entry times

1. Jerusalem: 17:47
2. Tel Aviv: 18:03
3. New York: 18:17
4. Los Angeles: 18:16

When is Rosh Hashanah 2024? Exit times

1. Jerusalem: 18:56
2. Tel Aviv: 18:58
3. New York: 18:14
4. Los Angeles: 18:14

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The KKL-JNF unveiled this week photos of celebrations of the Shavuot festival in pre-state Israel under the British Mandate.

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During the Mandate era, Shavuot was celebrated with vibrant costumes, parades, and dancing in the streets of major cities such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. Starting in the 1920s, KKL-JNF, through the teachers' movement for KKL-JNF, imbued Shavuot with a new significance, symbolizing the return to the homeland and the deepening connection to the land of Israel.

The so-called "bikkurim" Shavuot ceremonies "were revived in cities and villages across the country. In Jerusalem, the bikkurim were brought to the KKL-JNF building, while Tel Aviv featured grand stages, and Haifa celebrated with vibrant parades and street performances," director of the archives, Efrat Sinai, said. "The KKL-JNF photo archive serves as a captivating testament to the Jewish people's presence in the Land of Israel in the early 20th century. As a tribute to Shavuot, we are delighted to unveil nostalgic photographs capturing the bikkurim celebrations in the major cities during the British Mandate."

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American rapper of Jewish descent Michael Berrin, better known by his stage name MC Serch, has published a song in honor of Hanukkah. All it took was a dare from radio personalities Ebro Darden and Peter Rosenberg.

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"I heard that they were talking about Jewish rappers and how none of them had done a Hanukkah song. When they got to my name, Ebro and Peter went in on me, because they know I am a proud Jewish kid from Far Rockaway, so I had to get to work," Berrin said. 

Thus began a several-month-long journey to create Shine Bright. The Smiths' Johnny Marr, Hootie and the Blowfish lead singer Darius Rucker, Sam Harmonix, and DJ Eclipse also participated in the project. 

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Muslims around the world observed Tuesday yet another major Islamic holiday in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic and amid growing concerns about the highly infectious Delta variant.

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Eid al-Adha, or the "Feast of Sacrifice," is typically marked by communal prayers, large social gatherings, slaughtering of livestock and giving meat to the needy. This year, the holiday comes as many countries battle the Delta strain first identified in India, prompting some to impose new restrictions or appeal for people to avoid congregating and follow safety protocols.

The pandemic has already taken a toll for the second year on a sacred mainstay of Islam, the hajj, whose last days coincide with Eid al-Adha. Once drawing some 2.5 million Muslims from across the globe to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the pilgrimage has been dramatically scaled back due to the virus.

This year's hajj has been limited to 60,000 vaccinated Saudi citizens or residents of Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia marked a grim Eid al-Adha amid a devastating new wave of coronavirus cases in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, also an influential Islamic cleric, appealed to people to perform holiday prayers at home with their families.

"Don't gather in crowds," Amin said in televised remarks ahead of the start of the holiday. "Protecting oneself from the COVID pandemic is a must."

The surge is believed to have been fueled by travel during another holiday – the Eid al-Fitr festival in May – and by the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

In Malaysia, measures have been tightened after a sharp spike in infections despite a national lockdown since June 1 – people are banned from travelling back to their hometowns or crossing districts to celebrate. House visits and customary trips to graveyards are also banned.

Healthy worshippers are allowed to gather for prayers in mosques, with strict social distancing and no physical contact. Ritual animal sacrifice is limited to mosques and other approved areas.

Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah has urged Malaysians not to "repeat irresponsible behavior," adding that travel and celebrations during Eid al-Fitr and another festival on the island of Borneo led to new clusters of cases.

"Let us not in the excitement of celebrating Eid al-Adha cause us all to perish because of COVID," he said in a statement.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin urged Muslims to stay home. "I appeal to you all to be patient and abide by the rules because your sacrifice is a great jihad in Allah's sight and in our effort to save lives," he said in a televised speech on the eve of the festival.

The World Health Organization recently reported that following a decline, COVID mortality was again on the rise. The reversal was attributed to low vaccination rates, relaxed mask rules and other precautions, and the spread of the Delta variant.

Iran on Monday imposed a week-long lockdown on the capital, Tehran, and the surrounding region as the country struggles with another surge in the coronavirus pandemic, state media reported. The lockdown begins on Tuesday.

However, not everyone is imposing new restrictions. In Bangladesh, authorities have allowed an eight-day pause in the country's strict lockdown for the holiday that health experts say could be dangerous.

In Egypt, Essam Shaban travelled to the southern province of Sohag to spend Eid al-Adha with his family. He said ahead of the start of the holiday that he planned to pray at a mosque there on Tuesday while taking precautions such as bringing his own prayer rug and wearing a mask.

"We want this Eid to pass by peacefully without any infections," he said. "We must follow instructions."

In India, the coronavirus devastated the country. Local Muslim scholars have been urging people to exercise restraint and adhere to health protocols. Some states have restricted large gatherings and are asking people to observe the holiday at home. Meanwhile the pandemic's economic fallout, which threw millions of Indians into financial hardship, has many saying they cannot afford to buy sacrificial livestock.

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AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine provided strong protection against sickness and eliminated hospitalizations and deaths from the disease across all age groups in a late-stage study in the United States, the company announced Monday.

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AstraZeneca said its experts did not identify any safety concerns related to the vaccine, including finding no increased risk of rare blood clots identified in Europe.

Although AstraZeneca's vaccine has been authorized in more than 50 countries, it has not yet been given the green light in the US – and has struggled to gain public trust amid a troubled rollout. The study comprised more than 30,000 volunteers, of whom two-thirds were given the vaccine while the rest got dummy shots.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said its COVID-19 vaccine was 79% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and was 100% effective in stopping severe disease and hospitalization, though it has not yet published full data. Investigators said the vaccine worked across all ages, including older people — something experts wanted better data on. Two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were given to people four weeks apart.

"These findings reconfirm previous results observed," said Ann Falsey, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, who helped lead the trial. "It's exciting to see similar efficacy results in people over 65 for the first time."

Meanwhile, in Israel, 46,024 COVID tests processed from Sunday morning to Monday morning resulted in 669 new confirmed cases, or 1.5% of tests – the lowest Israel has seen since the end of November 2020, the Health Ministry reported Monday morning.

According to a report from the Corona Knowledge and Information Center, the reproduction rate in Israel stands at 0.62, meaning that a single confirmed carrier infects 0.62 other people.

As of Monday morning, the COVID death toll in Israel stood at 6,098. There were 15,765 active or symptomatic patients nationwide, and 816 COVID patients were hospitalized. Of the hospitalized patients, 529 were listed in serious condition (including 248 who were in critical condition and 211 who were on ventilators).

A total of 5,175,980 Israelis (55.66% of the population) have received a first dose of the COVID vaccines, and 4,563,045 have received both doses (49.07% of the population).

On Sunday, national coronavirus coordinator Professor Nachman Ash held a press briefing at which he said that Israel was about to face a "challenging time" and advised that the government put off decisions about further reopenings.

"The encouraging factor is that the decline [in cases of infections] is occurring despite the broad opening of the economy," Ash told reporters.

"The third stage [of exiting the lockdown] was two weeks ago and we still don't see signs of an increase in morbidity, not in the reproduction rate and not in the number of patients -- and that is very encouraging," he said.

On Monday, Ash discussed plans for Independence Day [which begins on the evening of April 14] in an interview on Army Radio, saying "We're talking about stages for entertainment. It might be too complicated, because most children aren't vaccinated. We might have to forgo it this year."

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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One of the world's oldest scrolls of Esther was recently gifted to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, the librarys blog announced on Monday.

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The scroll, dating from medieval times, was a gift from long-standing supporters of the library Michael Jesselson and his family.

Scholars have determined that the scroll, known as Megillat Esther in Hebrew, was written by a scribe on the Iberian Peninsula around 1465, prior to the Spanish and Portuguese expulsions that happened at the end of the 15th century. Their estimation was based on both stylistic and scientific evidence, including Carbon-14 dating.

According to Yoel Finkelman, the curator of the library's Haim and Hanna Salomon Judaica Collection, the new addition is "an incredibly rare testament to the rich material culture of the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula. It is one of the earliest extant Esther Scrolls, and one of the few 15th-century Megillot in the world."

Finkelman added that the library was "privileged to house this treasure and to preserve the legacy of pre-expulsion Iberian Jewry for the Jewish people and the world."

The Scroll of Esther is read worldwide in Jewish communities on Purim, which this year begins after sundown Thursday, Feb. 25.

The scroll, which the library has made available online, is written on leather with brown ink and in a Sephardic script emblematic of a Torah scroll. On the first panel are blessings traditionally recited before and after the reading of the scroll, which attests to its ritual use in the Iberian Jewish community, says the library.

According to experts, few existing such scrolls exist from the medieval period, particularly from the 15th century. Torah and Esther scrolls from pre-expulsion Spain and Portugal are even rarer, with only a handful known to have survived.

Prior to the donation, the scroll was the only complete 15th-century Megillah in private hands.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org

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The Sigd holiday honors the Jewish migration from Ethiopia and their longing to return to the biblical Zion. The day consists of fasting, prayers, repentance, and calls for unity, and ends with festive foods.

The ceremony began on Wednesday morning at the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem, where a large prayer gathering took place and the traditional breaking of the fast was held.

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Several Israeli lawmakers were in attendance, including Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein and Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev, among others. Several local community leaders, as well as members of youth organizations and soldiers, also attended the event.

For the third year, the festival was hosted by the Culture and Sport Ministry, the Center for the Legacy of Ethiopian Jewry and the Kessim Association.

For many years, the holiday was observed in Ethiopia by going to the mountains 50 days after Yom Kippur, where members of the community would pray and fast. At the end of the service, leaders would break Dabu bread that symbolizes the bread served in the Temple in Jerusalem and was followed by traditional singing and dancing.

Most Ethiopian Jews today live in Israel, although there is still a population left in Ethiopia. The Sigd festival is traditionally celebrated at the Sherover Promenade, which is in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem and has a view of Mount Moriah where the Jewish Temple once stood. Many worshippers don traditional white clothing and carry colorful umbrellas during the prayer service.

"I welcome the transformation of the Sigd holiday into a state holiday that marks the strong and long-standing relationship of the Beta Israel community to the God of Israel and Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. ... Today, more and more Ethiopian-Israelis are to be found in key positions in Israeli society and we will continue to work to ensure that this trend grows stronger," said Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev.

Dr. Simcha Gathon, a member of the Board of the Center for the Legacy of Ethiopian Jewry commended the Ethiopian community for holding on to its traditions.

"Even today, with their immigration to Israel, they continue their tradition and prayers, and continue to commemorate this holy day with fasting and prayer for the sake of Zion, of Jerusalem. ... We invite the public to share with us this special day at the Armon Hanatziv promenade in Jerusalem in order to enable the main prayer service to be conducted in a proper and dignified manner," he said.

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An IDF lone soldier is someone serving who has no immediate family in Israel.

Launched in cooperation with Yahad-United for Israel's Soldiers, an organization under the Defense Ministry's umbrella that funnels donations to Israeli soldiers and military units, the initiative is dedicated this year to the memory of the late Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and former president of the Fellowship.

The gift coupons, which are valid in the Shufersal supermarket chain, are aimed at giving the soldiers the opportunity to purchase food, clothing, footwear, sports apparel, electronics and other items. The 8,500 soldiers have received necessary referrals for eligibility from respective IDF units.

Among those receiving the gift coupon are 6,581 lone soldiers – 54% of whom are serving as combat soldiers or as soldiers providing combat support.

Some 55% of the lone soldiers who are entitled to a coupon come from 76 different countries between them all. Of the countries of origin with the largest number of lone soldiers, 882 are from the United States, 596 from the Ukraine and 479 from Russia.

"The IDF is the people's army, and as such it is not immune to dealing with the social challenges that characterize Israel," said Yael Eckstein, president of the Fellowship.

"Every year, thousands of soldiers from low-income families and thousands of lone soldiers who have come to Israel by themselves in order to enlist in the IDF, serve in the Israeli army," she continued.

"Together with the army and partners such as Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and Yahad-United for Israel's Soldiers, the Fellowship has developed a series of unique solutions through which soldiers receive assistance as part of an effort to enable them to serve in tranquility."

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According to a survey published in 2014 by the Pew Research Center, 70% of Americans who identify as Jewish attend a Passover Seder. That's far more than those who fast on Yom Kippur (53%), light Sabbath candles, attend religious services or keep kosher. The numbers are even significant for those that Pew labeled "Jews of no religion" in their landmark study of the community published the previous year. According to Pew, fully 42% of those in that fast-growing demographic who have only tenuous ties to faith and peoplehood participate in a seder.

That makes the seder one of the few remaining connections to Jewish tradition for many Jews. Since it is a unique exercise in national memory that transports Jews back to their origins and challenges them not merely to memorialize the Exodus from Egypt, but to have personally taken part in it, that makes the Passover ritual a powerful moment in which a sense of Jewish peoplehood can be reaffirmed even for those to whom the idea is remote from their daily existence.

But the problem is that, as is the case with virtually every other aspect of American society, Passover is becoming a scene of political combat in which the only possible outcome is a widening of the divisions that are already tearing Jews apart.

This goes beyond the uncomfortable dynamic that every family knows all too well by which differences on politics or any other source of conflict need to be put aside if the festive meal is to be survived without arguments that will leave everyone feeling aggrieved and insulted. For the last 50 years, American Jews have been adapting the seder to be a vehicle for their passions for non-Jewish causes.

Beginning with the publication of Arthur Waskow's groundbreaking "Freedom Seder Haggadah" on the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, with each passing year, new variations on the same theme have been forthcoming. That has meant Haggadot fashioned to highlight a multiplicity of causes. Waskow morphed the traditional liturgy into a piece of political advocacy that identified the story of the Exodus with the struggle for racial equality in America. While the cause of Dr. King and civil rights was just, Waskow's clever adaptation sought to promote a brand of leftist activism. Others have followed in his footsteps with seders that turned Passover into festivals of environmentalism, labor activism, rights for immigrants and even sympathy for the Palestinian war against Israel's existence.

This trend epitomizes the dilemma of Jewish educators who want to make Judaism seem relevant to those who regard its rituals, traditions and beliefs as foreign to the way they live. We want to make Passover and its message of freedom and responsibility come alive to an audience that no longer takes its importance for granted. Yet using Judaism in this manner, we run the risk of stripping it of its sacredness, as well as of its basically Jewish nature. In turning Jewish history into an empty metaphor that can be manipulated and distorted, we can render it meaningless except as a sidebar to other secular causes.

But it's no use blaming Waskow or the authors of all the other fashionable efforts to make Passover "relevant" to those who would otherwise think it nothing more than an empty ritual or merely an excuse for a family meal.

Passover liturgy contains more than enough content that encourages universalist interpretations of Judaism, as well as those that are rooted in the particular drama of Jewish history and the emergence of the Jews as a people pledged to the Torah.

Who cannot read the lines about the suffering of the slaves in Egypt without thinking of how relevant this story was to others who struggled for freedom throughout history and in our own day? Nor can we ignore the admonition to remember that we were strangers in Egypt without acknowledging the obligation to understand that others can find themselves in the same plight.

But the same can be said for the predominant theme of the seder, which is focused on the particular struggles of the Jews, their reliance on God, and that the freedom they are given is conditioned on taking on obligations of faith. Those who seek to rewrite or eliminate the traditional reminder that "in every generation they rise against us to destroy us" or the prayer imploring God "to pour out thy wrath" on these enemies of the Jews in order to make it seem less parochial or more welcoming are destroying the essence of Passover.

The Haggadah enjoins us to be sympathetic to immigrants, but it does not obligate any nation to tear down its borders or annul democratically passed laws about citizenship and who may enter a country. Moreover, efforts to compare, as some Jews have done, the plight of illegal immigrants who have broken U.S. laws to Jews being hunted by the Nazis is profoundly offensive. Just as bad are those who, like the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic Jewish Voice for Peace, compare Palestinians determined to destroy Israel to the Jewish slaves in Egypt.

Wiser heads understand that within the sectarian message of the Exodus is wisdom that can inspire all peoples, without turning it into a partisan platform or one to be used to help those who would victimize Jews in our own day. We should strive to fill our seders with meaning both for those of us to whom Judaism is integral to our lives and to those with only a passing acquaintance to it. The richness of this great heritage is enough to encompass both the universal and the parochial elements of Judaism without sacrificing either on the altar of secular politics.

This article is reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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In April alone, a million travelers are expected to fly through Ben-Gurion Airport, an increase of 11% compared to the same period in 2018.

On Sunday this week, over 75,000 travelers landed at or took off from Ben-Gurion. Outbound traffic by Israelis peaked on Wednesday and Thursday, the two days prior to Passover eve, which falls on Friday. On Thursday alone, some 85,000 Israelis took off for foreign destinations.

Another 83,000 travelers – arriving and departing – are expected to pass through Ben-Gurion Airport this coming Sunday (April 21), and the following Sunday (April 28) is expected to break April records for passenger traffic, with over 93,000 travelers scheduled to fly through Tel Aviv.

Ben-Gurion Airport serves some 25 million travelers per year. Recent years have seen a steady uptick in the number of Israelis spending the Passover holiday abroad. Israel is one of the few countries in the world where it is cheaper to spend vacations outside the country rather than at local leisure destinations.

Adi, a resident of central Israel, testified to that. On Wednesday, he and his family – his wife, children, and his parents – took off for Budapest.

"We almost settled on a hotel in Eilat, and then we saw an ad for a vacation in Budapest – three nights, including seder, at a four-star hotel. We paid less than 15,000 shekels [$4,200], including the flight. In Eilat we would have had to pay 2,000 shekels [$557] more, not including travel expenses," Adi told Israel Hayom.

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