The Jewish Holidays in SEPTEMBER 2025

The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah)

The Jewish New Year initiates ten days of repentance that culminate with the Day of Atonement.  The Torah does not refer to it as Rosh Hashanah (that name first occurs in the Talmud), but as the Memorial of the Blast of the Horn (Zichron Teruah) or the Day of the Blast of the Horn (Yom Teruah).  Traditionally, Rosh Hashanah is associated with the Birth of the World.

The Jewish calendar is lunar, which means the 1st day of Tishrei can occur anywhere from the beginning of September to the beginning of October, depending on the year of the Jewish calendar.

Traditional Rosh Hashanah foods include apples and honey (for a sweet year) and a round challah (egg bread) signifying the cyclicality of a year.

The following are Rosh Hashanah citations in the  Torah and Talmud include:

Torah:

(1) Leviticus 23:24 - Speak to the Children of Israel, saying: in the seventh month on day one of the month there will be for you a Shabbaton [a Sabbath observance], a memorial of the blast of a horn, a solemn assembly.

(2) Numbers 29:1 - And in the seventh month on day one of the month there will be a holy convocation for you; all the work of the service you will not do, it is a day of the blast of the ram's horn for you.

Talmud

(3) Tractate Rosh Hashanah of the Babylonian Talmud provides the first reference to the 1st day of the 7th month as the New Year. It also connects Rosh Hashanah with the repentance associated with Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)   

Note: Jewish holidays usually begin at sunset the day before the English calendar date. 

Gedaliah was the governor of Judah appointed by Nebuchadnezzar. He was assassinated shortly after the fall of the First Temple.   This is considered a minor holiday, observed by a fast that begins at sunrise and ends at sunset on the same day (most Jewish holidays begin the night before; this is an exception).  The details of Gedaliah's assassination are described in 2 Kings 25:25-26 and Jeremiah 41.