Editing Jewish holidays (section)

====Rosh Hashanah====
[[File:Symbols of Rosh Hashana.jpg|thumb|200px|Rosh Hashana symbols: [[shofar]], [[apple]]s and [[honey]], [[pomegranate]]s, kiddush wine]]
{{Main article|Rosh Hashanah}}
* Erev Rosh Hashanah (eve of the first day): 29 Elul
* Rosh Hashanah: 1–2 [[Tishrei]]

According to [[Oral Torah|oral tradition]], Rosh Hashanah ({{langx|he|ראש השנה}}) (lit., "Head of the Year") is the Day of Memorial or Remembrance ({{langx|he|יום הזכרון}}, ''Yom HaZikaron''),<ref>Babylonian [[Talmud]] (BT) [[Rosh Hashanah (tractate)|Rosh Hashanah]] 16a</ref> and the day of judgment ({{langx|he|יום הדין}}, ''Yom HaDin'').<ref>[[Jerusalem Talmud]] Rosh Hashanah 1:2</ref> God appears in the role of King, remembering and judging each person individually according to his/her deeds, and making a decree for each person for the following year.<ref>See, for example, the [[piyyut|liturgical poem]] ''[[Unetanneh Tokef]]'' in the ''[[Machzor]]'' (holiday prayer book) for Rosh Hashanah.</ref>

The holiday is characterized by one specific [[mitzvah]]: blowing the ''[[shofar]]''.<ref name=PinchasRH>{{bibleref|Numbers|29:1|HE}}</ref> According to the Torah, this is the first day of the seventh month of the calendar year,<ref name=PinchasRH /> and marks the beginning of a ten-day period leading up to Yom Kippur. According to one of two Talmudic opinions, the creation of the world was completed on Rosh Hashanah.<ref>See BT Rosh Hashanah 10b. The other opinion is that the creation was completed on 1 Nisan.</ref>

Morning prayer services are lengthy on Rosh Hashanah, and focus on the themes described above: majesty and judgment, remembrance, the birth of the world, and the blowing of the ''shofar''.  Most communities recite the brief ''[[Tashlikh]]'' prayer, a symbolic casting off of the previous year's sins, during the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah.

The Bible specifies Rosh Hashanah as a one-day holiday,<ref name=PinchasRH /> but it is traditionally celebrated for two days, even within the [[Land of Israel]]. (See ''[[#2days|Second day of biblical festivals]],'' above.)