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Just like we get ready for a big event like a family celebration, by buying a new outfit, writing a poem, buying a gift, we need to prepare ourselves for the Day of Judgement. Our bodies are like our spacesuits and inside each and everyone of us, is a Neshama, a soul.

Elul

Scales The month of Elul is set aside for getting ourselves ready for the big event, the Day of Judgement - Rosh Hashanah. Every day during the Hebrew month of Elul, at the end of the morning prayers, we blow the shofar to wake us up to take a serious look at ourselves and begin to think about how to improve our ways and do Teshuva.

Shofar

A Shofar How do we feel when we hear an ambulance or police siren? What happens? How do we feel when we wake up with a start at the sound of an alarm clock? It jolts us into a different state of mind. According to Rambam, one of our great sages who lived in the 12th century, the sound of the shofar is meant to waken us from our sleep to check over our actions and return to G-d, by doing Teshuva.

The Shofar is made from a ram's horn and reminds us of the time that Abraham sacrificed a ram in place of his son, Isaac. We want G-d to remember Abraham's faith and forgive us our sins. When we hear the shofar in synagogue, we remember the time that trumpets were blown when Moses received the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai and the Jewish people promised to keep G-d's commandments. There are four sounds that we blow on the shofar:

A Kid Blowing a Shofar

Tekiah - one long blast

Teruah - three shorter blasts

Shevarim - nine staccato blasts

Tekiah Gedola - a final long long blast.

Each of the sounds is designed to wake us up and encourage us to think about our lives and our actions. This time when you are in synagogue or Temple and you hear the shofar, try and close your eyes and go inside yourself and reflect on what you would like to improve in the coming New Year.

Fun Foods
In Judaism, everything has significance, even our food.

A pot of honey

Apples and Honey - On Rosh Hashanah, we dip apples in honey, hoping that the New Year will be as sweet as the taste of these fine foods.

Challah and Honey - Mmm, you're licking your lips. For some reason, challah dipped in honey tastes so good on Rosh Hashanah. We also have special round challah. Some say it looks like a crown and it is to remind us that G-d is ruler over us. Others say that it is round to remind us of the cycle of the seasons.

Yehi Ratzon - Before we eat the main course we have the custom to eat certain foods and say special words to G-d to grant us a good year.

We especially eat a part of a fish head and ask to be like the head and not the tail. We also eat pomegranate seeds and ask that our good deeds be as many as the pomegranate seeds.

New Year Cards
Shana Tova Card!

On Rosh Hashanah we send greeting cards to family and friends wishing them a happy and healthy New Year. In Hebrew we say "Leshana Tova Teycatev", which means "May You be granted a good writing and signing (in the Book of life) And we also say "Shana Tova Umetuka" which means "A good and sweet year".

At Tashlich

Tashlich
On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, in the afternoon, families go to a riverside or stream or a place of running water and symbolically "throw away" our sins into the water. Some even throw bread crumbs into the water and watch the water carry away our bad deeds till they are no longer in sight. We hope in the same way G-d forgives our sins.