Rosh Hashanah 2026

What this countdown tracks

Rosh Hashanah 2026 – the Jewish New Year, beginning the High Holy Days – starts at sundown on Friday September 11, 2026 and runs through nightfall on Sunday September 13, 2026. Observed by Jewish communities worldwide, with Israel making it a national public holiday and the country effectively pausing for the two-day festival.

About Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah ("head of the year" in Hebrew) is the Jewish New Year and the first of the ten Days of Awe (Yamim Noraim) that lead to Yom Kippur. It falls on 1 and 2 Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar – the seventh month, despite its association with the new year, because Tishrei is the start of the agricultural and civil year while Nisan in spring is the start of the festival counting cycle. The festival is also called Yom Teruah ("the day of sounding") in the Torah (Numbers 29:1), and the Feast of Trumpets in older English translations.

The festival commemorates the creation of the world – Jewish tradition holds that Adam and Eve were created on 1 Tishrei, making it the anniversary of the world's creation according to the rabbinic count. The year 5787 begins at sundown on September 11, 2026. The traditional liturgy includes the Avinu Malkeinu prayer, the recitation of three sets of biblical verses (Malkhuyot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot – kingship, remembrance, and shofar verses), and the central ritual of the day: the blowing of the shofar.

The shofar, a ram's horn carved into a trumpet, is sounded one hundred times across the two days of Rosh Hashanah – in patterns of long, broken, and staccato blasts (tekiah, shevarim, teruah, tekiah gedolah). The shofar's sound is said to wake the soul from spiritual slumber, to recall the binding of Isaac (the akedah, in which a ram was substituted for Abraham's son), and to herald the coming Day of Judgment.

How it's observed

Rosh Hashanah is observed with daytime synagogue services, festival meals, and family gatherings. The synagogue services are the longest of the year apart from Yom Kippur, running 4–5 hours each morning, with the Musaf (additional service) including the central shofar blowings. Services are followed by lunch with the extended family.

The festival meals are dense with symbolic foods, called simanim, eaten with brief blessings. The most universal is apples dipped in honey – with the prayer "may it be Your will to renew us for a good and sweet year." Other simanim include round challah (the year is a circle, completing itself), pomegranates (its many seeds suggest abundant merits), the head of a fish or lamb (we should be the head and not the tail), dates (may our enemies be ended), and tzimmes (a sweet carrot stew). In Sephardic traditions, the Rosh Hashanah Seder includes ten or more such symbolic foods.

On the afternoon of the first day (or the second if the first is Shabbat), Jewish communities gather at flowing water – a river, lake, or sea – for the Tashlich ceremony, in which sins are symbolically cast into the water with the recitation of verses from Micah 7. Tashlich is more cultural than halakhically required, but it is one of the most widely observed New Year customs.

Israel effectively pauses for the two days of Rosh Hashanah – airports continue operating but on a reduced schedule, broadcasting is limited, and most businesses, restaurants, and government offices close. Tel Aviv's beaches are quiet; Jerusalem's Western Wall sees overflowing prayers.

Why this date specifically

Rosh Hashanah falls on 1 Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar – the first day of the seventh Hebrew month. The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, with months beginning at the new moon and seven leap months inserted across every nineteen-year cycle. In 2026, 1 Tishrei 5787 falls on September 12 in the Gregorian calendar, with the festival beginning at sundown on September 11 (the Hebrew day runs from sundown to sundown). The two-day festival continues through 2 Tishrei, ending at nightfall on September 13. Rosh Hashanah moves within a roughly 30-day window in the Gregorian calendar from year to year, falling between early September and early October.

What to watch for / notable observances in 2026

• September 11, sundown – Rosh Hashanah begins; first festival meal with apples and honey
• September 12 – first day of Rosh Hashanah; main shofar service in synagogue
• September 12 afternoon – Tashlich ceremony at flowing water
• September 13 – second day of Rosh Hashanah; second shofar service
• September 13, nightfall – festival ends; the Ten Days of Awe begin
• September 30 – Yom Kippur eve (Kol Nidre)
• Public holiday in Israel – two days of full public observance
• Jewish day schools and many businesses close in major US, UK, Canadian, French, and Australian cities

Related festivals to track

Rosh Hashanah 2026 opens the High Holy Days that culminate in Yom Kippur 2026 on October 1. Sukkot follows September 25, and Hanukkah closes the year (Hanukkah 2026) starting December 4. The family overview is at the Jewish festival hub. For comparable autumn new-year observances in other traditions, see Chinese New Year 2027.

FAQ

When is Rosh Hashanah in 2026? Begins at sundown on Friday September 11, 2026 and ends at nightfall on Sunday September 13, 2026 – the start of year 5787 in the Hebrew calendar.

How is Rosh Hashanah observed? Through long synagogue services, the blowing of the shofar (100 times across the two days), festival meals with symbolic foods (apples and honey, round challah, pomegranates), and the Tashlich ceremony at flowing water on the afternoon of the first day.

Is Rosh Hashanah a public holiday? Yes, in Israel as a national holiday; observed but not a civil holiday in the diaspora, though many Jewish-heavy school districts and workplaces in the US and UK accommodate observance.

What is the typical greeting? "Shanah Tovah" (a good year) or the fuller "L'Shanah Tovah Tikateivu V'Tichateimu" (may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year); "Gut Yontif" in Yiddish.