Rosh Hashanah, L’Shanah Tovah

In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah is written רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה and means Head of the Year.

• Rosh means head

• Ha means the

• Shanah means year

  
  

The Jewish New Year! A time for celebrating the sweetness of a new beginning. In celebration, we have a number of sensory experiences happening both inside and outside of our classroom. We eat apples dipped in honey to remind us of a sweet new year. We make our challah round to symbolize the cycle of a year, the round shape of a head, or a crown resting upon it.

In Jewish tradition, pomegranates teach us that every pomegranate holds 613 seeds. The connection to 613 is that the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) contains 613 mitzvot, which are sacred commandments or duties.

There are many traditions, as well as a commandment, that call on us to hear the shofar blown on Rosh Hashanah. The simplest way to explain it to a young child might be that the shofar is blown as a wake-up call—to examine our behaviors and spend the upcoming year working on ourselves to become better people.

Here is a little bit more about what will happen at school:

Observed:

• Gregorian 2026: Evening of Fri, Sep 11, 2026 – Sun, Sep 13, 2026

• Jewish 5787: 1–2 Tishrei

  
  

What We Say:

• L’Shanah Tovah = A Good Year!

• Shanah Tovah Umetukah = Have a good and sweet year!

• L’shanah Tovah Tikateivu V’teichateimu = May you be inscribed and sealed [in the Book of Life] for a good year.

What We See:

• Tapuach = Apples

• Rimonim = Pomegranates

• D’vash = Honey

• D’vorim = Bees

• Shofar = A ram’s (or similar animal's) horn that makes a unique sound when blown

• New Year's cards

• Round challah instead of traditional braided challah

  
  

What We Hear:

• Songs in English and Hebrew about apples and honey. Here is our playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/rosh-hashanah-playlist/pl.u-zPyLmggCkpomeX

• Greetings wishing you a happy new year

• The sound of the shofar blowing

• Conversations about the flavors of different apples

  

  
  

What We Touch:

• The smooth texture and shape of a shofar

• Challah dough

• Honey and honeycomb

• The curves of fresh apples

• Storybooks about the holiday

  

  Apples and honey help children taste the hope for a sweet new year.

What We Smell:

• Homemade applesauce cooking

• Freshly cut apples

• Apple cake baking in the oven

• Honey

  https://video.wixstatic.com/video/aae8cd_8a88240f38ec4859a9491f981e1fc67e/720p/mp4/file.mp4

  
  

What We Taste:

• Apples dipped in honey

• Various apple varieties

• Round challah baked with special holiday spices

• Homemade pomegranate juice

  
  

  

  
  

What We Explore:

• The colors and tastes of different apples

• How apples grow

• What foods are made from apples

• How honey is made and the shape of a honeycomb

• What it means to be a good human being

• How many seeds a pomegranate has

• The differences between bumblebees and honeybees

...and so much more!

How Can Our Family Participate?

• Help your child choose something to share, such as an apple, a pomegranate, or honey.

• Together, make a Happy New Year card for a Jewish friend or for your child's class.

• Join us on Friday, September 11, 2026, from 9:00 to 10:00 AM to celebrate with Cantor Ilan from Temple Beth El and bake a round challah with your child.

Special Holiday Hours:

• Friday, September 11, 2026 – We close at 3:00 PM (Erev Rosh Hashanah)

• Monday, September 21, 2026 – We are closed (Yom Kippur)

• Friday, September 25, 2026 – We close at 3:00 PM (Erev Sukkot)

• Friday, October 2, 2026 – We close at 3:00 PM (Erev Simchat Torah)

  
  

Have you noticed that some public schools also have modified hours in September?

A little background...

The Jewish calendar follows a lunisolar system. While there is a set order to the annual cycle, holidays do not fall on the same dates every year in the Gregorian calendar (January–December). This is why you may see public school calendars accommodating "random" days off in September or October.

Because public school funding is based on daily attendance, districts often schedule a day off for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. In addition to Jewish students taking off to attend services, Jewish teachers and staff also take time off to observe. This creates a dual financial challenge for schools: increased expenses for substitute teachers combined with decreased funding due to lower student attendance.

According to the 2020 American Jewish Population Project, 7.6 million people (about 2.4% of the total US population) identify as Jewish. Nearly half of this population resides in just three states: New York (21%), California (15%), and Florida (10%). Additionally, Los Angeles accounts for 8% of the total US Jewish population (AJPP, 2021). Within Los Angeles, 5% of the local Jewish population resides here in the South Bay (Aronson et al., 2022).

References:

• Aronson, J. K., Brookner, M. A., Saxe, L., Bankier-Karp, A., Boxer, M., Seeskin, Z. H., & Dutwin, D. (2022). 2021 Study of Jewish LA: By the Numbers. Waltham, MA: Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University. https://www.brandeis.edu/cmjs/community-studies/los-angeles-report.html

• American Jewish Population Project. (2021). US Jewish Population Estimates 2020. Brandeis University. https://ajpp.brandeis.edu/us_jewish_population_2020