Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year Holiday.

Image: Photograph of a traditional Jew sounding the shofar during the 1930s. A shofar is a ram's horn used as a trumpet to warn of danger or to announce an assembly.

This recorded message was played on the John DeMasi program, Talk with a Purpose on Saturday, September 12, 2026 instead of the regular interview with Seth Grossman at 9:10am.

John DeMasi's program is heard on WPG Talk Radio from 9am to Noon Saturdays, and 5pm to 8pm Sundays on 95.5 FM and 1450AM radio near Atlantic City, New Jersey and on wpgtalkradiocom online.

I’m Seth Grossman, speaking for Liberty and Prosperity. I am recording this message because this weekend, starting on sundown of Friday, September 11, is the two-day Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

I am Jewish and I observe the "high holiday." That is why I will not be at the Liberty and Prosperity breakfast or on the radio this weekend. I instead will be in synagogue with my family.

The Rosh Hashanah holiday is described in the books of Leviticus and Numbers in the Old Testament of the Bible. However, there it is not called Rosh Hashanah, which means new year. It is instead described as Yom Teruah, the day for the sounding of the Shofar. When the Temple was standing in Jerusalem, it was a day when a ram's horn was sounded calling on all Jews to assemble around the Temple. There they gave animals to the priests to be slaughtered and sacrificed at the Temple. They also sang psalms and praised God.

The ram's horn was also traditionally sounded to warn Jews of approaching danger or to assemble for war.

Rosh Hashanah, together with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement that comes ten days later, were also days when Jews also confessed their sins and prayed to God for forgiveness.

Of course, God can only forgive sins we commit against God. He cannot forgive sins we commit against other people or against ourselves.

The Jewish "high holidays" of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of reflection. We think of how we hurt others during the past year. We ask them for forgiveness and think of ways we can behave better next year.

We also think of the mistakes we made that caused harm to ourselves . We think of how we can grow and improve ourselves to avoid those mistakes in the year ahead.

That is why Jews don’t say "Happy New Year" for Rosh Hashanah. We usually say "L’Shanah Tova", which is short for the Hebrew words for "May you be written for a good year."