Mumbai's Jewish Community Welcomes Hebrew New Year 5787 With Shofar, Prayers And Reflection

Mumbai: Jews in Mumbai joined the international community in celebrations that included their weekly holiday of Sabbath on Saturday and Rosh Hashanah, their New Year, on Sunday.

In the city, they gathered at different synagogues to listen to the blowing of the shofar, the sheep's horn that heralded the new year. At the 185-year-old Shaare Rason  synagogue on Tantanpura Street, Khadak, near Masjid Railway station, a gathering of over 20 people took part in the ceremony.

Rosh Hashanah means head of the year and the day marked the beginning of the Hebrew year 5787. The year began at sundown on September 11. However, since the day arrived on the Sabbath, the celebrations were held on Sunday. Sinora Kolatkar, secretary of the Shaare Rason synagogue said that this is because the shofar cannot be blown on the Sabbath.

“The shofar is blown 101 times as a symbol of the coming year,” said Kolatkar. The blowing of the horn is a wakeup call from spiritual slumber and a plea to return to God.

Rosh Hashanah starts the beginning of the Jewish 'high holidays', a ten-day period of repentance and reflection that ends with Yom Kippur which begins at sundown on Sunday, September 20, and ends at nightfall on September 21. Yom Kippur is the "Day of Atonement" and the holiest day of the year in Judaism and is observed for roughly 25 to 26 hours, from sunset on the eve of the holiday until after nightfall the next day. Believers abstain from food and drink, intimacy, avoid wearing certain kinds of footwear, do not wash or use cosmetics, and spend the day in prayers.   

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