A ram’s horn, hollowed out and blown like a trumpet. It is sounded in synagogue through the month before Rosh Hashanah and on the festival itself, and the sound is a call to think about the year gone by.

Why is the challah round?

Challah is usually plaited into a long loaf, and for Rosh Hashanah it is baked in a circle instead, for the year coming round again. It is often dipped in honey rather than salt at this meal.

Why apples and honey?

Apple dipped in honey is eaten at the start of the meal on the first night, with a wish for a good and sweet year. Honey cake is eaten for the same reason.

How many seeds does a pomegranate have?

Nobody counts them, and that is rather the point. It is eaten because it is full of seeds, with a wish for good deeds as many as the seeds. A saying puts the number at 613, the number of commandments in the Torah, but that is a tradition rather than a measurement.

How long does Rosh Hashanah last?

Two days. It begins at sundown, because a Jewish day starts in the evening, and it opens ten days that end with Yom Kippur.

Rosh Hashanah

RE · Year 1–Year 6

Tap the table: shofar, round challah, apples and honey, pomegranate.

About the rosh hashanah

A table laid for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, with six things on it to name. Tap the shofar and the board says it is a ram’s horn, sounded to begin the new year; tap the pomegranate and it says it is eaten for its many seeds. Nothing is typed and nothing is dragged.

Rosh Hashanah falls in September or October, on the first two days of Tishrei in the Hebrew calendar, so its date in our calendar moves each year. Ten days of reflection follow it, ending with Yom Kippur.

The greeting on the card is Shanah tovah, Hebrew for a good year, and it is what people say to each other at the festival. It is written here in our alphabet rather than in Hebrew letters, because a board should not print a script it cannot set properly.

The tool describes what people do and why it matters to them. It does not tell a class what to believe, and every line on it has been checked against two sources.

The labels are off to begin with, so the picture is a question. Show puts all six up at once, and Next works round the table in order.

How to use it on your whiteboard

1Tap something on the table. Its name appears at the side and what it means is written underneath.
2Tap it again to take the label off, or tap Clear to start over.
3Tap Next to work round the table in order.
4Tap Show to put every label up at once, for reading rather than testing.
5Ask the class what the round loaf might mean before you tap it: the shape is the answer.

Questions

What is a shofar?: A ram’s horn, hollowed out and blown like a trumpet. It is sounded in synagogue through the month before Rosh Hashanah and on the festival itself, and the sound is a call to think about the year gone by.
Why is the challah round?: Challah is usually plaited into a long loaf, and for Rosh Hashanah it is baked in a circle instead, for the year coming round again. It is often dipped in honey rather than salt at this meal.
Why apples and honey?: Apple dipped in honey is eaten at the start of the meal on the first night, with a wish for a good and sweet year. Honey cake is eaten for the same reason.
How many seeds does a pomegranate have?: Nobody counts them, and that is rather the point. It is eaten because it is full of seeds, with a wish for good deeds as many as the seeds. A saying puts the number at 613, the number of commandments in the Torah, but that is a tradition rather than a measurement.
How long does Rosh Hashanah last?: Two days. It begins at sundown, because a Jewish day starts in the evening, and it opens ten days that end with Yom Kippur.