Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year) is the celebration of the New Year in the Jewish calendar. It occurs in September or October and marks the beginning of a ten-day period called Yamim Nora-im (Days of Awe). The Days of Awe culminate with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Customs on Rosh HaShanah include a ceremony of symbolically casting away wrongdoing from the previous year into a body of running water, and eating sweet foods that symbolize hope for a happy new year. Rosh HaShanah is also celebrated by blowing a shofar, a musical instrument made from a curved ram’s horn.

In this image, Michael Bienn rehearses blowing the shofar in preparation for Rosh HaShanah celebrations at Herzl Synagogue. Watching are Rabbi Abba Abrams (second left), Cantor Norman Migdal (third from left), and a group of students at Herzl’s religious school. Rosh HaShanah in 1960 fell on September 22nd and celebrated the start of year 5721 of the Jewish calendar.

Caption information source: “Rosh Hashana to be Occasion for Boy,” By E.J. Mitchell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 19th, 1960
Caption information source: “Rosh HaShanah Customs, Symbols, and Traditions,” https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/rosh-hashanah/rosh-hashanah-customs-symbols-and-traditions