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Beit HaMikdash

ראש השנה

Rosh Hashanah in the House

1 and 2 Tishrei, in autumnThe New Year of the Jewish calendar and the start of ten days of repentance.

Where it happened

The same model, lit for Rosh Hashanah. Highlighted areas carry the festival's rites.

Plan of the Temple courts with the areas used on Rosh Hashanah highlighted

The rites of Rosh Hashanah

The shofar in the Temple

Mishnah / Talmud: Recorded in the Mishnah or Talmud, the rabbinic texts that preserve Temple practice and law.

When Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbat, the shofar was sounded in the Temple but not elsewhere. After the destruction, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai extended it to every place with a court.

Trumpets over the offerings

Torah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.

On appointed days the priests sounded silver trumpets over the offerings, 'for a memorial before your God'.

Rosh Hashanah today

Rosh Hashanah is kept in synagogue with the shofar and the Musaf prayer, which recalls the day's Temple offerings.