Dates
Rosh Hashanah 2024
Begins at sundown on October 2, 2024 and ends at nightfall on October 4, 2024.
Starts
October 2, 2024
at sundown
Ends
October 4, 2024
at nightfall
Length
2 days
work restricted
Candles, Jerusalem
17:43
on October 2, 2024
Rosh Hashanah 2024 ended on October 4, 2024. The dates, times and customs below are kept as a record.
Next: Rosh Hashanah 2026, sundown September 11, 2026 →Israel or the diaspora?
Rosh Hashanah is two days everywhere, including Israel. It is the one major festival with no one-day-versus-two-day split.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year and the start of the ten Days of Awe that end on Yom Kippur. It is a judgment day as much as a celebration: the shofar is blown, the liturgy is long, and the meals are deliberately sweet.
Candle lighting for Rosh Hashanah 2024
Times for the evening it begins, October 2, 2024. Calculated from sunset: 18 minutes before in most communities, 20 in Israel, 40 in Jerusalem and 30 in Haifa.
Your city not here? All 106 cities.
On the ground
What happens in Israel
The country closes. Shops, buses and most restaurants shut from the afternoon before, and the roads empty out. Beaches and national parks are the exception and get very busy.
Practice
How it is observed
- Hearing the shofar (ram's horn) blown in synagogue, on both mornings unless the first day falls on Shabbat, when it is sounded only on the second
- Apples dipped in honey and round challah for a sweet new year
- Tashlich: symbolically casting away sins at a body of water
- Festive meals with simanim, foods eaten as good omens
"Shanah tovah" (a good year) or "Shanah tovah u'metukah" (a good and sweet year)
Apples and honey, round challah with raisins, pomegranates, honey cake, and a new fruit on the second night.
Every year on file
Rosh Hashanah in other years
The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, so the Gregorian date moves by up to a month from year to year but stays in the same season.
The rest of 2024
Other Jewish holidays in 2024
8 of the 14 other dates on the 2024 calendar, in the order they fall. Each has its own page for 2024.
January 25, 2024
Tu BiShvat 2024
The new year of the trees. Tree planting in Israel and eating the fruits of the land.
March 24, 2024
Purim 2024
Celebrates the rescue of the Jews of Persia as told in the Book of Esther. Megillah readings, costumes, mishloach manot and festive meals.
April 23, 2024
Passover (Pesach) 2024
The festival of freedom, marking the Exodus from Egypt. Seder nights, matzah, and no chametz for eight days (seven in Israel).
May 6, 2024
Yom HaShoah 2024
Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Israel a two-minute siren brings the country to a standstill.
May 13, 2024
Yom HaZikaron 2024
Israel's Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror, the day before Independence Day.
May 14, 2024
Yom HaAtzmaut 2024
Israel's Independence Day, marking the declaration of the state in 1948.
May 26, 2024
Lag BaOmer 2024
The 33rd day of the Omer count. Bonfires, weddings and celebrations at Mount Meron.
June 12, 2024
Shavuot 2024
The festival of receiving the Torah at Sinai. All-night learning and dairy foods. Two days in the diaspora, one in Israel.
Frequently asked questions
When is Rosh Hashanah 2024?+
Rosh Hashanah 2024 begins at sundown on October 2, 2024 and ends at nightfall on October 4, 2024. Jewish days start in the evening, so the first full day is October 3, 2024.
How long is Rosh Hashanah?+
2 days. Rosh Hashanah is two days everywhere, including Israel. It is the one major festival with no one-day-versus-two-day split.
Is Rosh Hashanah different in Israel?+
Rosh Hashanah is two days everywhere, including Israel. It is the one major festival with no one-day-versus-two-day split.
What happens in Israel on Rosh Hashanah?+
The country closes. Shops, buses and most restaurants shut from the afternoon before, and the roads empty out. Beaches and national parks are the exception and get very busy.
What do you say on Rosh Hashanah?+
The standard greeting is "Shanah tovah" (a good year) or "Shanah tovah u'metukah" (a good and sweet year).