Long weekends tend to bring excitement to the classroom when the days off roll around. Many people had shrugged off the curiosity of why this past four-day weekend occurred: the Jewish community celebrated the holiday Rosh Hashanah from sundown on Sept. 25 through sundown on Sept. 27. 

Rosh Hashanah is “the Jewish New Year,” junior Jillian Rosini said. “It’s important to the Jewish community because it [represents the] start of a new year and gives everybody a chance to start fresh.”

Each family celebrates Rosh Hashanah differently, and the publication was able to interview various Jewish students at Pascack Valley to learn about the specific ways certain families observed the holiday.

Senior Camryn Schwartz said, “I woke up to go to services with my family.” The services give the Jewish communities “time to reflect on your year [and] to think to yourself.” 

Schwartz also explained how it’s a Jewish tradition to “eat apples and honey to symbolize the sweet new year.”

When asked about the holiday, another PV senior, Nolan Wasserman, shared his perspective.

“Rosh Hashanah is a time every single year to get back to who I am and reconnect myself with my family and the world around me,” Wasserman said. “It’s nice to take two days and hang out with my cousins [because it] always recenters me.”

To all who celebrate, L’Shana Tova—have a sweet new year!