The Jewish New Year, known as Rosh Hashanah, begins at dusk this Friday, September 11, 2026, and marks the arrival of year 5787 in the Hebrew calendar. The period extends until nightfall on Sunday, September 13.
The main reason why this New Year's celebration is not held in January lies in the difference between the two time-counting systems. While the Gregorian calendar, used as the civil calendar in most of the West, is based exclusively on the solar cycle, the Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, meaning it simultaneously considers the cycles of the Moon and the Sun.
For this reason, the beginning of the Jewish year does not correspond to a fixed date on the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is tied to its own logic of time organization.
Rosh Hashanah corresponds to the first two days of the month of Tishrei. Although Tishrei is the seventh month in the Hebrew calendar count, it is during this period that a new year begins to be counted.
