The Jewish New Year
“Those who fully engage in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah emerge into the new year charged, energised, focussed, renewed, knowing that to be a Jew is to live life in the Presence of God, to sanctify life for the sake of God, and to enhance the lives of others – for where we bring blessings into other lives, there God lives.” — Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
1-2 Tishrei 5787
Begins: Sundown on Friday 11 September 2026
Ends: Nightfall on Sunday 13 September 2026
Rabbi Sacks was interviewed at The Kyiv Jewish Forum 2020, co-organised by the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine and the Jerusalem...
Recorded shortly before Rosh Hashanah, this Facebook Live conversation between Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and Israeli journalist, Torah teacher, and...
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are festivals that ask us how we have lived thus far. Have we drifted? Have...
To mark the launch of 'Ceremony and Celebration: An Introduction to the Holidays' (published by Maggid Books in September 2017),...
Read the Hebrew Transcript .אני מבקש לאחל לכם מכל הלב שנה טובה, שנת אושר ובריאות וחשוב מכול – שנת שלום...
As we approach Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we invite you to take an hour to join Rabbi Sacks on an intellectual...
Rabbi Sacks had a tradition, to deliver a pre-Rosh Hashanah shiur every year at the London School of Jewish Studies...
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur & Coronavirus – An Ellul lecture mini-series for 5780 (2020)
The United Synagogue recorded the Midnight choral selichot service in Hampstead Synagogue in September 2019, and then released this film...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' pre-Selichot address, delivered in Hampstead Synagogue in London on 21st September 2019. Transcript Friends, we live in...
Transcript Rabbi Harris: It's an immense privilege and pleasure to begin tonight's service by inviting the Chief Rabbi to address...
Have you ever wondered what Professor Ludwig Guttmann (the founder of the Paralympic Games), Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur have...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
In 2011, in advance of Rosh Hashanah, the Ten Days of Repentance and Yom Kippur 5772, the Chief Rabbi Lord...
Watch Rabbi Sacks’ Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 2011 (5772). This instalment was titled “What’s the point...
To mark Rosh Hashanah, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks interviews four distinguished and engaging atheists in The Case For God?...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 2009. Transcript Rabbi Sacks: On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 2008. Transcript Narrator: The Jewish New Year. The Chief...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 2007. Transcript Rabbi Sacks: If someone told you about...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast on the BBC in 2006. Transcript Reporters: A tipper truck, packed with explosives,...
Watch Rabbi Sacks’ Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 2005. Transcript Reports on bombings… Rabbi Sacks: After the...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast on the BBC in 2003. Transcript Announcer: Now, BBC 1 reflections on the...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' BBC Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast in 2001. Transcript Rabbi Sacks: On the eve of the Jewish New...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in September 2000. Transcript Rabbi Sacks: As we approach Rosh...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 1999. Transcript Rabbi Sacks: No idea has been more...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 1998. Transcript Announcer: preamble… Now on BBC1, as the...
Watch Rabbi Sacks’ Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 1997, in which he visits a drug rehabilitation centre...
Watch Rabbi Sacks’ Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast on the BBC in 1996. Transcript Rabbi Sacks: At this time of the...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 1995. Transcript Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the great...
Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the BBC in 1994. Transcript Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest...
On teshuvah and the spiritual drama of the Jewish New Year. Watch Rabbi Sacks' Rosh Hashanah programme, broadcast by the...
Essays and writings from Rabbi Sacks' extensive body of work
ARTICLES, ARTICLES
This year the Jewish High Holy Days will be like no other. Usually the synagogue is packed on Rosh Hashanah...
PODCAST INTERVIEWS, PODCASTS, CONVERSATIONS, PODCASTS
Rivkah Krinsky and Eda Schottenstein hosted Rabbi Sacks on their podcast, 'From the Inside Out' in September 2020, via Zoom....
ARTICLES
As we approach Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the start of the Jewish year, here are ten short ideas which...
ARTICLES
The Ten Days of Repentance are the holy of holies of Jewish time. They begin this Wednesday evening with Rosh Hashanah,...
ARTICLES
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins on 2nd October at sundown with the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s...
ARTICLES
“Original” is not a word often used in connection with a code of Jewish law. In general, the rule tends...
ARTICLES
There are many lovely explanations for why we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah, but one of the most powerful...
ARTICLES
In the year that we are now parting with, 5774, it became dangerous once again to be a Jew. Israel,...
REFLECTIONS
These six reflections written and recorded by Rabbi Sacks cover themes appropriate to this time of year, including teshuvah, self-change,...
SPEECHES, SPEECHES
The following is a transcript of the address delivered by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks at the induction of Rabbi Ephraim...
CREDO, ARTICLES
One year, when David Blunkett was Secretary of State for Education, he mentioned that he was dedicating the coming school...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight. And on Sunday in the synagogue we’ll blow the shofar, the ram’s...
REFLECTIONS
Image: The Book of Life - by Shraga Weil (Safra Gallery, Jerusalem, www.safrai.com) In 2007, the Chief Rabbi recorded a...
ARTICLES, BOOK EXTRACTS
DOWNLOAD PDF Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the days between are the time when we come closest to God – reflecting...
ARTICLES
There is an ancient Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” We live in interesting times. This summer Israel...
CREDO
There's a lovely story about time. Two elderly Jews who haven’t seen each other in fifty years, meet, slowly recognise...
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Transcript On the eve of the Jewish New Year, I, like so many of us, am still in a state...
ARTICLES, REFLECTIONS
When Rosh Hashanah approached, Rabbi Sacks would craft short yet profound messages to Jewish communities. Drawing on key moments from...
ARTICLES, REFLECTIONS, STATEMENTS
In September 2000, ahead of the Jewish New Year, Rabbi Sacks sent out this Rosh Hashanah message. In June this...
ARTICLES, L'EYLAH ARTICLES
Issue 46 - printed September 1998 Download
ARTICLES, L'EYLAH ARTICLES
This Rosh Hashanah issue contains something of the me'inyana de'yoma, bearing on the themes of the Days of Penitence. In...
The series of weekly commentary essays on the Torah by Rabbi Sacks
EMOR • 5776, 5783
The parsha of Emor contains a chapter dedicated to the festivals of the Jewish year. There are five such passages...
NITZAVIM • 5767
The sedra of Nitzavim is always read on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, when our thoughts are directed toward teshuvah...
