The Jewish community in Rwanda, on Monday, September 6 joined their counterparts across the world to celebrate the Jewish New Year. Referred to as Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew, the holiday is regarded as the day on which God created man (the 6th day of Creation), according to the Bible. The two-day feast began at the sunset of Monday and will end on Wednesday evening. To mark it, a small group of Jewish people gathered at the Chabad House in Kigali, and took part in some of rituals observed during the festival, which include eating particular sweet fruits to symbolise the hope for a sweet and happy year ahead, as well as partaking of a round challah bread which symbolizes the never-ending cycle of years. According to Chaim Bar-Sella, the Chief Rabbi of Rwanda, Rosh Hashanah is a very significant holiday for Jews, and serves as an occasion for praying to God to continue sustaining the people he created. “On the festival, we pray to God the King of the earth to continue with his work creation, by sustaining what he created and giving it continuity,” he said. On Tuesday, the Jewish community will take part in blowing the Shofar (a horn of a ram), as a sign of crying out to God to hear the prayers of His children. “The shofar sounds like a cry. So, we sound this cry to God who is our Father, asking Him to hear us and give us a good year. It is a simple voice that symbolizes the outpouring of our hearts before God. He gets to know our needs and answers us, just like a parent responds to the needs of his children,” Bar-Sella said. Rosh Hashanah is a Hebrew saying that can be literally translated as the ‘head of the year.’ This is the third time that Rosh Hashanah will be celebrated in Rwanda. So far, there are around 100 Jews living in Rwanda. Ron Adam, the Ambassador of Israel to Rwanda lauded the government of Rwanda’s effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, which has enabled the Jewish community to have a physical gathering to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. “This is a special occasion, since we couldn’t celebrate Rosh Hashanah last year,” he said. “We hope that next year we shall be able to celebrate with many more guests, without the presence of Covid-19.”
