Rebbetzen Aviva Spiegel was doing laundry, cleaning the house and preparing her home, the Chabad House, for a celebration Monday night.
“A woman was asking me where she could find some Challah bread, so I invited her over to make some with me,” she said.
Spiegel, who was busy preparing a meal for 12-20 people, said she was very busy with all the holiday preparations, but was calm and friendly while preparing for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.
“Rosh Hashana is a time to take stock of your life and get your head on straight for the year,” she said. “Your head is in control of everything that you do. It’s very important to start the year off in the right frame of mind because it affects your entire year.”
Today marks the first day of the Jewish New Year, the year 5766.
Rosh Hashana, which began Monday night at dusk and will continue until Wednesday, marks the first and second days of the first Jewish month of Tishri. Also known as the day of judgment, Rosh Hashana celebrates the birth of the world and is a time for Jews to reflect upon their lives over the past year.
The Oregon Hillel is participating in the “High Holiday Food Drive” that will benefit local food shelters throughout fall term and “Beads For The Bayou,” a fund-raiser to benefit the hurricane-relief effort.
For the first time, all of the Oregon Hillel Rosh Hashana festivities this year are student-led.
“It’s an arduous task preparing oneself to lead the community in prayer,” said Hal Applebaum, executive director of the Oregon Hillel. “There are a lot of different denominations attending and it’s hard to please all the people. I’ve been especially proud to watch the students get ready and work so hard on this.”
One of the many customs of Rosh Hashana is, during the evening meals, to eat foods symbolizing sweetness, blessings and abundance, particularly apples and honey because they represent the wishes for a sweet year for all the Jewish people.
Another custom is the blowing of the shofar. Rosh Hashana is an opportunity for one’s calling of repentence through the sounding of the shofar, a ram’s horn trumpet and one of the first instruments played by the ancient Israelites, just like at a coronation ceremony.
A Rosh Hashana shofar blowing will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Chabad House today and Wednesday.
At 4 p.m. today, students and members of the Jewish community will walk together from the Hillel house to the Willamette River for the Taschlich ceremony. During the ceremony, participants will throw bread in the water, symbolizing the casting away of sins.
University student Jonathan Rosenberg said Rosh Hashana is a time to reflect on the past and look into the future.
“This holiday gives me time to look at my life to see how I can live my life as a better person,” Rosenberg said. “That’s really the main purpose of Rosh Hashana – to ask God for forgiveness and repent.”

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