Happy New Year
 

Tonight begins the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashonah. So, Happy New Year to anyone who is of the Jewish faith, and if not, Happy New Year anyway!

I was born into Judiasm, but I follow my own faith for years now. It's a mixture of several religions, and I'm really happy with it.

That's neat, I didn't even realize it was a special day. Rosh Hashonah! So Judy, did you learn any Hebrew?

How cool! Another new thing I learned today!
Thanks Judy! Right back at you!

I didnt realize it's Jewish New Year, so Happy New Year to anyone that follows Jewish faith.

I find all these different religions, and cultures very interesting!

Me too! I'd love to take a course in different religions. I will, one of these days.

No Angie - I don't think I know more than one Hebrew word - Shalom - which means hello, and I think goodbye also. Most European Jews speak Yiddish, which is a combo of German and ???? I know a couple of phrases - shaina maidala (sp?) means pretty girl. Zeis means sweet. I can't have too intense a conversation with those few!

I knew that Rosh Hashonah was in the fall, but I didn't know when. Thanks Judy and Happy New Year to you too!!!:2party:

Yiddish is a combination of German and Hebrew. Very interesting actually! There's also a dying language (less than 200 people globally can speak proficiently) called Ladino, which is a combination of Spanish and Hebrew. It appeared during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella when the Jews were persecuted. It was a way to "hide" their religion. (That's all from memory, so if any of that information is incorrect, I apologize!)

That's really cool! I didn't know Hebrew was involved in Yiddish and I never heard of Ladino. There are a few "endangered" languages. I really would love to study some history. I only took one course in college and never went in high school.

What other religious holidays come around this time of the year? Ramadan starts in a couple of days - it's also for atonement and is a cleansing holiday. I find that most religious holidays occur around the same time and those times have lot to do with harvesting, planting, etc. It's so interesting!