FOX POINT, Wis. — Rosh Hashanah is the celebration of the Jewish New Year. It’s a time when people of the Jewish faith reflect on how they have given back during the past year and how they will continue to enrich lives in the year ahead.
Rosh Hashanah mean “head of the year,” in Hebrew.
Rabbi Levi Stein is the executive director of Friendship Circle in Fox Point. The organization operates a bakery and café, which houses an employment training program for adults with disabilities.
“Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year; it is an opportunity for us to reflect, to pray and hope for a happy and healthy sweet New Year,” said Stein.
Shira Miller has worked at Friendship Circle’s Bakery since 2018. She said she feels a lot of pride in the work she does and loves the team she works with.
“I have a job in the café and I’m a barista, and I make coffees, and they teach me about how to make coffees and they teach me about how to make a lot of other stuff. My favorite place is working here because I have a lot of friendships,” said Miller.
Stein said his organization strives to create new beginnings all year round.
“We are here to help [people with disabilities or people who need help], to connect them to get that friend, to get that job, to get that opportunity; so we are all about new beginnings and this is the time of the year that we celebrate new beginnings,” said Stein.
Rosh Hashanah is a two-day holiday that begins the Jewish High Holidays. That’s a 10-day period of repentance and reflection which concludes with Yom Kippur.