L'shanah tovah! Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is observed from sunset of Sept. 4 through Sept. 6 this year, the earliest since 1899. The date occurs 163 days after the first day of Passover. In terms of the Gregorian calendar, the earliest date on which Rosh Hashanah can fall is September 5 (night of September 4).
Thanks to Rudi van den Bulck, editor of Opera Nostalgia, here are some musical ways to observe the holidays: uploaded recordings include rare and never before available “Jewish recordings,” such as the 1918 “Eili, Eili” and an unpublished Yiddish song (courtesy Steve Smolian) by Turandot role creator Rosa Raisa, arias from the first Israeli opera ever written, a rare cantorial from pre-war Berlin by Mahler specialist Hermann Schey, and much more.