Jewish community observes High Holy Days

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BOSTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The Jewish community in the United States and around the world welcomes the year 5773 when the sun sets Sunday and Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, begins.

Rosh Hashana is the start of the High Holy Days that end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on Sept. 26.

"There is a celebratory tone, but there is also a seriousness," Rabbi Neil Hirsch of Temple Shalom in Newton, Mass., told The Boston Herald in an article published Sunday. "We are called to ask, 'Where are we at with God?'"

Cheryl Moore, co-owner of Cheryl Ann's Bakery in the Boston suburb of Brookline, said run-up to Rosh Hashana is one of her busiest because food plays an important role in the High Holy Days.

"We're selling bread [loaves] by the thousands. All over Boston, up to Marblehead and past that," Moore said. "This weekend the item in demand is the ceremonial challah bread, round raisin, or round plain."

She said she sells lots of round bread because it represents the circle of life.