Rosh Hashanah Greetings: What to Say, What Shanah Tovah Means, and 65 Messages

What do you actually say to someone on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year? The simplest correct answer is two Hebrew words, "Shanah tovah," which mean "a good year." You can say it to anyone who celebrates, in person, in a card or in a text, and you can say it whether or not you are Jewish. If you want to sound a little warmer, add "and sweet": Shanah tovah umetukah, "a good and sweet year."

Five Rosh Hashanah greetings you can copy as written:

• Shanah tovah! Wishing you and your family a good and sweet new year.
• Thinking of you as the new year begins. May it bring health, peace and plenty of honey.
• Happy Rosh Hashanah! I hope the year ahead is kind to you in every way that counts.
• Shanah tovah umetukah to the whole table, from our family to yours.
• Wishing you a year of good news, good company and good apples. Shanah tovah!

Rosh Hashanah 5788 begins at sundown on Friday, October 1, 2027. Below, the questions people search most often, each answered in plain English, then 60 more messages written by our editors, sorted by who you are writing to.

What Does "Shanah Tovah" Mean, and What Are the Other Greetings?

Shanah is Hebrew for "year" and tovah means "good," so "Shanah tovah" is "a good year." You'll see it spelled several ways in English (Shana Tova, Shanah Tova, L'shana tova) because Hebrew is transliterated by ear; none of the spellings is wrong. "L'shanah tovah" adds a prefix meaning "for a," as in "[may you be written] for a good year," and is a shortened form of the longer blessing in the table below.

The longer greetings come from an idea at the heart of the holiday: on Rosh Hashanah each person's coming year is written in the Book of Life, and on Yom Kippur, ten days later, it is sealed. So several greetings wish someone a good "writing" or a good "sealing." Chabad.org lists them like this:

Greeting (transliterated)	Literal meaning	When it's used
Shanah tovah	A good year	All season; the safe choice for anyone
Shanah tovah umetukah	A good and sweet year	All season; popular on cards
Ketivah v'chatimah tovah	A good inscription and sealing [in the Book of Life]	In the days before Rosh Hashanah
L'shanah tovah tikatev v'tichatem (to a man) / tikatevi v'tichatemi (to a woman)	May you be written and sealed for a good year	Rosh Hashanah eve, especially after evening services
Gemar chatimah tovah	A good final sealing	From noon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur
A gut gebentsht yohr (Yiddish)	A good and blessed year	All season

If you are not sure which one fits, use "Shanah tovah." It is never wrong, and nobody expects a guest or coworker to know the timing rules for the others.

Can You Say "Happy Rosh Hashanah" or "Happy New Year"?

Yes. "Happy Rosh Hashanah" and "Happy New Year" are both normal and polite in English, and plenty of Jewish families use them themselves. The holiday is a celebration with festive meals, so "happy" fits. It is also a serious time of reflection, which is why many people prefer "a good year" or "a sweet year" over "a fun year." The one swap to avoid is applying the same cheer to Yom Kippur, which is a fast day (see the "What to Avoid" section below).

I'm Not Jewish. Is It OK to Wish My Friend a Happy Rosh Hashanah?

This is the question at the top of search results, usually answered in Reddit threads, and the answer there is almost always the same: yes, it's kind, and most people are glad you noticed. Keep it simple, don't worry about the pronunciation (SHAH-nah toe-VAH is close enough), and don't feel you must explain the holiday back to them. A short, warm line works better than a long one:

• Shanah tovah! I hope you have a lovely holiday with your family.
• I saw that Rosh Hashanah starts tonight. Wishing you a good and sweet new year.
• Happy Rosh Hashanah to you and everyone at your table this weekend.
• I'm not sure I'm saying it right, but shanah tovah! Have a wonderful new year.
• Thinking of you as your new year begins. I hope it's a great one.
• Wishing you a sweet start to the year. Save me a slice of apple cake?
• Happy New Year! I hope the holiday gives you a little rest along with the celebrating.
• Shanah tovah to you and your family. Thank you for always making me feel welcome at yours.

If your friend is observant, send it before the holiday starts at sundown rather than during it. Many observant Jews don't use phones or computers on Rosh Hashanah itself, so a text sent the afternoon before will actually be read on time.

What Do You Write to Family on Rosh Hashanah?

With family you can drop the explanations and lean on shared things: the same recipes, the same seats at the table, the people who aren't there this year. These lines work for parents, siblings, grandparents and grown children.

• Shanah tovah, Mom and Dad. Every sweet year we've had started at your table.
• To my favorite sister: may your year be as sweet as the honey cake you always "accidentally" take home.
• Grandma, wishing you a healthy, happy 5788. The brisket is still yours to judge.
• Happy New Year to my kids, near and far. I'll be dipping an apple for each of you tonight.
• Shanah tovah umetukah to the whole family. May we all be written in for a year of health and good news.
• To my brother: here's to a year with fewer worries and more of those long dinners.
• Wishing our family a year of round challah, full chairs and nobody arguing about the seating plan.
• We miss you at the table this year. Sending love, honey and a shanah tovah from all of us.

For more family-to-family wording that also works at the secular New Year, see our New Year wishes from our family to yours.

What Should You Say to Coworkers, Clients or Your Boss?

At work, keep it short, warm and free of business asks. A greeting the day before the holiday, plus not scheduling meetings or deadlines on it, says more than any card. These are safe for email, Slack or a client note.

• Wishing you a shanah tovah and a restful holiday. See you after the break.
• Happy Rosh Hashanah to you and your family. I hope the new year brings good things in and out of the office.
• Shanah tovah! No need to reply to anything until after the holiday.
• To our clients who are celebrating: wishing you a good and sweet new year from all of us at [company].
• Happy New Year, [name]. Thank you for a great year working together; here's to the next one.
• Wishing the whole team who's celebrating a peaceful Rosh Hashanah and a sweet 5788.
• Shanah tovah to you and yours. I've moved Thursday's call so you can enjoy the holiday.
• May the new year bring you health, good news and a calendar with a little more breathing room.

If you manage a team, the kindest message is often practical: name the dates and say clearly that you don't expect replies. Our New Year wishes for colleagues has more workplace phrasing for the January holiday.

What Are Good Short Rosh Hashanah Texts and Captions?

For a text, a photo of your holiday table or a greeting image, one line is plenty. These are short enough to sit on top of a picture of apples and honey or a challah.

• Shanah tovah! 🍎🍯
• Here's to a sweet one.
• Dipped, blessed and ready for 5788.
• Good year, sweet year, happy year.
• Round challah, full hearts.
• Apples, honey and the people we love.
• New year, same table, more chairs.
• From our kitchen to yours: shanah tovah umetukah.
• May your year be written well.
• Sweet start, good year. Happy Rosh Hashanah!

Why Apples and Honey, and What Can You Write With Them?

Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples dipped in honey to ask for a sweet year, a round challah for the cycle of the year, and often a pomegranate, whose many seeds stand for a fruitful year. These foods give you an easy, concrete image for a card, which always reads warmer than "best wishes." Here are lines that use them:

• May your year be as sweet as the first apple dipped in honey tonight.
• Wishing you as many blessings as there are seeds in a pomegranate.
• May your year come full circle like the challah: round, warm and shared.
• Here's to honey on everything this year, not only the apples.
• May the good in your year outnumber the pomegranate seeds, and the hard parts be over as fast as the apple slices.
• Wishing you a year with the sweetness of honey and none of the stickiness.
• From one apple-dipper to another: shanah tovah umetukah!
• May your table be full, your honey jar never empty and your year very sweet.

Is There a Bible Verse for Rosh Hashanah Cards?

The holiday itself comes from the Torah: Leviticus 23:24 calls the first day of the seventh month a memorial of blowing (zikhron teru'ah), and Numbers 29:1 calls it yom teru'ah, a day of sounding the horn. That horn is the shofar, still the best-known ritual of the day. Psalm 81 is another passage tied to the new moon of that month:

"Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day."
— Psalm 81:3, King James Bible (1611)

It suits a card with a shofar on the front or a note to someone who leads services. In Jewish translations the verse is often numbered 81:4, because the Hebrew Bible counts the psalm's heading as verse 1, so don't be surprised if a friend's prayer book shows a different number.

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If you'd rather write a blessing in your own words, these keep a reverent tone without quoting scripture:

• May you be written and sealed for a year of life, health and peace.
• May the sound of the shofar wake every good thing waiting for you this year.
• Wishing you a year of blessing, wisdom and quiet strength.
• May God grant you and your family a good and sweet year.
• May your prayers this season be heard and your year be full of light.
• May the new year bring you closer to the people and the purpose you love.
• Ketivah v'chatimah tovah: may you be inscribed and sealed for good.

What Do You Say to Someone Who Had a Hard Year?

Rosh Hashanah can be painful for someone who is grieving, sick or out of work, because the holiday is all about the year ahead. Don't pretend the past year didn't happen and don't promise that the next one will be better. Acknowledge, then wish them something small and real.

• I know this year has been heavy. Thinking of you as the new one begins, and here if you need anything.
• I'll be missing [name] at the holiday with you. Wishing you comfort and a gentler year.
• No need to reply. I just wanted you to know you're in my thoughts this Rosh Hashanah.
• May the new year bring you rest, good days and people who show up.
• I hope there's a little sweetness waiting for you in 5788. You've more than earned it.
• Shanah tovah, friend. However the holiday feels this year, you're not alone in it.

For a recent loss, our guide to condolence messages covers what to say in more depth.

What Do You Say After Rosh Hashanah, Before Yom Kippur?

From midday on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the usual greeting shifts to "Gemar chatimah tovah," "a good final sealing," because the year has been written and is now waiting to be sealed on Yom Kippur. "Shanah tovah" is still fine during those ten days if you're unsure. Lines for that week:

• Gemar chatimah tovah to you and your family.
• Wishing you an easy fast and a good sealing for the year ahead.
• May the year you've been written for be sealed for good.
• Thinking of you over these Days of Awe. Gemar chatimah tovah.
• Hope the holiday was beautiful. Wishing you a meaningful Yom Kippur next week.

On Yom Kippur itself, many people skip "happy" because it is a solemn fast day and say "Have an easy fast" or "Have a meaningful fast" instead. Our Yom Kippur greetings guide sorts those wishes by the hour of the fast, with lines for coworkers and for asking forgiveness.

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The verse above, from Nehemiah 8:10, describes the first day of the seventh month in Jerusalem: Ezra reads the Torah aloud, the people weep, and they are told to stop grieving, eat something sweet and send food to anyone who has none. It is a good line for a card that comes with a gift of honey, or for a note to someone who invites the whole neighborhood to their holiday table.

When Is Rosh Hashanah 2027?

Jewish holidays begin at sundown the evening before, and Rosh Hashanah lasts two days (the first and second of the month of Tishrei). Dates from the Hebcal Jewish calendar:

Year	Rosh Hashanah begins (sundown)	Ends (nightfall)	Yom Kippur begins (sundown)
2026 (5787)	Fri, Sept 11	Sun, Sept 13	Sun, Sept 20
2027 (5788)	Fri, Oct 1	Sun, Oct 3	Sun, Oct 10
2028 (5789)	Wed, Sept 20	Fri, Sept 22	Fri, Sept 29

For a mailed card to arrive on time in 2027, post it about a week ahead, around September 22. For a text or email, the afternoon of September 30 or October 1, before sundown, is ideal.

How Do You Write Your Own Rosh Hashanah Message?

Every message on this page follows one of two patterns. The short one is greeting + one wish: "Shanah tovah! Wishing you a healthy year." The fuller one adds a personal line in the middle:

1. Open with the greeting: Shanah tovah, Happy Rosh Hashanah, or Happy New Year.
2. Add one specific thing: a shared memory you both know is true, a food from their table, a change in their year (new baby, new job, a move).
3. Close with the wish: good, sweet, healthy, peaceful. Pick one or two, not all of them.

Worked example for a neighbor who just had a baby: "Shanah tovah! It's been wonderful watching your family grow this year. Wishing all three of you a sweet, healthy and well-rested 5788." Three sentences, one specific detail, one honest joke.

What Should You Avoid?

• "Happy Yom Kippur." Yom Kippur is a fast day of atonement. Use "Have an easy fast" or "Gemar chatimah tovah."
• Puns on "Jew." "Happy Jew Year" lands badly with most people, even when meant kindly.
• Asking for things. Don't attach a sales pitch, a deadline or a meeting request to a holiday greeting.
• Texting during the holiday to someone observant and expecting an answer. Send it before sundown.
• Christmas-card habits. Skip trees, snow and "season's greetings" imagery; apples, honey, pomegranates and the shofar are the holiday's own symbols.
• Explaining the holiday back to them. A warm line beats a history lesson.

Rosh Hashanah is the first of the fall's Jewish holidays; in winter, our Hanukkah greetings guide covers what to say in English, Hebrew and Yiddish for the Festival of Lights.

Quick Answers

What does Shanah Tovah mean? "A good year" in Hebrew. Shanah tovah umetukah means "a good and sweet year."

Can non-Jews say Happy Rosh Hashanah? Yes. "Happy Rosh Hashanah," "Happy New Year" or "Shanah tovah" are all polite and welcome from friends of any background.

When is Rosh Hashanah 2027? It begins at sundown on Friday, October 1, 2027, and ends at nightfall on Sunday, October 3.

What do you say between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? "Gemar chatimah tovah," "a good final sealing," from midday on the first day of Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur.

Sources: greeting forms and timing from Chabad.org, "New Year Greetings Explained"; customs and biblical sources (Leviticus 23:24, Numbers 29:1) from Wikipedia, "Rosh Hashanah"; dates from Hebcal.com; verse texts from the King James Version on Project Gutenberg. All messages are written by the GreetingBirds editors.