Sep 30th: Rosh Hashanah - Culture trumps country

Sep 30th is the first day of the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah, start of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar.

Members of the USA congress are taking the next two days off, despite the fragile condition of the US economy.

clipped from multiculturalcalendar.com Rosh Hashanah / New Year (thru Oct 10th) 30, 2008 clipped from en.wikipedia.org Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה‎, literally "head of the year," Biblical: IPA: [ˈɾoʃ haʃːɔˈnɔh], Israeli: [ˈʁoʃ haʃaˈna], Yiddish: [ˈroʊʃ hɑˈʃɔnə]) is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Jewish New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar,[1] as ordained in the Torah, in Leviticus 23:24. Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), or Asseret Yemei Teshuva (The Ten Days of Repentance) which are days specifically set aside to focus on repentance that conclude with the holiday of Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is the start of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar (one of four "new year" observances that define various legal "years" for different purposes).