There was a happy atmosphere Wednesday evening at Chabad Lubavitch of Augusta, a synagogue on Broad Street.

Children played happily up front while men and women - Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews alike - read and sang Hebrew Scripture in a worship room down the hall.

About 100 congregants had gathered for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, which began at sundown Wednesday. Each year, the holiday starts with prayer, followed by a feast.

"Historically, it marks the creation of Adam and Eve, the sixth day of Creation," Rabbi Zalman Fischer said. "On the Jewish count, this year is going to be 5768. That marks the years from Adam and Eve's creation."

Rosh Hashana is the start of the High Holy Days, a 10-day period of prayer and reflection that ends at sundown Friday with Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, which itself ends the next day.

After leading worship from Machzor for Rosh Hashana, the book of worship for the holiday, the women filed in to light candles. They ended each lighting with waving motions over the candles toward themselves, then put their hands over their faces and whispered a prayer.

Not long after, the feast began, and people took seats at tables decorated with yellow tablecloths and red plates. Each table had a bottle of wine and the traditional challah - a round, sweet bread usually baked with raisins - and a plate of sliced apples sitting atop a layer of honey.

Cynthia Eiring, of Evans, who cooks pans of kosher brisket each year, said the colors and foods had significance.

"I chose the red and yellow for the apples and honey, and it looks festive," she said. "We eat sweet stuff as a symbol of ushering in a sweet new year. The roundness of the challah signifies that the year ends but also begins; it's never-ending."

Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Fischer said, is about reconnecting with God. Sounding the shofar, or ram's horn, at the start of the services on the two days after the feast is an essential part of the holiday, serving as a wake-up call, he said.

"It is about asking God for your own needs, your health, wellness for your family, peace, but first and foremost, asking God, 'What can I do for you? How can I be a better person? What do you expect of me this year?'" he said. "Later on, we have a day of atonement, Yom Kippur. That's a day we focus on what have we done in the past that we need to rectify, what mistakes have we made that we need to make adjustments to?

"But Rosh Hashana comes first, it's establishing a relationship with God first."

Mrs. Eiring said that last year, one of the things she asked for was help with saying "no" more often because she was stretching herself thin. This year she will ask for other things, but she said it's not the same as a New Year's resolution.

"The idea is to improve yourself, to right any wrongs, pay off debts, clear out unfinished business, analyze yourself," she said. "Just because you stand in a garage, it doesn't make you a car - just like sitting on a pew doesn't make you a good Jew. You've got to be active. There's a lot of validity in taking stock of your life at this time."

People approach the holidays in different ways.

Augustan Ron Blum will be praying to God to be in the book of life.

Adam Eiring and brothers Steven and Alex Waxman - all Lakeside High School students - said that for them, the day is a time to eat a big meal, see friends and miss a day of school.

Lynn Reed, who celebrated Wednesday at a friend's house rather than at Chabad, said she had spent the past two weeks making notes, thinking and taking an account of what she has done or the past year to see what she needs to change. She planned to ask on Rosh Hashana for help to make the changes and "for strength and dedication and to be more mindful," to not easily forget. She will spend the days leading to Yom Kippur working on the changes.

Ms. Reed, who sometimes teaches Jewish classes, told how she explains the Holy Days to her students.

"I tell them it's like this: 'Our souls are beautiful, shiny souls, like a candlestick. Over the years, they get tarnished. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is a time to clean that tarnish off," she said. "When you look at something tarnished, it doesn't look so bad, but as you start cleaning, you realize there were several layers."

Reach C. Samantha McKevie at (706) 823-3552 or samantha.mckevie@augustachronicle.com.