Happy Rosh Hashanah: Our Holiday Hours and a Closure Checklist
Our team is out for Rosh Hashanah and back Monday, September 14. Here is a short note on the holiday, and a practical checklist for planning a closure of your own.
By Oren, founder of BH Dispatch
Holiday hours for our team
Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Friday, September 11. Our team is out for Rosh Hashanah on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, and back Monday, September 14 at 9:30 AM Eastern Time.
Only our team is away. BH Dispatch itself does not close for the holiday, so your dispatch board, your jobs, and your customer records are there as usual while we are out.
Our regular office hours are Sunday to Thursday, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and Friday, 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM, Eastern Time. We are closed on Saturdays.
What is Rosh Hashanah?
Rosh Hashanah means "head of the year." It is the Jewish New Year, observed on the first two days of the month of Tishrei, and in 2026 it welcomes the year 5787.
This year the first day falls on Saturday, September 12, which is also Shabbat, and the second day falls on Sunday, September 13. Because the first day is Shabbat, the shofar is sounded on the second day, Sunday.
In Metro Detroit, candle lighting is at 7:31 PM on Friday, September 11, and the holiday ends with havdalah at 8:28 PM on Sunday, September 13. Those are Hebcal's times for Oak Park, Michigan, and local times vary by city.
Apples dipped in honey are eaten for a sweet year, and a round challah stands for the cycle of the year. The greeting you will hear is "Shana Tova," a good year, or "Shana Tova u'Metukah," a good and sweet year.
A holiday closure checklist for home-service owners
If you run a home-service business, a planned closure goes better with a little preparation a few days ahead. Whatever holiday you are closing for, these four steps cover the places a closed day usually goes wrong.
- Block the days in the schedule ahead of time. Mark the closed days before anyone can book into them, so no job lands on a day nobody is working and no customer is promised a visit you cannot make.
- Set an away message on the business phone and inbox. Say which days you are closed and the day you reopen. A caller who hears a clear message is better off than one who listens to a phone ring out, and a missed call costs more than it seems.
- Confirm Monday's first appointments before the holiday. The first jobs after a closure are the easiest to lose track of. Reach those customers before you close, so the first morning back starts with confirmed work instead of a round of phone tag.
- Review who has admin access before the new year. A new year is a natural checkpoint. In every tool your business signs in to, from the schedule to the phone system to the email account, check who has admin rights, remove anyone who has moved on, and make sure at least two people you trust can still get in.
None of this takes long, and all of it is easier on a quiet afternoon before the holiday than on a busy morning after it.
From our team to yours, Shana Tova u'Metukah. We wish you a good and sweet year, and we will see you on Monday.
Run your dispatch on BH Dispatch
Calls, texts, and jobs in one place, with an AI that drafts replies and closes jobs. Free to start.