About 400 students gathered last night at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center to celebrate Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which began yesterday at sundown.

Tuvia Abramson, executive director for Penn State Hillel: the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, said the holiday is a time to reflect on both achievements and wrongdoings from the previous year. Abramson led last night's ceremony.

"Without any doubt, we make mistakes, and we wrong someone else and ourselves because we are human beings and we are imperfect," he said.

Abramson said Jews do not have confession, but Rosh Hashana is still a time to ask for forgiveness.

"The idea is if you commit a transgression against a fellow human being, you have to ask that person to forgive you. You cannot ask a third party [for] forgiveness."

Abramson said the holiday is a time for people to think how they can improve.

"It's not just to ask for forgiveness, but also celebrate what we have done right -- actually feel good about ourselves."

Josh Stulman, who serves as conservative religious chair for Hillel, assisted Abramson in leading the audience in prayer. Stulman, who led services for the third year in a row, said leading worship was less intimidating than he had expected when he began.

"You have the response from the people," he said. "You feel the people."

Abramson talked about change and moving forward, two themes that he associated with Rosh Hashana.

He challenged the students to use the New Year to make the most of themselves.

Abramson concluded the service with a prayer to "remember Jews and non-Jews who are victims of terror around the world."

Services will be held again at 9:30 a.m. today and tomorrow in Worship Hall at Pasquerilla.

Abramson said Penn State President Graham Spanier, who is Jewish, will speak at a Yom Kippur service on Friday, Sept. 24, at Pasquerilla.