Next week, Jews around the world will celebrate Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. Many will eat apples dipped in honey, symbolizing our hope for a sweet year. The custom of eating apples on Rosh HaShanah was first mentioned in Machzor Vitry, an 11th-century prayer book that incorporates legal rulings, composed by Rabbi Simcha of Vitry, a French talmudist and student of Rashi. Although eating apples dipped in honey is probably the most widely observed custom among Jews around the world, there are many other symbolic foods that are eaten on Rosh HaShanah.
The pomegranate is one of the seven agricultural products associated with the land of Israel, along with wheat, barley, grapes, figs, olives, and dates. In Jewish tradition, pomegranates are said to contain exactly 613 seeds, each corresponding to one of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah. We eat pomegranates on Rosh HaShanah in hopes that our merits and good deeds will be as numerous as the seeds of a pomegranate.
Another custom is to place the head of a fish on the Rosh HaShanah dinner table, symbolizing our hope that we will be fruitful and multiply like fish. Rosh HaShanah literally means “head of the year.” The fish head also symbolizes our hope that we may be heads and not tails, a blessing from the book of Deuteronomy.
Many Sephardic Jews partake in a Rosh HaShanah seder on both nights of the holiday, following a specific order of reciting blessings and readings over specific foods including leek, beets, dates, squash, fenugreek. The origin of the Rosh Hashanah seder comes from a passage in the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbi Abaye spoke of squash, fenugreek, leek, beets, dates as foods that should always be seen on the holiday because they grow quickly, serving as positive omens during the coming year.
The Shulchan Aruch, an important code of Jewish law written in the 16th century, instructs Jews to eat foods whose names mean “to increase” in the local language. This is why many Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of eating carrots on Rosh HaShanah. In Yiddish, the word for carrot is mer, which also means “more” or “to multiply.” Carrots symbolize our hope that goodness will increase in our lives in the coming year. A popular Ashkenazi dish for Rosh HaShanah is tzimmes, made of carrots and dried fruit.
May the coming year be sweet, may goodness increase and may we live in peace . Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy 5786. Shanah Tovah! שנה טובה
Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff
Director, Community Engagement
