The Rosh Hashanah Seder finds its earliest written source in a peculiar menu whose symbolic significance is not revealed...and your dinner menu can include many of these items that can draw on our earliest history and connect us to our hopes and dreams for our present and our future.

"For a good omen on Rosh HaShanah one should make it a habit to eat squash [like pumpkin], legumes [like string

beans], kartei (leeks), spinach and dates.”     Talmud BT Keritot 6a

The list often continues with figs, dates, pomegranates, apples, and the head of a ram or a fish. Jews from other lands add carrots and beets, but obviously any food will do as long as you have a creatively corny sense of humor and a willingness to share your greatest fears and hopes.  Each food is eaten after requesting a specific kind of Divine blessing that sounds like the name of that food in Hebrew. 

Many families add a conversation following each of these meditations. Prompts are shared below.

Apples and Honey

Y’hi ratzon milfanech, shetichadesh aleinu shana tova u’metukah.
May it be Adonai’s will we will be renewed for a sweet new year.

With this blessing, we also recite the blessing over apples:

Baruch Ata, Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam, borei pri haetz.
Blessed are You, Ruler of the Universe, who has created the fruit of the tree.

What is new about you, for you, with you in this new year? We ask that the Divine Spark will “renew” us. How might you imagine being renewed in this coming year? How might you help this to happen? This is the most commonly known symbol and food for Rosh HaShanah. Why do you think it has become so popular? What might you substitute in its place if you were to reinvent the ritual?

Challah

For dipping challah (into honey) we might use this Hassidic wish:

May Hashem create yeast in your soul, causing you to ferment, and mature, to rise, elevate, to your highest possibilities, to reach your highest self.

How have you matured or “fermented” this year? What is something that you have accomplished that you can celebrate with us? What are your hopes for “fermentation” for this coming year? What is something you hope to accomplish?

A Head

Traditionally the head of a lamb or a carp is the occasion for a blessing (though vegetarians might perhaps substitute a head of cabbage or a head of lettuce):

Y’hi ratzon sheh- ni-hi-yeh l’Rosh v’lo l’zanav
May it be Hashem’s will that we will be a head and not a tail.

What does this mean? How might you interpret the blessing? Would you rather be a head or a tail? Why? How might this food be connected to the Jewish calendar?

Spinach or beets

In Hebrew, spinach or beets are traditionally called   seleck, which can also mean “to remove decisively.” They elicit this New Year’s wish: 

Y’hi ratzon sheh- yis-talku soneinu.
May it be Hashem’s will that our enemies be removed from our presence.  May it be Hashem’s will that all the enemies who might beat us will retreat, and we will beat a path to freedom (  Selek  resembles the word for retreat,  yistalku  ).

When this was written, who do you think it could have referred to? What are different ways we can understand “enemies”? Who might it refer to today?

Pomegranate

Take some pomegranate seeds.

As numerous as the stars…like the seeds of a pomegranate. Rich, deep red, the color of life-giving blood. Sweet and tart. Crunchy, refreshing. We can eat the pomegranate’s seeds one at a time, savoring each individually, or we can take a handful at once and enjoy the explosion of flavor in our mouths.

Pomegranates, filled with numerous sweet seeds, traditionally recall the 613 commandments or mitzvot found in the Torah.  May our good deeds, our mitzvot, be like pomegranate seeds. May they be plentiful. May we savor each, and may we enjoy many.

The blessing is:

Y’hi ratzon sheh-ni-hi-yeh malei mitzvot ka-rimon

May it be Your will, Yah, our loving Mother who breathes life into all that lives, that we be filled with mitzvot, and that we be kind to others, and that we do as many good deeds as there are seeds in a pomegranate.

Eat the pomegranate seeds.

What is a mitzvah that you hope to fulfill this year? Here, seeds symbolize mitzvot. What else might they symbolize? What does the performance of a mitzvah do for you, the one who performs the mitzvah? How does it feel? What inspires us to do mitzvot?

Carrots or Squash

The Hebrew word for carrot is גזר (gezer), similar to the Hebrew לִגְזוֹר (ligzor), meaning to cut, or to ordain (as in command), or to decree. In this season, let divine judgments, divine decrees, be good ones for us in this New Year.

                                             B’ruchah At Yah Shekhinah, Ruach ha‐olam boreit p’ri ha‐adamah.

                       You are blessed, Yah, Divine Presence, Life’s Breath of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth

Yehi ratzon milfanecha she-yikara roa gezar dinneinu, v’yikaru lfaneacha zakiyoteinu

May it be Hashem’s will that the evil decrees against us be torn up and our good merits be read.

B’ruchah At Yah Shekhinah, Ruach ha‐olam boreit p’ri ha‐adamah.

You are blessed, Yah, Divine Presence, Life’s Breath of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth

Eat the carrot.

To yourself: If you could choose one thing that would be wiped from your memory this year, what would it be? To yourself: What is something that you wished you’d done differently this year? If you could do it all over again, would you do it the same, or different? What is a “good merit” about you that perhaps no one knows about?

Dates

The Hebrew word for date is rn, (tamar). Within this word is o, (tam): innocent, unblemished.

Innocent how?  Innocent of wrongdoing, innocent of failings, innocent of missing the mark. Unblemished in what way? Unblemished by our own transgressions: of the hand, of the mind, of the tongue, of the heart.

May all humanity be innocent and unblemished. And may we be able to repair the blemishes we ourselves have wrought on each other and on our world.

May it be your will, that hatred will end. (  Tamar  resembles the word for end,  yitamu. )

Before eating black-eyed peas or string beans (  rubia  ):
May it be Your will, God, that our merits increase. (  Rubia  resembles the word for increase,  yirbu. )

Before eating leeks, chives, or scallions (  karti  ):
May it be Your will, God, that our enemies be cut off. (  Karti  resembles the word for cut off,   yikartu. ) 

Since Rosh Hashanah means the  head of the year, we eat foods that symbolize our wish to be heads, not tails in the year to come. Traditionally, families ate the head of a fish or sheep. You may want to instead enjoy a head of lettuce, or a more whimsical option involves gummy fish. 
May it be Your will, God, that our heads remain clear and focused on creating a better world this year.

Dating back to Talmudic times, there have been associations between Rosh haShanah and food. From Nehemiah chapter 8:

And Ezra the Kohen brought Torah (the Law) to the congregation, men and women and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

Nehemiah the Tishatha, Ezra the Kohen and scribe, and the Levites who were explaining to the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to Adonai your God: you must not mourn or weep,” for all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of Torah.

They further said to them, “Go, eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy to Adonai. Do not be sad, for your rejoicing in Adonai is the source of your strength.

There are many symbolic foods around Rosh haShanah, depending on your custom: apples and honey, beets, gourds, beans, pomegranates, carrots, round challah, wine. In our Kabbalat haShanah Seder—our welcoming of the New Year—we incorporate some of these and some traditional text from the machzor.

Let all who are hungry—for food, for spiritual uplifting, for companionship—come and eat and join us.

Nearly all Jewish holiday begin with lighting candles, and so this one will, too. After we light the candles we wave our hands in three big horizontal circles to symbolically bring the light closer to us, and then cover our eyes while we say the blessing. When the blessing is over take a moment of silent reflection with your eyes covered, and then open your eyes and enjoy the beauty of candlelight, bringing you into the new year.

The following blessing is a feminist blessing that parallels traditional masculine language used by the majority of Jews. In using feminine language for Adonai, we acknowledge the role of women in our ancestral tradition and the centrality of their place in our future.

בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ יָהּ אֱלֹהֵינוּ רוּחַ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁתְנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתֶיהָ וְצִוָּתְנוּ לְהַדְלִיק נֵר שֶׁל שַׁבָּת

Barucha at yah, eloheinu ruach ha-olam, asher kidishanu bmitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel shabbat v'yom tov.

Blessed are you, sovereign, our G-d, breath of the world, who has commanded us to observe the deed of lighting shabbat and festival candles.

B’ruchah At Yah Shekhinah, Ruach ha‐olam, shehechiyatnu v’kiyimatnu v’higiyatnu lazman hazeh.

You are blessed, Yah, Divine Presence, Life’s Breath of the universe, Who has kept us in life, who has sustained us, and who has enabled us to reach this season.

Pour a second cup of juice.

Rosh Hashanah is known as a day of remembrance  where we sit in the balance between past and future. 
 

Together, we raise a glass and make a toast to Remembrance with this quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel: 
“The authentic individual is neither an end nor a beginning but a link between ages...we sanctify the present by remembering the past.” 

Blessing of Memory
Zichronam livracha, tzedek v’shalom 
May the memories of those we have lost be for a blessing of righteousness and peace.

Reflection Questions for Yom HaZikaron - Day of Remembrance
Where did I dedicate my time, energy and resources in the past year? 
Who and what do I want to remember from the past year (or from any time in the past) to guide me in the coming year?

 

B’ruchah At Yah Shekhinah, Ruach ha‐olam boreit p’ri hagafen.

You are praised Yah, Divine Presence, Life’s Breath of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.

 

Drink

During this time of pandemic, washing our hands assumes new meaning. We cannot thoughtlessly wash our hands before meals, perhaps relegating that chore to something merely ritualistic and rote. As we wash our hands, we count the seconds or sing a song to ourselves to ensure we wash long enough to we keep ourselves and others safe. Here, we recite the bracha not once, but three times—because thrice through the bracha is how long our scientists and physicians have said it takes to get our hands clean. As we wash, let us be mindful that the simple act of washing our hands can be one of the greatest gifts we can give each other, and that for some, washing hands in clean water is a luxury.

 

Baruch atah Adonay, Eloheynu Melech ha‐olam, asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al netilat yadayim.

You are praised Adonay, Water-Giver of the universe, who makes us holy through mitzvot and commands us to wash our hands.

 

B’ruchah At Yah, Shekhinah, Ruach ha‐olam, asher kidshatnu b’mitvoteiha vitzivatnu al netilat yadayim.

You are praised, Yah, Divine Presence, Life’s breath of the world, who makes us holy through mitzvot and commands us to wash our hands.

 

Ne’varech Yah Eloheynu, Makor ha‐olam, asher kidshanu b’mitvotav vitzivanu al netilat yadayim.

We praise Yah, Adonai, Source of all, who makes us holy through mitzvot and commands us to wash our hands

Teshuvah, returning. What does “returning” have to do with Rosh haShanah and the Yamim Nora’im?

Teshuvah is often translated as repentance. It is more accurately rendered “returning.” On Rosh haShanah, we begin a focused effort to correct our failings of the past year, to right our wrongs of the past year, and to return to the right path.

Teshuvah is frequently associated with cheyt, as in the Al Cheyt prayer. We often find cheyt translated as “sin.” Other ways to think of cheyt are as a missing of the mark, or as a misstep. When we make a mistake, when we chot’im (when we commit a cheyt), we take a misstep and we go the wrong way. When we do teshuvah, we return to the path we left when we made that misstep.

That same teshuvah (repentance / repair) framework is also the answer if one realizes that one has engaged in any wrongful interpersonal act. Teshuvah is our constant spiritual and ethical curriculum. Everyone causes harm, and everyone experiences harm. Our task as Jews is to use our tradition’s wisdom in the service of building a world of less harm and more justice.

So does Lech-Lecha mean “go into yourself,” or “go forth from where you are”? Of course the answer is: it’s both.

Because of our calendar, we always read these lines with the Days of Awe reverberating in our souls. The spiritual work of the high holidays takes us on a journey of introspection – that’s “go into yourself.” Now, as the new Torah cycle gets underway, that introspection fuels “go forth from where you are,” a journey of building a better world...

To build an ethic of social justice into our lives and our Judaism, we need to find balance’s sweet spot. We need to journey inward enough to see where we’ve fallen short and what work we need to do. And we need to journey outward enough to take the next action, however small, in lifting each other up – pursuing justice – mitigating climate crisis – helping someone in need.  

Pirkei Avot (2:15) teaches us to “Make teshuvah the day before your death.” But who among us knows when the day of our death will be? None of us can control when we die, but we do have some control over who we are in this life. The idea of teshuvah – that we can repent, can make amends, can do the work of change – means that who we’ve been doesn’t have to be who we’ll become. Balancing who we’ve been and who we’re becoming – there’s Tiferet again.

And, there’s no magic short cut. No game hack that gets us a high score we didn’t earn. Anyone can make teshuvah – and anyone who wants to make teshuvah has to do the work. And there’s no time like the present. Indeed, some say there’s no time other than the present. Now is all we have. Therefore Judaism calls us to make teshuvah everyday. To do the inner work of self-reflection, and the outer work of changing and making amends, all the time.  

Let us take teshuvah with us throughout the year, and make teshuvah whenever we can. The sooner we can correct our misstep and return to the right path the less far astray from that right path we will go.

What changes would we need to make in order to be remembered the way we want to be remembered?