The Jewish New Year
Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a cleaned-out ram’s horn), as prescribed in the Torah, following the prescription of the Hebrew Bible to “raise a noise” on Yom Teruah. Its rabbinical customs include attending synagogue services and reciting special liturgy about teshuva, as well as enjoying festive meals. Eating symbolic foods is now a tradition, such as apples dipped in honey, hoping to evoke a sweet new year.
Hold a cup of wine and recite the Kiddush:
On your festive days and on the new month, you shall sound the horn as you bring your offerings, so it will bring up your memory in front of God.
With your permission…
You are the source of blessings, God. We thank you for the fruit of the vine.
You are the source of blessings, God. You have chosen to give us the Torah and elevate us spiritually, through learning and observance. You gave us with love this day, a day of Holy encounter with You, a day of blowing the Shofar and remembering our past. We thank You God for sanctifying us with this day.
After the Kiddush, prayers are recited over several foods, which can be eaten or just looked at. The names of these foods serve as a visual reminder for things we want to pray for. All of the symbolic meanings are based on the Hebrew or Aramaic languages, so you can be creative and add elements with symbolism in English (further explanation on pp. 3-4).
Dates (reflecting the verb “to end” in Hebrew): May there will be an end to all our troubles.
Black-eyed Peas, or Anise, or Sesame seeds (reflecting the verb “to multiply” and the noun “heart” in Hebrew): May our merits multiply and may God will keep us close to His heart.
Leek or carrots (reflecting the verb “to cut off” in Hebrew): May all who plot evil and destruction be cut off.
Chards or Beets (reflecting the verb “to drive away” in Hebrew): May it be Your will that all our enemies and adversaries will be driven away.
Squash or pumpkin (reflecting the verbs “to read” and “to tear” in Hebrew): May God tear any negative verdicts against us, and may our merits be read in front of Him.
Pomegranate: May we be full of Mitzvoth as pomegranates are full of seeds.
Apple in Honey: May we have a good and sweet new year, from beginning to end.
Head: May we lead others to do good and not follow wrongdoings of others.
Medjool dates, apple in honey, black-eyed peas, sesame seeds, spinach, squash, and pomegranate seeds may be on our menu this coming Monday, as we sit for the first meal of the Hebrew New Year.
As exciting and wonderful as the Rosh HaShana Seder, as some call it, is, there are some questions and dilemmas surrounding it:
Let us dwell on this last one. Because of the belief that eating sweet things will lead to a sweet year, there are those who avoid eating spicy, sour, bitter, or dark-colored foods. Some foods are excluded from one community’s list, but are mandatory for another (almonds, for example). How can we understand a practice which ties the events of the year with the foods eaten at the beginning of the year? And what if a person is bed-ridden and only had liquids and medicine on Rosh HaShana? Will his year be liquidy? Advily?
To answer all these questions, and to get a better understanding of the term Siman, which many translate as omen, let us turn to the source of the practice in the Talmud.[1] It appears after several perplexing suggestions for predicting the future. The first experiment informs a person whether he will survive or not until the following Rosh HaShana. In order to discover this terrifying piece of information, one should light a candle in a house where there is not even the slightest draft. If the candle flame is unwavering, he can rest assured, but if it flickers, he’d better call the funeral home.
The next one deals with one who wants to start a business and would like to know if he will be successful. He is advised to buy a rooster and feed it. If the rooster becomes fatter, the novice farmer is guaranteed stellar success in his financial endeavors. If, however, the rooster remains slim waisted, our budding entrepreneur should consider visiting the employment agency. There is one more suggestion which the Talmud rejects, and then we hear the following statement from the Talmudic sage Abayye (הוריות, יב:א): Now that you say that Siman has significance, one should try to see on Rosh HaShana squash, black-eyed peas, leeks, spinach, and dates.
I understand this Talmudic paragraph as a response to the widespread phenomenon of reliance on astrology and incantations in Babylonia. The rabbis wanted to teach people that the most accurate indicator of one’s future is his own behavior. Accordingly, in the first case we deal with someone who wants to know whether or not he will survive the year. He is told to light a candle in a draft-less home and make sure that the flame does not flicker. Oh, but it does. The terrified man scurries from wall to wall, from crevice to crevice, with plaster and a spatula but alas, for every hole he discovers, breeze comes in from ten others. If our man is somewhat wise he will stop after a while, realizing that the experiment was a sign for him. You can never cover all holes and you never know what incredible things will happen this coming year, for good or bad. At that point one starts directing his efforts during the year towards responsibility and awareness, visualizing gaps he must bridge in order to protect his flame, thus (hopefully) prolonging his life.
In the second experiment, one is required to fatten a rooster in order to predict whether he will have success in business. Once he brings the rooster home, he understands that in order to grow it fat he has to pay constant attention. He must protect the bird from diseases and predators, provide food, water and shelter, clean after it, and rise at dawn (or at midnight) with its call. He now also understands how to succeed in business. He must work hard, pay attention to details, and be willing to accept difficulties and small failures before emerging victorious.
In reaction to these two very practical thought experiments, Abayye says that now we know that associating our aspirations and hopes with a visual image or object is a helpful technique. He therefore says that one should see on Rosh HaShana certain species, so the image will help him focus his thoughts during prayers. In other words, it is not seeing or eating the honeyed apple or the dates which guarantees a sweet year, but the constant image of these fruits which drives a person in the prayers and throughout the year. It is very similar to soldiers carrying the pictures of their loved ones in a locket so they will be inspired to survive at all costs.
The practice of Simanim should be translated not as omens but rather as suggestive visual meditation. In the original phrasing of the practice the idea was to see, not eat, the fruits. One can therefore choose to eat or not eat any of the Simanim. The order is insignificant but it is best for all participants to follow one version to avoid conflicts. It is also a good idea to add some foods which could be easily associated with the spoken language, since the Simanim have meaning only in Hebrew.
If you are not eating meat you could have some candies (actually, even if you eat meat you could just look at the wrappers) which could have positive associations for English speakers such as: 5th Avenue, Skor, PayDay, Life Savers. Top it off with a Brach’s candy (for Bracha), and most importantly, make sure that everyone feels happy, relaxed, and welcomed at this Rosh HaShana Seder.
The custom to blow the shofar starting at Rosh Hodesh Elul is first mentioned in Pirke deRabbi Eliezer:
On Rosh Hodesh Elul God told Moshe to ascend the mountain [the second time]. They blew Shofar throughout the camp to let people know that Moshe ascended the mountain, so they will not worship idols again… that is why they instituted to blow shofar each year on Rosh Hodesh Elul.
The author cites no sources to support this interpretation of the biblical narrative, and it is later refuted by Nahmanides. He also mentioned the custom as an established law without mentioning who established it. The custom became popular, however, as shown in several anthologies of customs from early medieval times, among them HaManhig. The book, originally called מנהיג בני העולם – the Guide of the People, was written in the 12th century, by R. Avraham bar Nathan HaYarhi, who traveled in Spain, Germany, and France, and was familiar with the various customs. R. Avraham writes that the custom is based on the aforementioned midrash, and adds:
The French do [blow the shofar] from Rosh Hodesh on.
He does not provide the reason for extending the custom from one day to forty, but in Sefer HaRoqeah, written by his contemporary R. Elazar of Worms, we find the one letter which made all the difference: בפרקי דרבי אליעזר נהגו לתקוע מראש חדש אלול וכן המנהג
In Pirke deRabbi Eliezer [it is written] that they had the custom to blow shofar from Rosh Hodesh Elul, and this is our custom.
The original text of the Midrash בראש חודש – on Rosh Hodesh, was somehow transformed throughout the ages into מראש חודש – from Rosh Hodesh.
Once the transition took place, new explanations were provided. I find most interesting the following one, by R. Haim Or Zarua of Vienna (1250-1310):
When the rabbis said that one should learn in order to do, they meant that one should learn well how to fulfil the mitzvah of sukkah or lulav… when one has to talk to the king he reviews his words one, two, and three times… even more so when he faces God… for that reason shofar is blown on Elul, so one will not make a mistake when blowing shofar on Rosh HaShana.
This explanation displays religious anxiety, not much different then OCD. One can practice for blowing shofar on Rosh HaShana privately, for a couple of hours, and there is no need to make it part of the regular ritual. The author also interprets the statement of the rabbis that one should learn in order to do, as saying that one must dedicate time and effort to know the details of the ritual, while it originally meant that the Torah is a guide to practical life and not the focus of abstract learning.
In an anthology of custom by a disciple of Maharam of Rothenberg (1215-1203), a new reason is offered:
This [the midrash] is why the Sages instituted blowing the shofar on Rosh Hodesh Elul each year and throughout the month, to warn the people to repent… and to confuse Satan, and so is the custom in Germany to blow shofar every morning and evening following prayers.
At this stage, the custom is referred to as one established by the Sages, a term used to describe the rabbis of Mishnaic period. Elevating a halakha or a custom to higher level of authority is a common phenomenon in Halakhic literature, and one should carefully research sources to find out when and by whom they were indeed established. The author also suggests that by blowing shofar on dates other than Rosh HaShana, we confuse the Saran and he does not know when to press charges against us. This is a distortion of a Talmudic statement which spoke of the shofar of Rosh Hashana itself. The meaning of the Talmudic passage is that the shofar prompts people to repent, and thus undermines the arguments of the divine prosecutor against us. In medieval Germany, however, Satan became an independent entity, and Jews must devise tactics to fail him. The argument that Satan is confused by shofar of Elul is intriguing and amusing, and one should ask how long it takes Satan to figure out our schedule. Wouldn’t he know by now that he should count 30 days from the first Shofar blowing to get to Rosh HaSHana?
The custom was eventually legislated into binding Halakha by Rabbenu Yaakov in Tur Orah Haim, and was later adopted by many Sephardic communities.
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Rosh HaShana
Rosh HaShanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה, Rōʾš hašŠānā, lit. “start of the year”), is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה, Yōm Tərūʿā), literally “day of shouting or blasting.” It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm; “Days of Awe”), as specified by Leviticus 23:23–25,[2] that occur in the late summer/early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. The High Holy Days comprises both Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.