Rosh Hashanah

Jewish New Year

Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year is celebrated in Israel by everyone, the celebration lasts two days – on the 1st and 2nd day of the first month according to the Jewish calendar. On Rosh Hashanah, everyone gives each other gifts, congratulates loved ones and relatives, the whole family gathers at one table and uses traditional festive dishes. On the first day of the Jewish New Year, it is customary to blow a horn, which means: “wake up those who doze, who spend their allotted years pointlessly. Look over your souls and make your deeds good”. It is believed that the fate of everyone for the whole year is decided by the Almighty on this very day. On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, it is customary for Jews to say to each other – "Let only good things be written down for you". The belief that God wishes everyone good and prosperity turns this day into a holiday. But the Jewish New Year has another, besides the festive, meaning – this is the day of judgment, on which it is customary to realize the deeds committed in the previous year and repent of unseemly deeds, if they were, of course.

Rosh Hashanah and Jewish Recipes

Rosh Hashanah has an ancient culinary tradition reflected in Jewish food recipes. Depending on the area of residence, the set of dishes for the Jewish New Year may differ slightly, but fish must be served as a symbol of fertility, necessarily – the head of a fish or a ram, which the head of the family must eat in order to be at the head, and not in the tail, sweet challah with raisins, various vegetables and fruits, necessarily apples and honey – it is customary at the beginning of the Rosh Hashanah celebration to eat a slice of apple dipped in honey so that the year is sweet and happy. It is also customary to eat pomegranate on the Jewish New Year – Jews believe that it contains as many grains as there are commandments in the Torah.