Shanah Tovah

Hi All,

Tonight marks the start of Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year- and more widely the start of what we call the Yamim Noraim, High Holy Days.

It is universal in the Jewish world to dip Apple in honey for a sweet new year. In Sephardic tradition and some Ashkenazi  orthodox mystical traditions ,  we have a Seder as well as a festive meal. The Seder is , I suppose, similar to Anglican liturgy i.e. a written down series of prayers and blessings, most popularly thought of as a Passover tradition. The difference is that we do so at home and via symbolic foods. he Rosh Hashanah seder the foods we eat also become vessels for meaning. Each food symbolizes a good wish for the coming year, and before each food is consumed there is a special blessing to recite, many of which result from puns on the food’s Hebrew or Aramaic name. With each blessing, the mundane aspect of food is garnished with a sense of holiness, poignancy, and even humour.

We begin the seder with a series of biblical verses invoking physical and spiritual blessings. They are repeated a prescribed number of times for mystical reasons.

The verses are followed by a piyyut, a religious poem, written by Abraham Hazzan Girondi in 13th-century Spain. Each verse of the poem has a chorus that declares, Tikhleh shanah ve-killeloteha! Let the year end with all its curses! The last line reflects a change in tone: Tahel shanah u-virkhoteha! Let the new year begin with all its blessings!

Then come the blessings (  I'm using the English translation here): 

eating dates (tamar): May it be your will, God, that enmity will end. (Tamar resembles the word for end, yitamu.)

eating pomegranate: May we be as full of mitzvot as the pomegranate is full of seeds.

eating apple and honey: May it be Your will, God, to renew for us a good and sweet year.

string beans (rubia): May it be Your will, God, that our merits increase. (Rubia resembles the word for increase, yirbu.) 

eating pumpkin or gourd (k’ra): May it be Your will, God, to tear away all evil decrees against us, as our merits are proclaimed before you. (K’ra resembles the words for “tear” and “proclaimed.”)

spinach or beet leaves (selek): May it be Your will, God, 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).

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

The most striking - from a western view point is a cooked sheep's head ( the brains are removed and eaten separately ) . This is is because of the blessing

יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ ה' אֱלֹהינוּ וֵאלֵֹהי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ, שֶׁנִּהְיֶה לְרֹאשׁ וְלֹא לְזָנָב

'May it be Your will, Lord our God and the God of our fathers, that we be a head and not a tail'

וְתִזְכֹּר לָנוּ עֲקֵדָתוֹ וְאֵילוֹ שֶׁל יִצְחָק אָבִינוּ בֶּן אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ עַלֵיהֶם הַשָּׁלוֹם

'…And You shall remember for us the binding and the ram of our forefather Isaac, the son of our forefather Abraham, peace be onto them.'

The sheep’s head to symbolize our wish to be heads, not tails; leaders, not stragglers. The sheep’s head so serves as a reminder of the ram that saved Isaac’s life; we recite the story of the binding of Isaac on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Us Iraqi Jews don't use a fish like other communities , because its Hebrew name, dag, sounds like the Hebrew word for worry, d’agah.

To end this post I pray she-yikaret me-aleinu kol ra ve-nitbarekh b’shalom — that all evil should be cut from us and we should be blessed with peace.

Shanah Tovah !