How to Prepare a Rosh Hashanah Meal

Rosh Hashanah is an ancient and highly ritualized celebration. As the Jewish New Year, it is celebrated with all kinds of events, but the traditional Rosh Hashanah meal takes center stage in many Jewish households.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Honey (or sugar)
• Apples
• Salt
• Pomegranates (optional)
• Challah bread

Prepare the Setting

1. Slice apples, pour honey or place sugar into flat, round dishes or shallow bowls for dipping.

2. If pomegranates will be served, put out plenty of napkins and slice the fruit before bringing it to the table.

3. Gather family and friends around the table. This is traditionally a day when the whole family comes together to enter the new year.

Begin the Meal

1. Dip apples slices into honey. This is the first step of the Rosh Hashanah meal, and signifies the hoped-for sweetness of the coming year.

2. Dip pieces of Challah into the honey as your second course. Usually Challah is sold braided or in other shapes, but on Rosh Hashanah its often sold in round loaves to symbolize the cycle of life and the cycle of the years.

3. Enjoy whatever foods you have chosen to prepare for the Rosh Hashanah celebration. You have fulfilled the main traditions, the apples and challah served with honey. Now you may eat what you wish.

4. Keep in mind that sweet foods are the main focus on Rosh Hashanah, to symbolize sweetness. For this reason, the apples and challah are often followed by a sweet noodle dish called Kugel. You can find a recipe at the Cooks.com website (see Resources below).

5. Share a pomegranate at the end of the meal. The 613 seeds of the pomengranate symbolize the 613 commandments of God believed to be enumerated in the Torah. This is also a traditional food of Israel, and can symbolize sweetness in the desert.

6. Prepare small cups of wine or juice and make a toast to the coming year. Although the new year is a time for contemplation and the honoring of tradition, it is also a time for joyous celebration and conviviality among family.

Tips & Warnings

• Various areas will have different local Rosh Hashanah customs. Some members of the Jewish faith include fish in their Rosh Hashanah meals, some eat lamb's head and others enjoy a vegetarian feast.

• Avoid nuts on this day, as they are believed to interfere with the holiness of the meal. Overly spicy foods are also frowned upon.

Resources

• Kugel recipe at Cooks.com