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Cirl
. 12 - Frida y , - Sejiteitiber 29, 1918

3./1: V,13.101"
THE DETROIT AWISH NEWS

Rosh Hashana

By SYBIL ZIMMERMAN

dated with particular foods.
Many of these dishes are
traditional according to
particular countries in

World Zionist
Press Service

Almost every Jewish
holiday in the year is asso-

ROSH HASHANA

flawletawcueo

Clothier

Occasion to Eat Special Foods

which one's ancestors lived.
Let's take a look at each
holiday and the food we eat
and why.

Rosh Hashana falls on the
first and second of the
month of Tishri, the first
month of the New Year.
This year it begins Oct. 1.
Most symbolic for the holi-
day is the eating of sweets, a
custom which the Talmud
mentions. Halla and apples
are both dipped in honey for
a sweet year to come; some-
times sweetness is shown
through eating teiglakh (a
hard doughy honey and nut
cookie) and lekakh (honey
cake), which means iri He-
brew "portions" and refers
to the prayer "Give them a

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Halla takes on many in-
teresting shapes for the
holiday: round — to sym-
bolize a long life or a full
year; a ladder — so our
prayers may ascend to
heaven; a bird — "As
birds hovering so will the
Lord of Hosts protect
Jerusalem." ISaiah 31:5;
with a ring on top — sym-
bol of a complete year.

Eating of pomegranate
seed: reminds us that God
should multiply our credit
of good deeds. A new fruit,
not eaten yet in this season
is also introduced with Rosh
Hashana and- a
shehekhayanu (prayer of
thanksgiving for things
when they are enjoyed for
the first time) is recited. In
Israel, coincidentally, this
fruit is often a pomegra-
nate.
The head of a ram is often
eaten or placed on the table
in memory of the ram sac-
rificed by Abraham instead
of Isaac. Fish headS are also
often eaten or placed on the
table to remind us that we
should be the head (or
leader) rather than the tail
(or follower). Fish is also a
symbol that one should be
fruitful and multiply during
the coming year.
Ashkenazim (those who
originally came from East
Europe) often eat carrot
tzimmes (a stew with or
without meat and some-
times with prunes added).
The Yiddish word for carrot,
mehren, also means in-
crease and symbolizes the
desire for one's merits to in-
crease over the year to
come. Carrots cut in circles
symbolize coins in color and
shape, another idea for a
prosperous year

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goodly portion."

Sephardim (those who
originally came from
Spain and Portugal and
later on Middle Eastern
Arab countries) follow a
talmudic tradition to eat

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pumpkin, fenugreek,
leek, beet and dates —
foods which grow
rapidly and are symbols
of fertility, abundance
and prosperity. _

While there are many
traditions of which foods to
eat, there are likewise tra-
ditions of foods not to eat on
Rosh Hashana. One should
eat nothing bitter or vineg-
ary. One should also not eat
nuts because they ' are
thought to irritate the.
throat and make speech
which one needs for prayer
difficult. Also the word
"nut" ( egoz in Hebrew) is
almost numerically equal to
the word het (in Hebrew) for
sin. Thus one avoids any-
thing nearly equal to sin.

YOM KIPPUR

Yom Kippur begins on
the 10th of Tishri, this year
Oct. 10. When one thinks of
this holy day, it is usually
more in the context of the
fast rather than food. How-
ever, tradition holds that
the pre-fast luncheon meal
must be a feast. It is not only
a mitzva (a good deed) to eat
this particular meal as a
contrast to the day of
genuine repentance that is
to come, but it is a mitzva to
eat specific things. One dish
in particular is fish. •
Halla also takes on differ-
ent shapes: round — for a
full year; with a ladder on
top — for prayers ascending
to heaven; with wings — on
Yom Kippur people are pure
like angels.

At the immediate pre-
fast meal, later in the day,
poultry is usually the
main dish, reminiscent of
the chicken used for the
kaparot ceremony
(where the chicken is
used as a substitute for
man's sins). Kreplakh,
the triangular-shaped
dough dumplings with
meat filling are eaten at
this meal; the meat sym-
bolized inflexible justice
and the dough sym-
bolizes compassion.

It is customary to break
the Yom Kippur fast first
with sweet then with salt.
Fish and herring to re-
store the body's salt lost
while fasting is then eaten
along with eggs and cheese
dishes.

SUKKOT

MR. and MRS. MARVIN TAMAROFF,
their family and
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of

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Sukkot, one of the four
pilgrimage festivals is the
15-21st of Tishri, starting
this year Oct. 15-21. This is
followed by Shemini At-
zeret and Simhat Torah, the
22nd and 23rd of Tishri,
Oct. 22 and 23.

This is the first harvest
festival of the year before
the rainy season and
winter. In addition to the
etrog, the citron which
has taste and smell, the
lulav (which has only
taste), the myrtle (which
has only smell) and the
willow (which has
neither) there are sym-
bols which are eaten.

The Talmud mentions
nuts, pomegranates and
grape clusters to decorate
the sukka — and
presumably to eat as well.
Teiglach, lekakh and
strudel are all typical of the

sweetness of this festival.
Yemenites often eat
sheep and lamb during the
festival; Russians serve
stuffed cabbage and cab-
bage meat borsht. Hunga-
rians eat goulash (stew of
meat, paprika and onions);
Greeks eat moussaka and
stuffed vine leaves; Jews
from Arab countries eat
kibbee (burghul-coated and
fried dish with meat inside).
All of these foods were one-
dish main courses and
therefore convenient to fix
and carry to the sukka; they
also contained vegetables or
grains of the harvest sea-
son.

Kreplakh which are
eaten on days when there
is a "beating," such as
Yom Kippur, are also
eaten for Sukkot because
the willow and lulav are
beaten.

Halla is baked in various
shapes for Sukkot.
For Simhat Torah, carrot
dishes are often eaten — the
slices resembling coins and
symbolizing the worth of
Torah. Honey cake for the
Torah's sweetness is also
eaten.

HANUKA

Hanuka falls on the 25th
of Kislev, this year Dec.
24-Jan. 1. Practically every
group of Jews have retained
the custom of making and
eating pastry and potato
preparations fried in oil as
reminders of the miracle of
the jar of oil found in time
for the Temple rededication.
Ashkenazim call the pan-
cakes, latkes; Yemenites
call them zalaviyye;
BUkharians, dushpire;
Iraqis, ataif; Tripolese,
spanzes; Sephardim, bir-
menailes. In Israel, they are
called levivot, but, in addi-
tion, one also finds jelly
doughnuts, sufganiyot.
From perhaps as early as
the 14th Century, another
Hanuka eating legend arose}
— cheese pancakes or other -
cheese dishes. These were to
honor the heroism of Judith,
from that book of the Apoc-
rypha, the heroine who
lured the enemy comman-
der of Nebuchadnezzar's
forces, Holofernes to her
home, fed him cheese to
make him thirsty, offered
him wine to • make him
drunk and then killed him.

Yemenites often eat a
special carrot stew at
Hanuka. Eastern Euro-
pean Jews eat a salad
made of radish, turnip,
onions, olives, goose fat
and gribenes (fat and
fatty chicken skin). They
also serve baked kugel,
roast goose and gribenes.

TU B'SHEVAT

Tu b'Shevat or Hamisha
Asar b'Shevat falls on the
15th of Shevat, Feb. 12. Eat-
ing fruit on this day is a cus-
tom of Jews throughout the
world as a way of preserving
the link between the Jewish
people and their land of Is-
rael.
Sephardim try to eat the
seven species which the
land of Israel was blessed—
wheat, barley, grapes, figs,
pomegranates, olives and
honey.

(Continued on Page 13)

