rosh hashanah » continued from page 54 May the coming year be filled with health and happiness for all our family and friends. L’Shanah Tovah! Sheri and David Jaffa Eden, Kevin, Skylar and Zachary Elbinger Sabrina, Brian, Jadyn, Kendyl and Reese Kaufman John Klein munches on some ma’amoul cookies, a Rosh Hashanah family tradition from his Syrian great-grandmother. May the coming year be filled with health and happiness for all our family and friends. L’Shanah Tovah! Arlene and Chuck Beerman L’Shana Tova! Wishing my friends, family and community a Happy and Healthy New Year. Ask for Milt Neuman today! Laurel Park Place I 37544 West Six Mile Rd., Livonia, MI I 48152 734-462-5851 May the New Year bring to all our friends and family health, joy, prosperity and everything good in life. Steven, Merle and Michael Band 56 September 29 • 2016 2119150 Rosh Hashanah 2016 5777 meals — after Kiddush with wine — eating sweet challah. Natan reports that Sephardi communities serve water breads, dismissing sweet chal- lah as just a kind of cake. Ashkenazi Jews generally serve round challahs on Rosh Hashanah. Natan reports that Sephardi communities serve their breads in straight forms (like the let- ter vav, which has a value of six. Two times six equals 12, the number of breads arrayed in the Temple from one Shabbat to the next). On Rosh Hashanah, Ashkenazi Jews dip their challah in honey and wish each other a sweet year. Sephardi Jews dip their bread in salt first, then sugar and then repeat the process two more times, following the advice of Ben Ish Hai (Haim Yosef, the famous sage of Baghdad, who died in 1909). Cohen notes that some Sephardi Jews avoid honey on Rosh Hashanah — who wants to associate the New Year with bees and their stings? That’s why Ben Ish Hai recommended using sugar to sweeten the bread. Some Ashkenazi Jews avoid nuts on Rosh Hashanah because they may damage the voice or because the numerical value of the Hebrew letters of “nut” approximates the value of “sin.” Whether we observe the symbolic foods at our Rosh Hashanah meals, only some or none at all, Jews of all flavors and from all communities wish each other the blessings of a good new year. MA’AMOUL COOKIES (John Klein’s great-grandmother’s) Dough: 3 sticks of shortening (butter or margarine) 3 cups flour (all-purpose) 3 cups semolina, finely ground ¼ cup sugar 4 tsp. water ½ tsp. rosewater* Fillings: • Date: Use the freshest dates you can find. Pit them and peel off the tough outer skin.Shape them into balls the diameter of a penny. • Walnut: 1 cup walnuts ½ cup sugar Pulse in food processor until all pieces are the size of sugar crystals. (Do not over process!) Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Mix flour, semolina and sugar. Cut the shortening in little cubes and pulse in a food processor with the dry ingredients. Mixture should resemble streusel. Add the rosewater and the water to the mixture 1 teaspoon at a time until the dough just holds together. Warning: If too much water is added, the dough will become stuck to the mold. Take enough dough to line the walls of your ma’amoul mold or other cookie mold, leaving an empty cavity for the filling. Add filling. Flatten some more dough between your palms and use it to cover the top of the mold, forming the cookie. Pound the mold on the countertop, mold side down, to release the cookie. Place the cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in the oven until you see a hint of brown on the bottom of the cookie. Cool and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. * * Rosewater is available in Middle Eastern markets. Look for ma’ammoul molds there, too, or at amazon.com.