HOLIDAY FUN!

P

yka Schwartz, 10, and her sister 
Evie, 4, of Farmington are getting 
ready for Rosh Hashanah. The 
holiday starts at sundown on Sept. 25 
and runs through the night of Sept. 27. It 
marks the beginning of the Jewish year 
and also kicks off a 10-day period known 
as the Days of Awe (Yamim Nora’im), 
which ends with Yom Kippur. 
It’s a time to celebrate the start of the 
new year and reflect on how we have treated 
others in the past year, as well as how we hope 
to act in the year ahead. 
“I’m really excited about spending quality 
time with my family and just celebrating our 
old traditions and having a blast,” Pyka says. 
“We sing really fun songs, and we have a huge 
party … We have really good food.” 
Her family’s traditions around the arrival of 
the Jewish calendar year 5783 — which takes 
place in the month of Tishrei, the seventh 
month of the Hebrew calendar — will include 
going apple picking with family and friends, 
dressing up and just enjoying being together. 
She’ll also take part in a ritual called tashlich, 
which literally means “casting off.” She’ll go 
with her family to Belle Isle to start the new 

year fresh. “We empty our pockets of the 
crumbs into the fresh water to get rid of all of 
the crummy, bad, yucky old year, and we get in 
the clean and happy year,” she says. 
The holidays make Pyka feel proud to 
be Jewish, she adds. “It’s my culture,” she 
explains. She says she’s also looking forward 
to Rosh Hashanah being an in-person 
experience, with relatives coming over to 
celebrate instead of having to virtually be 
together over what she calls “a crickly, crackly 
Zoom call that breaks off every three seconds.”
Her sister Evie says she likes the special 
foods around the holiday. Her favorites? 
Challah and apples dipped in honey. Eating 
apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year 
is a longtime Rosh Hashanah custom at Jewish 
homes around the world. 

KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A SPECIAL APPLE TREE FOR ROSH HASHANAH

A Wake-Up Call
A Wake-Up Call
Welcome 
Welcome 
to the 
to the 
New Year
New Year

Evie Schwartz, 4, and her sister Pyka, 10

60 | SEPTEMBER 22 • 2022 
 
 
 
 

