Page 11 - Ulpan Or E-Tone (26.09.17) Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #2 (Advanced Level)

Symbols for Rosh HaShana

Garlic, karpas, pomegranate, leek and sesame. All of these can be found in

many homes on the festive table on Rosh HaShana night. Why does one

eat unusual foods on Rosh HaShana? Like the well-known apple in honey,
these are the symbols/“simanim” – foods that symbolize different

blessings that we wish will take place throughout the entire year. The
custom began already during the days of the Talmud. Abaye, one of the

important sages, ruled that one should make a good symbol on Rosh

HaShana, the day when our fate is determined for the entire year. Each
food expressed, by the sound of its name, a different wish in the language

that Abaye spoke, Babylonian Aramaic. The sages of the following

generations added their own symbols: A fish’s head, a sheep’s head – a
symbol for us to be at the head and not by the tail; honey – for the year to

be sweet, and later, the apple joined as well. Throughout the generations,

more and more symbols joined, each location according to its language
and custom. American Jews, for example, have the custom to eat karpas

and raisins, and in Israel, there are those who drink cola – so that the voice

(“kol”) of our prayers will be heard. How is it done? Simple! Take the
symbol in one hand and say: “May it be Your will that the year that is

coming upon us in a good way be good and sweet like an apple in honey.”

Page 11 - Edition 09-26-17
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