Sept 28, 2022

Rosh Hashannah has just passed. For those of you who are unfamiliar with “Rosh,” it is the Jewish New Year. I can’t tell you why the Jewish New Year is celebrated sometimes in September and sometimes in October any more than I can tell you why Chinese New Year is in February. I can tell you this is now year 5783 in the Jewish calendar. Again, don’t ask me why. I would have to Google the explanation just like you would.

Many Jews spend part of Rosh Hashannah in a temple, a synagogue, or another edifice where people can gather, pay their respects to their God, commit to living a better life in the coming year, and gossip about what the lady in the third row is wearing. A rabbi will sermonize and mighty sounds will be blown from the shofar, a hollow ram’s horn. Some temples keep an EMT on hand in case either the rabbi or the shofar blower passes out from over-exhalation of hot air.

If you notice the rabbi checking their watch as the service drones on, you know their spouse has warned them–be sure to let the congregation out in time to prepare dinner.

While 50% of Jews pray on Rosh Hashannah, 99% feast. The evening meal is celebrated with family, extended family, and almost family. Without the dietary restrictions of Passover (that pesky no flour rule,) traditional Jewish culinary dishes can be prepared and offered without limit.

Wine, challah, apples, and honey usher in the meal. Chicken soup — homemade of course — is a required opener. At the house chef’s discretion and preferred preparation method, the soup’s matzah balls (the one holdover from Passover seder) may be small and dense cannonballs or light and fluffy pillows.

And then–we have the meat! Brisket. We have the chicken! Roasted. We have the potatoes! Mashed, boiled, baked. The empty spots on the table are soon covered with salads, veggies, and Jello. No cruise ship’s unlimited buffet can compete with the largesse on the Rosh Hashannah table.

Do we have desserts? Cakes filled with apple and cinnamon. Assorted cookies and pies, ala mode for the kids. Everything except for pumpkin spice!

And for the more observant among us, there is a repeat of the feast the next night at someone else’s mother-in-law’s house.

Those two nights have passed. We are in the 10-day period between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance. In shul on Yom Kippur we will admit our sins and pray for forgiveness. To emphasize the seriousness of our atonement we will fast until sundown.

And then we will again gather at some relative’s home and celebrate. How? With a break-fast meal, of course. After all, we’re Jewish!