Apples and Honey and the Rosh Hashanah Seder 

Today the most widespread and beloved Ashkenazic Rosh Hashanah tradition is, at the beginning of the evening meal, the dipping of raw apple slices in honey while reciting the phrase, techadeish aleinu shanah tovah u’metukah (“to renew on us a good and sweet year”). In terms of Jewish history, this is actually a relatively recent tradition and only more recently has become pervasive.

Each Jewish holiday has its own unique fare, but none has developed as many symbolic foods as Rosh Hashanah. The Talmud explains “a siman (sign) is of consequence/has meaning,” not referring to capricious omens and superstition, but, at this time of the year, to the performance of symbolic acts which have special value in reflecting on the past, inspiring the present, and motivating the future. It sets the tone for the ensuing year and becomes the occasion to eat symbolic wishes.

The Machzor Vitry (a Siddur compiled c. 1100 by Rabbi Simcha ben Shumuel, a student of Rashi) records, in his discussion of Rosh Hashanah foods, “The residents of France have the custom to eat on Rosh Hashanah red apples [probably because they are sweeter than green ones]. And in Provence they eat white grapes and white figs and the head of a sheep. Everything new and bright and good for a good sign for all Israel.” These days, the apples appear to be a solo act. The first reference of honey in regards to Rosh Hashanah is in Otzar Hageonim, the collected responsa and commentaries of the Geonim, revealing that Rav Hai Gaon (d. 1038) would “return from the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah night with his students following him and bringing gourds, fava beans, leeks, dates, beet greens, and fruits in a basket with honey and black-eyed peas. And he (Hai Gaon) reached out his hand to the gourd and said: ‘kara.’ So he took the honey and black-eyed peas and said: ‘A land flowing” (with milk and honey).”

The combination of apples and honey was first mentioned c. 1330 CE by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher (c. 1270-1343), called the Tur, in his legal compendium Arbah Turim. The Tur was born in Cologne, Germany, but, due to massacres, relocated in 1303 to Toledo, Spain with his father, Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel (called the Rosh), and his work draws from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic sources. Citing it as a German tradition, the Tur explains (O.Ch, 583), “From this (the Talmud) the customs multiplied, every place according to its custom, like in Germany, where they have the tradition to eat at the beginning of the meal a sweet apple with honey and to state ‘May we have a sweet year.”

Finding Meanings in Symbolism
Jews have never been content with simply following a custom, but historically proceed retroactively to find meanings and layers of symbolism in an act. In this vein, later sources connect the custom of dipping apples in honey to the incident of Jonathan the son of King Saul, who had not heard his father’s oath cursing anyone eating “vayehi hayom (it was that day).” The unwary Jonathan dipped his staff into and ate from the yarat-ha-devash, necessitating his own death before being pardoned (I Samuel 14:27). The term yarat-ha-devash means “the honey of bees’ honeycomb”; Yarat (derived from the root “rough, rugged”) means “forest, woods,” connoting “honey of the woods,” the bees establishing their hives in trees, to differentiate it from the primary form of devash in biblical Israel, date syrup. According to tradition, “vayehi hayom (it was that day)” in the Bible always refers to Rosh Hashanah, this incident serving as an inspiration for dipping an apple slice into honey on that night, appealing to God to pardon us.

In the Zohar, apples became associated with God’s presence, comparable to “an apple orchard.” In Genesis, when Jacob entered Isaac’s tent to receive his blessing, Isaac exclaimed, “See the fragrance of my son is like the fragrance of a field which the Lord has blessed,” which the Midrash explains as “the aroma of an orchard of tapuchim.” (Which may not actually be apples, as some scholars regard them as quinces and Tosafot as etrogim.) According to the Vilna Gaon, this incident occurred on Rosh Hashanah and, therefore, eating apple invokes the merits of the Patriarchs.

Honey is a food in the Bible associated with the Land of Israel. Honey is also an ancient symbol of immortality and truth. The first piece of challah -- which is generally baked in a round shape for the holiday -- is dipped into honey instead of the usual salt, a custom continued in many households until after Sukkot. The Chofetz Chaim points out that sweetness should not only be in our food on Rosh Hashanah, but also be in our mood and temperament.

Whereas apples emerged as the predominant Rosh Hashanah fruit among Ashkenazim, for Mizrachim and Sephardim that role was more often filled by the quince, the very fragrant, yellow-skinned fruit coming into season around the holiday. Persians cook quinces with meat and onions. Moroccans combine it with carrots and prunes. Most often, it is used with sugar or honey in a variety of confections and cakes. Sephardim poach quinces in a syrup and in some homes serve them as the first course of the Rosh Hashanah dinner. Still, some Sephardim dip apples in honey as well, although others have the custom of cooking apples in sugar.

The Rosh Hashanah Seder
Before the festival meal, in many Sephardic homes, a cornucopia of symbolic fruits and vegetables is featured, customarily served in a basket called a trashkal. In others, seven symbolic foods are arranged on a platter, akin to a Seder plate, called Sheva Brachot (“Seven Blessings”). The head of the family removes one item at a time and recites an appropriate verse and/or a Yehi ratztone, then gives a portion to each diner. The first symbolic food is usually a date, the source of the biblical devash, which in some homes is dipped into a mixture of ground sesame seeds, anise seeds, and sugar, called “yitamu.” Next is the pomegranate, followed by an apple, typically dipped into honey. These are followed by a leek, then spinach, beet greens, or chard, and finally the head of a fish or lamb. It is a custom in Jerusalem to serve as many symbolic foods as possible, reciting a prayer and explanation with each one.



Symbolic Rosh Hashanah Foods
* The Hebrew word for “gourd” (kraa) is similar to yikara (“be torn”) but also yikaru (“to be called out/proclaim”), expressing that at this time of judgment she’yikara roa gezar dinneinu (“that any adverse decree be torn up”) v’yikaru l’fanecha zechuyoteinu (“and our merits be called out before You.” Squash, a similar American plant, although unknown in Talmudic times, is commonly substituted today.

* The Aramaic word rubiya (fenugreek) is similar to the Hebrew yirbu (increase/multiply), reflecting that yirbu zechuyoteinu (“may our merits increase”). The principle use of fenugreek in America is in imitation maple syrup, but it serves as the basis of the ubiquitous Yemenite condiment hilbeh (“fenugreek” in Arabic). However, rubiya is commonly mistranslated as black-eyed peas, which, in Aramaic as well as Arabic, is actually lubiya (denoting “Libyan”). Since fresh black-eyed peas become available just before Rosh Hashanah and its name was mistakenly confused with rubiya, black-eyed peas also became traditional among Mizrachim and Sephardim.

* The Hebrew word for “leek” (karti) is similar to yikartu (“to be cut off”), signifying that “our enemies should be cut off.” Instead of eating raw leeks, many Sephardim cook them in the form of patties or casseroles.

* The Aramaic term silka denotes both what we now call beet greens as well as chard (leaf beet/Swiss chard), the two relatives nearly identical in talmudic times. In modern Hebrew, to differentiate the two, chard is called alei selek or selek alim (leaves of selek) and beets are technically selek adom (red selek). Selek is not spinach, which had not yet been developed in Talmudic times, but comes into season again at Rosh Hashanah and became a popular Sephardic holiday food. In any case, silka is reminiscent of the Hebrew she’yistalqu (“that they will be removed”), referring to yistalku avoneinu (“may our sins be removed”) and yistalku oveinu (“may our enemies be removed”).

* Similarly, tamar (the Hebrew word for “date”) as well as the Aramaic tamrai sound like yitamu (“to be removed/consumed”), implying sheyitamu oveinu (that our enemies be removed), but also the Hebrew tam (“cease”), “that our enemies cease to harass us.”

* Over the course of time, others foods were adopted as well. Already in Geonic times, it became common to include a pomegranate, reciting nirbeh zechuyoteini k’rimon (“may our merits increase like the seeds of a pomegranate”). Another tradition dating back to Babylonia was to eat the head of a sheep, connoting nehiyeh l’rosh v’lo l’zanav (“we should be a head and not a tail”), the head of a sheep appropriate at the “head” of the year. Lamb brains was a particularly prized dish in the Middle East, starting the new year on a pleasurable note. Some would cook the head with a sweetener “so that they should eat sweets the entire year.” Much later, Eastern Europeans who rarely had access to a sheep, substituted a whole fish or fish head, while today some vegetarians use a head of lettuce.

Sephardim and some Ashkenazim serve lung (re’ah in Hebrew) while reciting re’ah na bee’onyainu (“behold us in our affliction”). Rashi (Keritot 6a) explains that “some of these foods (Abaye’s quintet) grow quickly and some are sweet,” emphasizing sweet foods for a sweet year. During the medieval period, carrots reached the West, its Hebrew name becoming gezer, which means “tear up” as well as “decree,” signifying shelo yeehyu gezerot ra’ot olainu (“may there be no adverse decrees against us”) or “tear up any adverse decrees.” Rabbi Abraham Danzig of Vilna in the Chayei Adam (1812) explains that the carrot’s Yiddish name mehren is similar to mehr (“to multiply/increase"), and we say “May God increase out merits.” The carrot has several other attributes: It is sweet and when sliced, its shape resembles golden coins. Ashkenazim typically fulfill this with a carrot tzimmes.

(Gil Marks, a regular contributor to this magazine, is the author of numerous books, including the James Beard Award-winning Olive Trees and Honey and has recently completed the manuscript for The Encyclopedia of Jewish Food.)



See accompanying article with the Rosh Hashanah recipes

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