From soft challah bread to sweet pomegranate seeds, every item that appears on the Rosh Hashanah table contains an ancient significance.
The Jewish New Year is celebrated by greeting one another with the words shana tovah u'metukah, Hebrew for "a good and sweet new year!" As a result, the table is very deliberately filled with food that reflects an appetite for happy, prosperous days to come.
The Huffington Post spoke with Naomi Ross, an instructor at the Brooklyn-based Center for Kosher Culinary Arts and founder of Jewish Cooking Concepts, to explain the spiritual significance of the foods that appear on the Rosh Hashanah table.
Round Challah Bread
A festive Jewish meal wouldn’t be complete without having bread on the table, according to Naomi Ross. This is why challah, a braided egg bread, makes an appearance at every Shabbat dinner. The chef considers the table to be like an altar and the bread almost like a sacrifice. Traditionally, Ross says sacrifices were dipped in salt. During the month of Tishrei, which begins with Rosh Hashanah, the bread is dipped in honey to symbolize a prayer for sweet things to come in the new year. Challah is round on Rosh Hashanah, recalling the cyclical nature of the year. It is also symbolic of a crown, alluding to the desire to crown G-d as king.
Recipes:
The Ultimate Challah BreadMimi Wilhem's Challah Recipe
A festive Jewish meal wouldn’t be complete without having bread on the table, according to Naomi Ross. This is why challah, a braided egg bread, makes an appearance at every Shabbat dinner. The chef considers the table to be like an altar and the bread almost like a sacrifice. Traditionally, Ross says sacrifices were dipped in salt. During the month of Tishrei, which begins with Rosh Hashanah, the bread is dipped in honey to symbolize a prayer for sweet things to come in the new year. Challah is round on Rosh Hashanah, recalling the cyclical nature of the year. It is also symbolic of a crown, alluding to the desire to crown G-d as king.
Recipes:
The Ultimate Challah BreadMimi Wilhem's Challah Recipe
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