Clergy Reflections on Rosh Hashanah: The Sweet Life

Growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the seasons rapidly change from fall to winter, and Rosh Hashanah always falls in the sweet spot, when the weather isn’t too hot or too cold. The oak trees are beginning to shake off their bright red, orange and yellow oak leaves. It’s also prime apple season, and our neighbours let us pick them from their giant apple tree in their front yard. 

My mum and I would pick the apples on the day we were preparing the food for our family meals. We started the challah dough and let it rise. Then with the biggest bags we could find, we walked to our neighbours tree and picked apples, laughing at our determined attempts to reach the apples on the tallest branches, always returning home dragging our bounty behind us. We braided the challah and shaped it into a circle. Then we started on the apple sauce and the apple crumble and the million apple slices needed for dipping in honey over the blessing for a sweet new year.  

The tradition of dipping apples in honey over a blessing stems from the Talmud which teaches us that we should eat gourds, fenugreek, leek, beets and dates on Rosh Hashanah during the festival meal. They were symbols of abundance and prosperity. The specific Ashkenazi custom of apples dipped in honey is thought to have started in medieval Germany. Sephardic and Mizrahi customs developed from this as well, some holding a Rosh Hashanah Seder where the foods from the section of Talmud are incorporated into the meal. Many people have developed their own food customs to celebrate. Whatever the traditions that this Talmudic teaching inspired, they are rooted in the sharing of hope and optimism for a fruitful year. 

While I think about those precious moments helping my mum, I received a text with a photo of a round challah from her saying she baked them for my nephew. I was reminded of how special it is to have such wonderful memories around Rosh Hashanah and to be able to pass them on to future generations. The holiday is a celebration of a long tradition of hope and life. These festival customs may seem small; it is a simple slice of apple in honey, but it holds something deeper. It is a connection to our own histories and traditions, to the people that came before us who dipped their apples in honey and those that will carry the traditions on in the future. It is a reminder of the sweetness of reaching this sacred time and invites us to create our own memories and legacies.