Rosh Hashanah Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the traditional Rosh Hashanah meal? ›

At a traditional Rosh Hashanah table, you'll find round loaves of challah to symbolize the circle of life, and many-seeded pomegranates, which represent the 613 commandments in the Torah. For sweetness in the new year, it's tradition to dip apples in honey and bake fragrant honey cakes.

If you're attending a Rosh Hashanah celebration as a guest, it is customary to bring a gift. Traditional choices include honey, apples, pomegranates, or kosher wine. A sweet dessert or a bouquet of flowers could also be appreciated. It's always best to ask the host if there's anything specific they would prefer.

1st Course: If it's your first time hosting, I recommend choosing a simple first course: soup, salad, or fish. If you're pressed for time, soup is a good option, particularly if you have time to make it in advance.

Favorite recipes and sweet foods are popular choices for families on the first and second nights of Rosh Hashanah. Sour foods are usually avoided. Some people avoid nuts during Rosh Hashanah since the numerical value of the Hebrew letters in the word “nu*t” add up to the same number as the word “sin.”

Perhaps no other food custom is more important to Rosh Hashanah than the eating of apples and honey together. At the start of each Rosh Hashanah dinner, everyone seated at the table dips a piece of apple into honey. This is eaten to symbolize the hope that the new year will be a sweet one.

Round Challah

Typically braided into an elongated oval shape, circular challah is traditional for Rosh Hashanah as its shape represents the cycle of the year. He'll also add raisins to his round challah to symbolize the sweetness of the new year.

Just as we eat sweet apples and other foods on Rosh Hashanah because of their symbolic significance, it is customary to avoid bitter and vinegary foods on Rosh Hashanah (see, for example, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 129:9). The Rama (Orach Chaim 583:2) writes that some avoid eating egozim (walnuts) on Rosh Hashanah.

Before eating it we say: Bah-rookh ah-tah ah-doh-noi eh-loh-hay-noo meh-lekh hah-oh-lahm boh-ray peh-ree hah-aytz. Blessed are You, L-rd our G‑d, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the tree.

What is traditionally done on Rosh Hashanah? ›

According to Chabad.org, it's customary for some who observe Rosh Hashanah to go to a body of water to perform a Tashlich ceremony, which involves symbolically casting away their sins. Some people literally throw things like bread into the water, and some, following prayers, shake out the corners of their clothes.

For Jews of Eastern European and Russian descent (Ashkenazi), an old-world-inspired celebratory feast would feature round challahs, chicken soup, a slow-roasted brisket or roast chicken, sweetened roasted root vegetables that always include carrots, and a wide variety of side dishes.

The Seder for the night of Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish tradition of eating a festive meal composed of symbolic foods, reciting psalms, and singing zmirot.