By Rabbi Rachel Esserman

Traditional vs. symbolic food: Is there a difference? Actually, yes, there is but most people don’t notice because there is an overlap between the two. For example, traditional food is the meal a family is accustomed to eating on the holiday; for many, that means brisket and roasted potatoes. However, these foods have no religious meaning other than they help us celebrate the holiday. Meat was once a delicacy, so a celebratory meal would often include several different types of meat. Challah is an example of a food that, at least on Rosh Hashanah, falls into both categories. Challah is actually a European braided bread borrowed by Jews; it is now a tradition to eat challah on Shabbat and holidays. However, the round challah eaten on Rosh Hashanah, which is a different shape from the Shabbat one, is a symbolic food because the shape symbolizes the yearly cycle and the continual changing of the seasons. Whether or not that was its original meaning is irrelevant: what counts is what we now believe it symbolizes.
A search for symbolic Rosh Hashanah turned up a surprising number of foods. I say surprising because many of them may be unfamiliar to readers of this paper. These customs developed across the extended Jewish world, but have been increasingly embraced across religious divides. This column looks at some of the better known ones.

• Apples and honey is one of the best known traditional Rosh Hashanah foods, at least in the Ashkenazic world. The explanation is that we eat apples dipped in honey so the New Year will be a sweet one. Eating honey makes sense since it is sweet. I’m not sure why apples became the food of choice, but this custom is so firmly entrenched, I doubt anyone could change it. A similar custom is found in the Sephardic world, only the food consumed is a mixture of sesame seeds and sugar. The sugar is, of course, a wish for a sweet year, while the seeds symbolize the good deeds we hope to perform in the upcoming year.
• Pomegranates are often eaten on Rosh Hashanah. The traditional reason is that their 613 seeds coincide with the number of commandments in the Torah. Our ancestors did not have Google, though, which notes that a pomegranate can have between 200 to 1,200 seeds. (That makes me wonder if our ancestors ever counted them to confirm the 613 number.) However, a custom doesn’t have to make logical sense: it just has to be passed down through the generations.
• The head of a fish or a lamb: The first time I heard of this custom, the only head noted was that of a fish. However, others mention a lamb’s head. Both are said to be connected to the reading of the binding of Isaac that traditionally takes place on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Rather than sacrificing Isaac, Abraham sacrificed a ram in his place. Somehow the ram’s head was transformed to a fish or lamb’s head. The idea is that we pray that we will be leaders (heads) rather than followers (tails) in the upcoming year. If you don’t find this explanation convincing, that’s fine. Once again, it’s the custom rather than the reason that counts.
• The eating of squash, fenugreek, leeks, chard and dates on Rosh Hashanah is suggested in Tractate Horayot (12a) by the sage Abaye because these foods are all said to grow quickly. Quick growth is considered a good omen for the coming year. I’ve never actually seen anyone serve these foods, but I’m sure there are people whose custom it is to eat them on the holiday.
• Black-eyed peas are a holiday food I’d never heard of before doing research for this article. By eating them, we ask God to give us courage and save us from our enemies. After all, we need courage to exist in the face of hatred. A combination of black-eyed peas and one of the foods Abaye praises could be a tasty salad for the holiday table. 

I have a question for readers to consider: Do you want to only eat the symbolic foods with which you grew up, or are you interested in experimenting with the foods mentioned above? The foods could be introduced as new dishes you want to try out, although some might object to any change in the menu because, to them, it’s the traditional non-symbolic foods that say this meal is different from our everyday ones. What matters most, though, is having a festive meal to celebrate the New Year, no matter what foods you choose to eat.