High Holy Day Message from Rabbi Shoshanah Tornberg
Author
Date Added
3 Tishrei 5782 - September 9, 2021
Rosh HaShanah Seder
In the Talmud (Horayot 12a), the Rabbis teach about a seder we often forget: a seder for Rosh Hashanah:
Abaye taught: … each person should make it a habit to eat at the beginning of the year, kara [gourds, e.g. pumpkins or cucumbers], rubia [fenugreek, a seed herb], karte [leeks], silka [beets] and tamrey [dates].
We learn from Rabbi Hai Gaon (10th century) that at that time a custom was observed in which a short prayer was said over each of these foods that highlighted a wordplay between the name of the food and what we wish for our lives in the new year. This custom has continued more strongly in Sephardic circles, while it is believed this is the source of the Ashkenazic custom of eating apples and honey for a sweet new year.
As you might imagine this works most effectively when the wordplay is understood in the vernacular of the Jews participating. With a giggle, I call to mind the Rosh HaShanah my friend served us a salad with raisins and celery—in the hopes that that coming year would include a “raise in salary.”
This lesser-known tradition invites us to bring our humor and our creativity to our particular place and moment in time.
Here are a few ideas:
1. Beans – that we might understand where we have “been” in the past year. 2. Lettuce – that the Holy One might “let us” emerge from a pandemic. 3. Greens – that we might find success in “green”ing our environment. 4. Squash – that we might “squash” racism. 5. Beer – The West is ablaze, so let’s symbolically douse the burning (be’ira הריעב in Hebrew) by drinking beer (bira הריב in Hebrew).
Even though the holiday was a few days ago, which ones can you invent? Not only which foods would you include, but which hopes and goals do you want to make part of this ritual?
Rabbi Shoshanah Tornberg
Old York Road Temple-Beth Am 971 Old York Road Abington, PA 19001
