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Rosh Hashanah

Content type
Collection
A Couch and Mountain

Climb Every Mountain

Gabrielle Orcha

I am starting a new tradition, right here, right now.

Business Person

The Plea for Parnussah

Susan Reimer-Torn

On Rosh Hashanah we re-enthrone the Sovereign King in order to perpetuate the ancient world order. But what happens when this particular male-dominant, top down world order is reversed?

Pomegranate and Vanilla-Honey Parfait

Katherine Romanow

Food is never simply food on a Jewish table. Rather, it’s symbolic and carries meaning that goes beyond the sum of its parts.

Image of Exit by G. Orcha

Leaving In Order To Return

Gabrielle Orcha

Though still in the month of Elul, we are approaching Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. We are leaving 5772 behind and will soon enter 5773.

Salomé by Gustave Moreau, 1874-1876

Sarah's Choice

Susan Reimer-Torn

One recent summer weekend, my life—or my awareness of its imperatives—underwent a radical shift. My 28-year-old son was away at the beach with friends.

Honey Cake

Honey Cake: Succulent Slice of Rosh Hashanah Heaven

Deborah Fineblum Raub

There’s a spot in the morning Shacharis service that reminds us that honey can’t be added to any offering.

jwapedia Hashtag

Inspiration for the New Year from #jwapedia

Leah Berkenwald

Last week, JWA asked: Who do you choose to inspire and guide you, your community, and the world, this New Year?

Rosh Hashanah Chicken with Cinnamon and Apples

Eating Jewish: Rosh Hashanah Chicken with Cinnamon and Apples from Metz

Katherine Romanow

Apples are a central component on Rosh Hashanah tables, from the honey dipped apples eaten at the beginning of the evening meal in the hope that they will help bring about a good and sweet new year, to the apple cake eaten at the end of a meal. Thinking about all the apple-eating that happens on this holiday, I couldn’t help but notice that more often than not apples are used in the dishes that grace the dessert table. However, while flipping through Joan Nathan’s latest cookbook Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous (I think this is definitely one of my favorite cookbooks at the moment) my assumptions about apples and desserts were dispelled when I saw the recipe for Rosh Hashanah Chicken with Cinnamon and Apples from Metz. I got extremely excited about this dish and I knew that I had to make it seeing as apples don’t often make it into the savory dishes that I cook.

Boston Fashion Week Logo

When the Jewish calendar and the fashion calendar conflict: My letter to Boston Fashion Week

Kate Bigam

Last week, I received an invitation to attend Fall... In Love With Fashion, billed as "a fun and chic night of fashion at Northshore Mall complete with runway fashion shows, hors d'oeuvres, cocktails & much more!" Sounds fun, right? I thought so, too, & was planning to attend - until I realized that the event falls on September 29th, which is Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest of Jewish holidays.

Etta King and Her Mom, Yael

Righteously bouncing back: What baking challah means to me

Etta King Heisler

The first thing you should know about making challah is this: DO NOT BE AFRAID! I find that many people are intimidated by the thought of making their own challah.

Apple Granita

Eating Jewish: Apple cake - New twists on an old classic

Katherine Romanow

Feasting is a central component to the celebrations of many, if not most, of the holidays on the Jewish calendar.

Kreplach

A kreplach recipe that's worth the work

Preeva Tramiel

I made my first batch of kreplach, noodle dough containing ground meat usually found in chicken soup, in 1972, with my very Greek friend Mary Mastrogeannes, when I was fourteen.

Rosh Hashanah video roundup

Kate Bigam

If YouTube searches are any indication, we Jews love making music videos, and holidays offer the perfect opportunity to create new ones and hope they go viral.

Moroccan Swiss Chard Salad (Salade de Blettes)

Eating Jewish: North African salads for Rosh Hashanah

Katherine Romanow

Not only is it almost the beginning of a new year, but the weather is beginning to change and the tomatoes, zucchini and corn that have been so plentiful over the summer are being replaced by squash, apples, pears, figs and a multitude of other autumn fruits and vegetables. The availability of all this fantastic produce has made the High Holidays one of my favorite times on the Jewish calendar to be cooking. This is especially true for Rosh Hashanah, when the food symbolism of the holiday necessitates the use of seasonal fruits and vegetables.

Julie Rosewald becomes the first woman to lead services in an American synagogue

September 20, 1884

As the solemn First Day of Rosh Hashanah (5645) got underway on a Sabbath morning in 1884, congregants at San Francisco’s Temple Emanu-El experienced something entirely new.

Hannah as a Precedent-Setter

Leora Jackson

On the first day of Rosh Hashana last week, I listened to a congregant at my synagogue chant Haftorah, the additional reading from Jewish scriptures that follows the reading of the Torah on Shabbat and holidays. This particular Haftorah continues to hold great relevance and importance for Jews today, and particularly for Jewish women. It tells the story of Hannah and her desire to bear a child. In the story, we learn that Hannah and Peninah are both the wives of a man named Elkanah. Peninah goads Hannah because Hannah, like many of the Jewish matriarchs, is barren.

Those "Twice a Year" Jews

Leah Berkenwald

In the space between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are inundated with messages about self-reflection, our responsibilities as Jews in the world, and our level of involvement with Jewish life.

Lessons from "A Lay Sermon by a Young Lady"

Leah Berkenwald

One hundred and twenty years ago today, Ray Frank delivered a historic sermon on what was the first night of Rosh Hashanah in Spokane, Washington. Ray Frank, featured in JWA's Women of Valor exhibit, is one of those "complicated" heroines.

Eating Jewish: Pumpkin Cupcakes

Katherine Romanow

The cannon of Jewish recipes is an extensive one that spreads across many places and generations. Many of the recipes contained therein have been cooked by generations of women with only small changes in the way they have been prepared. Many of these recipes have come to be viewed as traditional dishes, prepared on holidays, Shabbat and other special occasions. They have come to play an important role at these times and are often specifically associated with these occasions.

Teiglach

JWA's Greatest Hits: Eating Jewish: Teiglach (Ashkenazic Honey Dough Balls)

Katherine Romanow

Honey is an integral element on the Rosh Hashanah table and in thinking about what to write about for my posts about foods to serve during the upcoming New Year celebrations, I knew I had to include a dish in which the main ingredient consisted of this golden sweetener.

Eating Jewish: Apple Cake

Katherine Romanow

I don’t quite know how it happened, but the nights are getting cooler and there’s that feeling of fall in the air. Summer is winding down and with that comes the reds, yellow and orange colors of the changing leaves, thicker sweaters and of course the High Holidays. With the New Year almost upon us, attention is beginning to shift to the upcoming celebrations and of course what will be served at the festive meals that will be part of the holiday.

The Spiritual and the Material: Wealth and Stereotypes on the High Holidays

Leora Jackson

I just came home from a trip to my local suburban mall with two friends from elementary school. The mall is looking good – the walls are an upscale beige accented with stained wood, and new stores like Coach and BCBG emphasize that those who shop here must have ample money to spend. The mall is clearly marked as Jewish, too, with shoppers wearing long skirts, kippas, or less modest clothing adorned with Jewish symbols and summer camp logos.

First Female Cantor Leads Rosh Hashanah Services

September 15, 1955

Betty Robbins, the world's first female cantor, led Rosh Hashanah evening services at Temple Avodah of Oceanside, New York, on September 15, 1955.

Ray Frank preaches on Rosh Hashanah

September 14, 1890

On September 14, 1890, Ray Frank became the first Jewish woman to preach formally from a synagogue pulpit in the United States.

Havvah Shapiro

“Our literature lacks the participation of the second half of humanity.” Thus proclaimed the Hebrew writer Hava (Eva) Shapiro (1878-1943) in her 1909 feminist manifesto, the first ever in the Hebrew language. She was the most prolific female Hebraist of her era to remain in the Diaspora and the first woman ever to have kept a diary in Hebrew.

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