Rosh Hashanah Meals - Berlin Tisch 5779

(8) They read from the scroll of the Teaching of God, translating it and giving the sense; so they understood the reading. (9) Nehemiah the Tirshatha, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were explaining to the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God: you must not mourn or weep,” for all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Teaching. (10) He further said to them, “Go, eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy to our Lord. Do not be sad, for your rejoicing in the LORD is the source of your strength.” (11) The Levites were quieting the people, saying, “Hush, for the day is holy; do not be sad.” (12) Then all the people went to eat and drink and send portions and make great merriment, for they understood the things they were told.

(1) One should eat beans, leeks, beets, dates, and pumpkin. And as one eats the beans (rubiya), they say: God, may our merits increase (yirbu)! Eating leeks (karti), they say: God, may our enemies be wiped out (yekartu)! Eating dates (tamri), say: God, may our enemies disappear (yetamu)! Eating pumpkin (kra), say: God, may our judgement be ripped up (yikra) and may our merits be called out (yikrau) before You! RAMA: Some have a custom of eating a sweet apple in honey, and saying: May a sweet year be renewed on us! This is what we do. Some eat pomegranates, and say: may our merits be as many as pomegranate seeds! And we are accustomed to eat fatty meat and all sorts of sweets.

(2) Eat a head of a lamb saying: Let us be as a head and not a tail. It is also a remembrance of the ram of Isaac. RAMA: There are those who are careful not to eat nuts (egoz), as the word in gematriah [is (almost) equal to] chet (sin). They also cause a lot of excess saliva and phlegm and cause abrogation of prayers. We also go to a river and say the verse: And Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). There are also those who do not sleep during Rosh Hashana during the day, and this is the correct thing to do.

While eating and drinking, one must feed the stranger, the orphan, the widow, and other poor unfortunates. Anyone, however, who locks the doors of his courtyard and eats and drinks along with his wife and children, without giving anything to eat and drink to the poor and the desperate, does not observe a religious celebration but indulges in the celebration of his stomach... this kind of happiness is a curse, as it says "I will put your seed under a ban, and I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festival sacrifices".

One bathes, shaves and has a haircut on the eve of Rosh Hashana. RAMA: There are those who immerse in a mikvah on the eve of Rosh Hashana. And there are places where there is a custom to go to the graves and to pray very much there, and to give charity to the poor people.

One eats, drinks and is merry [on Rosh Hashanah.] It is forbidden to fast, whether on Rosh Hashanah, or on the Shabbat after it. However, people should not eat to complete satiation, so that they do not reach light-headedness, and that the fear of God should remain on them.