Context: These are date trees from outside Jericho (as of June 2023). In Deuteronomy 34:3, Jericho is described as a "city of dates". Because it sits by the Jordan River (water) and has soil that is good for growing energy-rich dates, Jericho is considered the oldest city in the world, dating to 9000 BCE. As other communities developed around it, Jericho traded dates for other things that it needed. The Crusaders wiped out all of the original Judean dates, though some are being regrown from date pits found at Masada (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aax0384; https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/how-to-grow-a-date-tree-from-2000-year-old-seeds/606079/; https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2020/02/06/803186316/dates-like-jesus-ate-scientists-revive-ancient-trees-from-2-000-year-old-seeds). Today, date trees in Israel are of the medjool or deglet noor variety, both coming to Israel from America (kippa tip to Josh Hartuv).
Apples in the Bible
The most famous apple
(1) Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that God יהוה had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” (2) The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. (3) It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” (4) And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, (5) but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God who knows good and bad.” (6) When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. (7) Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Genesis, when Adam and Eve are in the Garden of Eden. You’ll notice that there is no apple mentioned here. The Rabbis of the Talmud have a discussion about what the fruit might be, suggesting grapes (because wine brings trouble, though grapes don’t grow on trees), wheat (because eating grain is part of growing up, though wheat doesn’t grow on trees), and figs (because they used fig leaves immediately afterwards, and figs grow on the same tree as fig leaves) (Brachot 40a:14, Sanhedrin 7a:22).
So where did the apple idea come from? It’s not because “malum” could be “bad” or “apple” — that word wasn’t in Latin translations of this part of the Bible. Rather, in Old French and in Latin, “Pom” meant “fruit”; as the French language changed in the 1100s, “Pom” evolved to mean “apple”. Thus, the younger readers of French and Latin translations of the Bible didn’t understand what the older translators had meant. This then led to painters erroneously painting an apple into the scene, such as this 1507 painting of “Adam and Eve” by Albrecht Durer (not helped that there weren’t so many other fruits in Europe at the time). Given that the literacy level in 1500s Europe was not high, people didn’t read the Bible but rather looked at the painting and said “Oh, that’s what Eve ate”. The “Adam’s apple” in the throat was assumed to be due to a piece of the apple that Adam supposedly ate. (https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/philosophy/14750/fruit-of-the-fall/). (To view slightly newer paintings of Adam and Eve from 1533, check out Gallery 238 at the Art Institute of Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/galleries/28496/gallery-238)
Apples in Song of Songs
Context: Song of Songs is a Biblical book that is X-rated. It almost didn’t make it into the Bible until it was argued that this was really an allegory for G-d’s love for the Jewish people.
So is my beloved among the youths.
I delight to sit in his shade,
And his fruit is sweet to my mouth.
Refresh me with apples,
For I am faint with love.”
Let me take hold of its branches;
Let your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
Your breath like the fragrance of apples,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple tree I roused you;
It was there your mother conceived you,
There she who bore you conceived you.
Other Biblical Apple References
The fig tree withers,
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
All the trees of the field are sear.
And joy has dried up
Among the people.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Joel, describing the crops of the Land of Israel that have been ravaged by locusts.
Is a phrase well turned.
Context: This is a saying from the Biblical Book of Proverbs.
“Apple” (“Tapuach”) as a name
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of First Chronicles. Based on I Chronicles 2:43, 2:42, and 4:21, the genealogy goes like this: Judah > Shelah > La’adah > Mareshah > Hebron > Tappuah. Modern scholarship assumes that “Tapuach” being a son of “Hebron” is connected to the place called “Tapuach” being geographically close to the place named “Hebron”.
“Apple” (“Tapuach”) as a place name
Context: The Biblical “Tapuach” is near modern “Kfar Tapuach”
Janum, Beit-tappuah, Aphekah,
Apple of the Eye
These verses use a different word for "apple" instead of "tapuach", so they are talking about the "pupil of the eye" and not actual apples.
(10) [God] found them in a desert region,
In an empty howling waste.
[God] engirded them, watched over them,
Guarded them as the apple of God’s eye.
(12) For thus said GOD of Hosts—whose Presence sent me —concerning the nations that have taken you as spoil: “Whoever touches you touches the apple of My eye.
hide me in the shadow of Your wings
My teaching, as the apple of your eye.
(18) Cry aloud to the Lord.
O wall of Fair Zion,
Shed tears like a torrent
Day and night!
Give yourself no respite,
Your eyes no rest (OR "let not the apple of Your eye cease")
Honey in the Bible
Unless specified otherwise, honey usually refers to date honey, not bee honey. Note that although bees are not kosher, bee honey is kosher because the bee is merely thought to carry it (Bechorot 7b:4).
Honey, Land flowing with milk and
“Milk” refers to goat milk, not cow milk. This is a reference to the Land of Israel having lots of pastures so that goats could give lots of milk.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Exodus, when G-d is talking to Moses at the Burning Bush.
Context: Same thing.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Exodus. The Israelites are on the cusp of leaving Egypt, and Moses is telling them that when they get to the Land of Israel, they should continue to eat matzah for seven days to remember leaving Egypt.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Exodus, right after the Golden Calf incident. G-d is telling the Israelites that they should continue on to the Land of Israel, since G-d promised it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for their descendants.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Leviticus, where G-d is saying that because the previous inhabitants of Canaan did abhorrent practices (like child sacrifice), the Israelites are getting a chance to move back home and shouldn’t copy those terrible practices.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Numbers, when the spies come back and give their report. The spies all agree that the land flows with milk and honey before they disagree about the likelihood of entering it successfully.
Context: This is from the same source as before, except now the 2 spies who believe they can get into Israel are trying to convince the rest of the Israelites.
(13) Is it not enough that you brought us from a land flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the wilderness, that you would also lord it over us? (14) Even if you had brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and given us possession of fields and vineyards, should you gouge out the eyes of those involved? We will not come!”
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Numbers, from the story of Korach’s rebellion. In this text, Moses is summoning Datan and Aviram, but they are refusing to come. They make the claim that Egypt was the land of milk and honey, not Israel.
(3) Obey, O Israel, willingly and faithfully, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly [in] a land flowing with milk and honey.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy. It is the verse right before the Shema.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy, from a few verses before the “V’haya Im Shamo’a” set of verses that makes up the second paragraph of the Shema. According to this verse, if we keep G-d’s instructions then we will last many years in the Land of Israel.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy, from the text that Israelite farmers would say when they brought their first fruits to the Temple.
Context: This is from the Sifrei, a book of Rabbinic commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy, dating from around 200 CE in the Land of Israel.
Context: This is from Rashi's commentary on the Bible. Rashi (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak) was a French winemaker (1040-1105) who wrote the most widely-used commentary on the Bible and on the Talmud in his spare time.
Context: Same text.
Context: This is also from Deuteronomy, from a part about how when the Israelites cross the Jordan River into the Land of Israel they should coat large stones with plaster and inscribe on them the rules that G-d is commanding them.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy, from Moses' last speech to the Israelites.
(6) For the Israelites had traveled in the wilderness forty years, until the entire nation—the men of military age who had left Egypt—had perished; because they had not obeyed GOD, and GOD had sworn never to let them see the land that GOD had sworn to their ancestors to assign to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Joshua, where it is explaining that all the men over twenty who left Egypt were circumcised, but those younger than twenty hadn’t been until this point when they had entered the Land of Israel. Because this phrase “land flowing with milk and honey” is very common in the Book of Deuteronomy, it is one reason why Biblical scholars think the same author wrote down both Deuteronomy and Joshua.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is receiving a message from G-d, where G-d is recounting the covenant that G-d made with the Jewish people (presumably at Mt. Sinai). Here the idea seems to be that G-d upheld the Divine end of the agreement by getting the people to the Land of Israel, but they have not upheld their end of the agreement because they worship other gods. Therefore, G-d will expel them from the Land of Milk and Honey.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Ezekiel, where Ezekiel is delivering G-d’s message to Jewish community leaders in Babylonia that G-d had promised to take us from Egypt to the Land of Israel.
(15) However, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the fairest of all lands, that I had assigned [to them],
Context: Same text. Ezekiel is now saying that after the Israelites spurned G-d in the wilderness, that G-d was not planning on taking them to the Land of Israel, though G-d had pity on their children.
Context: This is a song written to the words for “a land flowing with milk and honey” (“eretz zavat chalav udvash”). The pictures are of the Land of Israel.
Context: This is the title song from the 1950s musical “Milk and Honey”
Honey, Curds and
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of II Samuel. David and those loyal to him are being chased by his son, Absalom, and those loyal to him. David and his people have been given refuge, and among the food given to them are curds and honey (which makes sense, because this is a variation of the "milk and honey" for which the Land of Israel is known).
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Isaiah (the first Isaiah). The king of Judah is concerned because the king of Israel and the king of Aram (modern day Syria) have allied to attack Judah, around 785 BCE. Isaiah says not to worry, and he gives the king a sign. Isaiah says that a young woman is pregnant and will give birth to a son (this is the verse where "almana" is mistranslated by the Christians as "virgin", even though "virgin" is "b'tulah" and "almanah" is "young woman"). When the child is old enough to tell the difference between good and bad, people will be eating good food despite the desolation wrought by the invading troops (so context is another reason why Isaiah 7:14 couldn't be referring to Jesus).
Context: Same text a few verses later. Now Isaiah is saying that even when the Assyrians attack and take away most of the people's animals, those animals that are left will give enough milk that people can just enjoy the curds of the milk and not worry about the lower-priority milk products.
Samson and Honey
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Judges, Chapter 14, where Samson uses honey as a riddle but is betrayed by his first Philistine wife.
(ח) וַיָּ֤שׇׁב מִיָּמִים֙ לְקַחְתָּ֔הּ וַיָּ֣סַר לִרְא֔וֹת אֵ֖ת מַפֶּ֣לֶת הָאַרְיֵ֑ה וְהִנֵּ֨ה עֲדַ֧ת דְּבוֹרִ֛ים בִּגְוִיַּ֥ת הָאַרְיֵ֖ה וּדְבָֽשׁ׃
“What is sweeter than honey,
And what is stronger than a lion?”
He responded:
“Had you not plowed with my heifer,
You would not have guessed my riddle!”
Jonathan and Honey
Context: This is from I Samuel 14, where Jonathan is away at battle when his father Saul declares a fast day, and Jonathan gets in trouble for eating honey.
(25) Everybody came to a stack of beehives where some honey had spilled on the ground.
(26) When the troops came to the beehives and found the flow of honey there, no one put his hand to his mouth, for the troops feared the oath.
Honey from the Rock
The commentators aren't sure what to do with this one, but ibn Ezra considers it a metaphor
To feast on the yield of the earth;
Nursing them with honey from the crag,
And oil from the flinty rock,
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy, from Moses' last speech.
(17) He fed them [Israel] the finest wheat;
I sated you with honey from the rock.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Psalms, Psalm 81. This psalm is also the Psalm for Thursday.
Honey = Sweet
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Ezekiel, where G-d’s word is described as being “sweet”.
than much fine gold;
sweeter than honey,
than drippings of the comb.
Context: This is from Psalm 19, which is part of the P’sukei D’zimra service and also the source of the “Yiheyu l’ratzon” line at the end of the Amidah. Here the psalm is comparing the judgements of the Lord to the sweetness of honey.
sweeter than honey.
Context: This is also from the Book of Psalms, from a section of Psalm 119 where the narrator is saying that they have tried to follow G-d’s instructions.
Sweet to the palate and a cure for the body.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Proverbs, from a part of Chapter 16 that talks about the speech patterns of the wise person.
Let its sweet drops be on your palate.
Context: Also from the Book of Proverbs. The next verse says that wisdom is similarly good for your soul and future.
Other Instances of "Honey" in the Bible
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Genesis. When Jacob is sending his sons down to Egypt a second time, he sends products of the Land of Israel as gifts to the Egyptian man (Joseph, unbeknownst to Jacob) who has imprisoned Simon.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Exodus. After the Israelites crossed the Sea of Reeds, they complained about being hungry and one of the solutions to this problem was manna.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Leviticus, from the instructions about how to offer the “Mincha” / meal offering.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy, describing the Land of Israel. This verse is the source of the “Seven Species” of the Land of Israel.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of I Kings. Jereboam had become the first king of Israel after Solomon's kingdom split into Judah and Israel, but Jereboam told everybody to worship golden calves instead of G-d so that they wouldn't make pilgrimages to Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Judah. Jereboam's son became ill, and Jereboam sent his wife to the prophet who had predicted that Jereboam would become king to find out what would happen to the boy (spoiler: the boy died and was buried, and everybody in Israel mourned for him because he was loyal to G-d unlike the rest of his family).
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of II Kings, where the King of Assyria has sent a messenger to encourage the people of Jerusalem to surrender. Note that Assyria is described as being like the Land of Israel because it also has honey.
But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have stores hidden in a field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey.” So he stopped, and did not kill them along with their fellows.—
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Jeremiah. After the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and took most of the Jews away, they appointed Gedaliah to be in charge of the Land of Israel as their governor. Ishmael didn't like the fact that Gedaliah was willing to cooperate with the Babylonians in order to have any Jewish self-government left, so he assassinated Gedaliah on the 3rd of Tishrei (now known as "Tzom Gedaliah", a minor fast day). Two days later, Ishmael met a group heading toward Jerusalem. Ishmael didn't want them to find out that Gedaliah had been killed, so he and his men killed most of the group except for the 10 men in our verse (who then never appear again in the Bible).
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Ezekiel, where G-d is saying that G-d gave the Jewish people wonderful products of the Land of Israel when they were “betrothed”.
Context: Same text as before, but now G-d is saying that the Jewish people took G-d’s gifts and used them to make offerings to other gods, symbolically betraying the marriage covenant.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Ezekiel, where Ezekiel is giving a message to the Phoenicians. It shows that the Land of Israel exported honey to other places (and the Phoenicians were merchants who traversed the Mediterranean Sea). "Minnith" is also mentioned in Judges 11:33; "Pannag" is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.
From your lips, O bride;
Honey and milk
Are under your tongue;
And the scent of your robes
Is like the scent of Lebanon.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Song of Songs. This verse is sometimes cited to explain why we eat cheesecake on Shavuot (https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/236035?lang=bi).
My own, my bride;
I have plucked my myrrh and spice,
Eaten my honey and honeycomb,
Drunk my wine and my milk.
Eat, lovers, and drink:
Drink deep of love!
Context: This is also from the Biblical Book of Song of Songs.
Lest, surfeiting yourself, you throw it up.
Context: This is from the Biblical Book of Proverbs. The text both stands on its own as a warning about the importance of moderation, and it stands in context to warn in the next verse about not visiting with your neighbor too often lest they come to loathe you.
Apples and Honey
Apples represent a fall fruit and can be used as an excuse for the “Shehechiyanu” blessing, as a new fruit for the new year (if you don’t eat one before Rosh Hashanah). They also pair well with honey, which is a symbolic food for “a sweet year”.
אמר רב אמי האי מאן דבעי לידע אי משכא שתא אי לא מייתי שרגא בהלין עשרה יומין דבין ריש שתא ליומא דכיפורי וניתלי בביתא דלא נשיב זיקא אי משיך נהוריה נידע דמסיק שתיה ומאן דבעי נעביד עיסקי ובעי דנידע אי מצלח עיסקי אי לא נירבי תרנגולא אי שמין ושפר נידע דמצלח...אמר אביי השתא דאמרת סימנא מילתא היא יהא רגיל איניש למיכל ריש שתא קרא ורוביא כרתי סילקא ותמרי
Rav Ami says: One who desires to know if he will live through this current year or not should bring a lit candle during those ten days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and hang it in a house through which wind does not blow, and he should watch it carefully: If its light continues he shall know that he will live out his year.
And one who desires to conduct business and wants to know if his business will succeed or not should raise a rooster. If the rooster gets fat and beautiful he shall know that the venture will succeed... Abaye said: Now that you have said that a sign is a substantial matter, a person should be accustomed to eat, at the start of the year, gourd, fenugreek, leeks, beets, and dates.
Context: This is from the Babylonian Talmud, Masechet (Tractate) Keritot. It cites a 4th century rabbi from Babylonia. There are no apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah at this point.
ומזה רבו המנהגים כ"מ ומקום לפי מנהגו כמו באשכנז שרגילין לאכול בתחלת הסעודה תפוח מתוק בדבש לומר תתחדש עלינו שנה מתוקה ובפרובינצ"א נוהגין להביא על השלחן כל מיני חידוש ואוכלין ראש כבש והריאה לומר נהיה לראש ולא לזנב והריאה לפי שהיא קלה והר"מ מרוטנבורג היה רגיל לאכול ראש איל זכר לאילו של יצחק:
And from this (what Abaye said) grew the [various] customs, every place according to its custom; as in Germany, where they are accustomed to eating sweet apple with honey at the beginning of the meal, to say, "Let this new year be sweet for us." And in Provence they are accustomed to bring all types of novelties [to the meal] and to eat a sheep's head and lung, to say, "Let us be at the head and not at the tail;" and the lung because it is light. And our teacher, Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg was accustomed to eat the head of a ram to commemorate the ram of Yitzchak.
Context: This is from the Tur, which is short for the "Arba Turim", or "The Four Rows" (referring to the High Priest's breastplate). The Tur was written by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher in the 1300s. It was a law code summarizing Jewish law up to that time, and it later formed the basis for the Shulchan Aruch.
(א) דברים שנוהגים לאכול בליל ר"ה ובו ב"ס:
יהא אדם רגיל לאכול בראש השנה רוביא דהיינו תלתן כרתי סילקא תמרי קרא וכשיאכל רוביא יאמר יהי רצון שירבו זכיותינו כרתי יכרתו שונאינו סלקא יסתלקו אויבינו תמרי יתמו שונאינו קרא יקרע גזר דיננו ויקראו לפניך זכיותינו: הגה ויש נוהגין לאכול תפוח מתוק בדבש (טור) ואומרים תתחדש עלינו שנה מתוקה (אבודרהם) וכן נוהגין ויש אוכלים רימונים ואומרים נרבה זכיות כרמון ונוהגין לאכול בשר שמן וכל מיני מתיקה: (מרדכי דיומא):
(1) (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.
Context: This is from the Shulchan Aruch, published in 1563 by Rabbi Joseph Caro. He was Sephardic, and the Ashkenazi gloss (the RAMA) was provided by Rabbi Moses Isserles (who was trying to publish something like the Shulchan Aruch, but didn’t publish it in time).
(א) ונוהגין לאכול תפוח מתוק בדבש ואחר שיאכל יאמר זה:
(ב) יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶיךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁתְּחַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ שָׁנָה טוֹבָה וּמְתוּקָה:
It is customary to eat apples dipped in honey and to say afterwards:
May it be Your will, our God and God of our ancestors that we should have a good and sweet new year.
Context: This is from the Sephardic High Holiday machzor. There is a Sephardic custom to eat many symbolic foods and to say an appropriate wish for the new year based on them (usually involving a Hebrew pun).
יהיה רגיל לאכול בראש השנה בשתי הלילות על שלחנו בסדר זה, תחלה תמרים ויברך 'בורא פרי העץ' ויאכל תמרה אחת, ואח"כ יאמר 'יהי רצון שיתמו אויבנו' וכו', ויאכל תמרה השניה, ויכוין בבקשה זו על אויבים התחתונים, ואח"כ יאכל רובי"א והוא מה שקורין בלשון ערבי לובי"א ויאמר 'יהי רצון שירבו זכיותנו', ולפי מה שכתב הגאון מגן אברהם ז"ל שיבקש גם לפי המשמעות הנראה מלשון המדינה, על כן אנחנו אנשי בגדא"ד שקורין אותה לובי"א צריך לומר 'שירבו זכיותו ותלבבנו'...
On Rosh Hashanah, one should eat in the following order (seder) on both nights: First, dates. One should recite the blessing of "creator of the fruit of the tree," and eat one date. After that, one should say: May it be your will that our enemies be destroyed (Yitamu = destroyed, sounds like tamar = date). The one should eat the second date, and have in mind "the enemies of the lower realms." After that, a person should eat fenugreek (rubya), which we call "luvya" in Arabic, and says "may it be Your will that our merits increase (yirbu)." But as Magen Avraham (17th century legal scholar) says, one should make requests in the language that makes sense wherever you are, and so we in Baghdad who call it "luvya" have to say, "that our merits may increase and and become beloved (tilvaveynu)....
Context: This is from the Ben Ish Chai’s halachic code book, written by Rabbi Yosef Hayyim in the 1890s in Baghdad, Iraq. It is an important source of practical what-to-dos for Sephardic Jews. Note that it says one should make requests in the language that makes sense where you are, opening the door to symbolic foods based on puns in English.
Modern Simanim \ Symbolic Foods for Rosh Hashanah (from David Schwartz)
Round challah - May we not be upbraided in the coming year (or May G-d put yeast in our souls, causing us to rise to our highest potential)
Honey - May we be connected to the Land of Milk and Honey
Pomegranate - May we have no stains on our reputation this year
Leeks - May all our faucets be tight this year
Dates - May all our calendar pages be used wisely (or may all our relationships be as we hope for)
Carrots - May those we care for be happy
Beets - May all our fears be beeten away
Head of lettuce - May we be the head and not the tail
Tomatoes - May this be a red-hot year for us
Peaches - May this be a peachy year for us
Brussel Sprouts - May our good fortunate sprout
Lettuce leaf, raisins and celery - Let us pray that our employers give us a raise in salary
Corn - May our prosperity be as abundant as kernels on the corn
Peas - May we know peace in our hearts
Black-eyed peas - May our souls be not bruised this year (there is a theory that black- eyed peas, which are a traditional Rosh Hashanah food, became a traditional Southern New Years food because of the Jewish community)
Green beans - May we not be green with envious this year
Sesame seeds - May our hearts be open, particularly to our inner child
Cloves - May we cleave to G-d's commandments this year
Gefilte Fish - May the coming year be stuffed with blessings for us (also good for stuffed dates)
Eggplant/Eggs - May the year be filled with excellent experiences
Turnovers - May our bad habits be turned over this year
Peas cooked with thyme - May we see peace in our time this year
Lemon - May our year have few sour moments (good for anything else sour too)
Potato chips - May we not harden our hearts this year (good for anything else high in fat)
Dumplings - May we not litter and trash the environment this year
Matzah - May we not make decisions in haste this year
Any other fruit or vegetable not already in use - May this be a year of health for us
Bagel - May this be a year of holiness for us
Life cereal - May this be a year of life for us
Context: This is a set of modern “Simanim” (symbolic foods for Rosh Hashanah) developed in 2012 by David Schwartz, a Chicago-based Jewish educator.
American Jewish World Service: “A Rosh Hashanah Seder” (2023)
Apples and Honey: Blessings for Sweetness
May we find mercy in the sweetness of a new year. May the freshness of this apple awaken our belief in the kinship of all humanity, and may the sweetness of this honey revive our hope that joy lies ahead of us. Amen.
Context: This AJWS mailing goes on to include blessings associated with celery (health), maize (sustenance), olives (peace), and challah (justice).
Context: This is a Ladino (and Hebrew) version of the song “Tapuchim Udvash” / “Apples and Honey”, done by the Jewish community of Mexico City. Notice that in Ladino the “ch” sound is written with a “j”. There is a singable English version to the same tune: Apples and honey, for Rosh Hashanah / Apples and honey, for Rosh Hashanah / A very good year, a very sweet year / Apples and honey, for Rosh Hashanah.
Context: This is the “Dip the Apple” song, done by Jewish kids’ video producer “Shaboom”.
Context: This is a musical version of the “Y’hi Ratzon” sentence that we say after eating the apples and honey. The song was written and performed by Eliana Light around 2019.
Context: This is a 2011 parody of Shakira’s “Waka Waka” by the Ein Pratt Fountainheads from Israel.
With appreciation to Shane Ovadia, Thomas Cleveland, Sefaria Education, Doron Lazarus, Moshe Moskowitz, Rabbi Kayley Romick, Yael Saffra, National Library of Israel, Sara Wolkenfeld, Rabbi David Polsky, Tzvi Fischer,
Appendix: Ways that Israel today is protecting bees
https://nocamels.com/2020/07/israeli-bee-tech-populations-agriculture/
https://www.israel21c.org/how-israel-is-saving-the-honey
https://www.israel21c.org/israelis-discover-cure-for-bee-colony-collapse-associated-virus/
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/bees-find-refuge-perilous-world-robotic-hive-2021-08-09/
https://www.jewishvoicesnj.org/articles/how-israel-is-leading-the-world-in-reviving-bee-colonies/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/artificial-pollinator-aims-to-take-sting-out-of-bee-colony-loss/