Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins sundown on October 2, 2024 and marks the start of the year 5785. Jews all over the world will mark the start of the Rosh Hashanah with a large family meal and most will attend services to celebrate the new year. This festive holiday is marked with food, family and tradition.
Just like all of our holidays, Rosh Hashanah offers no shortage of delicious foods and beautiful traditions. Our traditional dinner is a brisket, a vegetable, usually something sweet like roasted carrots, potato kugel, round challah, and of course apples and honey. For dessert, I generally make something with apples, like a cake or crumble. Here are a few of my favorite Rosh Hashanah recipes. I can't give you my brisket recipe but here is one that is almost as good as mine. The focus is always on sweet, this is to signify the blessing of a sweet new year.
Brisket: Tori Avey, I have yet to make anything that did not come out amazing from her.
Potato Kugel: This is the one that I am going to try this year, Jamie Geller has great recipes.
Challah: So, challah is a pretty intense food in our culture. Everyone has the one they love the best. I stopped making my mom's recipe a few years ago and switched to this traditional one from Chabad. I have never had a bad loaf from it. This one is similar to my mom's but it makes a larger number of challahs so I can put them in the freezer and have them for a few weeks.
Beyond family dinner and attending services, for me the most meaningful part of Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the shofar.
The Shofar: This is one of the central parts of Rosh Hashanah. We are commanded to go and hear the shofar blown. The ram's horn is a call to wake up. Jews are called to prayer, it is a time to get ready to have our deeds examined. The shofar is blown at least 30 times on Rosh Hashanah but it is customary for it to be blown 101 times. There are 3 different blasts that are blown from the shofar. No matter how old I get or how many times I hear it, I always get goosebumps when I hear the shofar blown.
One of the beautiful things about Judaism is the ability to connect with holidays and traditions in a way that is meaningful for you and your family. For many families, celebrating the Jewish New Year involves family dinners and going to synagogue For some families, the connection to welcoming the new year can be found in nature or simple traditions. If you're looking for a new way or an additional way to welcome 5785 locally we have some ideas for you.
Go Apple Picking: If you don't feel called to spend the day in temple, spend the day as a family picking apples. Take some time to appreciate the beauty of nature. Apples, a Rosh Hashana tradition, signifies the head of the new year as well as bring wishes for a sweet new year. Taking your kids apple picking is also an opportunity to set intentions for the new year. Once you have filled your baskets, bring the apples home and use them for dipping in honey, making apple cake, or a sweet apple kugel. You can also use the apples to make apple prints on a tablecloth and napkins to use for dinner or save for Yom Kippur. Check out our apple-picking guide for some local orchards.
Honey Tasting: Source local varieties of honey and have a honey tasting. Try different kinds of honey paired with different varieties of apples and let everyone vote for their favorite. You can also check out a honey-tasting bar in Asheville. Local varieties of honey to try include Cloister Honey, Honeysuckle Hill, and Renfrow Farms. If you're up for the drive, you can head to one of the local places that carries the viral and unique NC purple honey.
Find a Personal Way to Honor Tashlich: The act of casting one's sins in water is one of the most meaningful rituals for me of Rosh Hashanah. While most communities meet and participate in Tashlich as a community, you can do this as a family. One of the main requirements is to go to a body of water and "throw" your sins in. Take a day trip to a local waterfall and cast your sins in a beautiful setting. Take the time to talk as a family about what you hope to do better in the new year. You can use our guide to local waterfalls to help you pick one. If you don't feel like making the drive or have little ones, you can teach and participate in Tashlich with chalk and water.
New to Charlotte and looking for a place for High Holiday Services, visit Ballantyne Jewish Center, Chabad of Charlotte, Temple Israel, and Beth El for information on services.
