Festivals of Israel - Rosh Hashanah

 

Date of Issue : 13 September 2011

Israel Post will issue a set of 3 stamps on  Rosh Hashanah Feast on 13 September.  Rosh Hashanah  is  the most important festival of Israel . The stamps feature special dishes eaten on this festival. I just want to share here that the place where I live is a very popular tourist destination of Israelis. There are many Israeli restaurants at  Kasol and Manali  areas of  of Kullu  valley.Many tourists from Israel visit Kullu throughout the year. Once I also visited an Israeli restaurant and had nice Israeli dishes there. So this special festive meal depicted on stamps reminds me of beautifully decorated  Israeli restaurants of Kullu.I am going to have the taste of Honey dipped Apple…. Greetings to  all Israeli friends on Rosh Hashanah !!  Have a  Wonderful Sweet New Year !!

 

Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year is called the Feast of Trumpets in the Bible because it begins the Jewish High Holy Days and Ten Days of Repentance with the blowing of the ram's horn, the shofar, calling God's people together to repent from their sins. During Rosh Hashanah synagogue services, the trumpet traditionally sounds 100 notes. Rosh Hashanah is also the start of the civil year in Israel. It is a solemn day of soul-searching, forgiveness, repentance and remembering God's judgment, as well as a joyful day of celebration, looking forward to God's goodness and mercy in the New Year.

Time of Observance:

Rosh Hashanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (September or October).

 

 

Rosh HaShanah is the Jewish New Year and like most Jewish holidays there are food customs associated with it. One of the most popular and well-known food customs on Rosh HaShanah has to do with dipping apple slices into honey. This sweet combination stems from an age-old Jewish tradition of eating sweet foods to express our hope for a sweet new year.

The Rosh Hashanah Feast

Fish Head
One eats a piece of a fish head, saying: “May it be Your will… that we should be the head and not the tail”. It is customary to recite additional blessings based on the characteristics of fish,such as “we should multiply as fish” or “that You should watch over us with the open eye of a fish”(fish do not have eyelids so their eyes are always open).Among some ethnic groups it is customary to eat a piece of a sheep or ram head, rather than that of a fish, reciting the blessing “and remember the ram of Isaac” alluding to the ram that was sacrificed in lieu of Isaac.
Pomegranate
When eating pomegranate seeds one recites the blessing: “May it be Your will… that our merits should increase like (the seeds of) a pomegranate”. The Talmudic legend notes that
each pomegranate fruit has 613 seeds, as the number of mitzvoth (commandments), equating the People of Israel, who are full of mitzvoth, to the pomegranate fruit.

Apple and Honey

Though apple and honey can be eaten throughout the holidays, they are almost always eaten together on the first night of Rosh HaShanah. Jews dip apple slices into honey and say a prayer asking God for a sweet New Year.