The special smells and tastes of traditional holiday foods help mark special times.
By: Michael Arges
The special smells and tastes of traditional holiday foods help mark the special time of renewal and repentance that is the Jewish High Holy Days.
The holidays began with Rosh Hashana at sundown Monday and will run through the end of Yom Kippur at sundown next Thursday.
Apples and round challah dipped in honey, kreplach the Jewish equivalent of Chinese wonton plus carrot and sweet potato tzimmes are among the traditional foods for Rosh Hashana and the period leading up to Yom Kippur’s 25-hour fast.
One does not need sophisticated theological insight to appreciate these familiar holiday foods, noted East Windsor resident Aliza Leverton. At the same time, the special textures, shapes, tastes and names point to deeper spiritual significance and symbolism, noted Ms. Leverton and East Windsor resident Dina Levine.
"Traditional foods are so much of the holiday and especially as little children that’s what you remember from the holiday you don’t always remember the mystical things and the biblical things," Ms. Leverton noted. "It’s more exciting for children in that way, but we’re all children at heart and we all love food!"
Cooking for the High Holy Days is rich in tradition, but there is room for variation and updating of traditional ideas and recipes, Ms. Levine said. An example is a quick new recipe for sweetened chicken she prepared for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.
"I’m cooking a sweet chicken to have a sweet year," she said.
Ms. Levine combined a small jar of apricot jelly and a small bottle of French dressing with one packet of onion soup mix. She marinated the chicken pieces in this mixture overnight and was planning to bake them in the oven for two-and-a-half to three hours at 300 degrees.
Although her holiday cooking sometimes reflects the Sephardic Jewish tradition of her ancestors, this is a recipe she learned since she moved to America. The Sephardic tradition is the Spanish branch of Judaism that is prominent in Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East.
The rich symbolism of holiday foods helps make the spiritual significance accessible to young and old alike. Sometimes it is the shape of the food that is significant. For example, kreplach is small squares or circles of rolled pasta dough with ground beef or chicken filling rolled into triangles. These wonton like parcels can be boiled or served in soup or fried and served as a side dish, Ms. Leverton noted.
The triangular shape of kreplach is a reminder of the three fathers of the Jewish faith: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In a mystical way the shape of the kreplach also points to judgment and atonement, Ms. Leverton said.
Meat fillings in the kreplach, especially red meat fillings, symbolize judgment, perhaps because the meat points to the ancient sacrifices to God on the temple alter, Ms. Leverton suggested. The dough represents a softening of judgment through prayers, repentance and God’s forgiveness.
Traditionally there is the head of a fish at the Rosh Hashana table.
"We want to be the head and not the tail; we want to be strong and in the forefront of things," Ms Leverton explained. Fish are also popular because their reproductive proclivity points to God’s command to "be fruitful and multiply," a traditional Jewish hope for the new year.
Sometimes the name of foods points to a deeper significance. Carrot dishes are prominent at the high holidays because the Yiddish word for carrot, "meren" also means to increase and multiply. Served in slices, the carrot shape is also important round carrot slices represent golden coins and a hope for material prosperity.
"Tzimmes is a really yummy sweet carrot mixture with sweet potatoes and sometimes people will mix in meat with it," said Ms. Leverton.
Beets are another food significant because of the name. "Some people have a custom to eat beets, because the Hebrew word for beets is ‘salak,’ and that means to banish or send away," Ms. Leverton said, "so people eat that so our sins should be sent away."
Although overindulgence is not encouraged in Jewish faith and tradition, at least with such religious symbolism there may be some learning and growing through holiday feasts, Ms. Leverton suggested.
"We want there to be some significance on these foods," she said, "because we don’t want it to be pure indulgence."

