The Jewish New Year should be about spirituality, about Jews’
aspirations to be better people than they were the year before, about
their hopes to find and stick to the righteous path. But like most other
Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah is really about a little bit of theology
and a whole lot of food. On this holiday there’s a custom to serve
up a dish that sounds more than a tad bit fishy: fish heads.
The practice comes from a combination of a pun and the desire for a good omen, pointing to a passage in Deuteronomy that reads, “G.d shall place you as a head and not as a tail.”
Since ‘Rosh Hashanah’ translates literally as ‘Head of the Year,’ eating a fish head on the holiday became a little joke about the verse. You should start out your year as the head ,or leader,and not the tail or follower.” The head’s presence on the table serves as both a reminder to be in the lead and a sign that the ensuing 365 days will be filled with good fortune.
While the very idea of a good luck charm might leave some less than superstitious Jews with bad tastes in their mouths ,even before they’ve bitten into the fish head, that is that being a head and not a tail is simply a maxim that Jews “should strive to internalize in order to shape the rest of the year.
Additional rationales for dishing up fish heads include the fact that fish are symbols of fertility and that the New Year is a great time to remind Jews to be fruitful and multiply. And since fish never close their eyes, their stalwart eyelid-lacking presences can ward off the evil eye.
The practice comes from a combination of a pun and the desire for a good omen, pointing to a passage in Deuteronomy that reads, “G.d shall place you as a head and not as a tail.”
Since ‘Rosh Hashanah’ translates literally as ‘Head of the Year,’ eating a fish head on the holiday became a little joke about the verse. You should start out your year as the head ,or leader,and not the tail or follower.” The head’s presence on the table serves as both a reminder to be in the lead and a sign that the ensuing 365 days will be filled with good fortune.
While the very idea of a good luck charm might leave some less than superstitious Jews with bad tastes in their mouths ,even before they’ve bitten into the fish head, that is that being a head and not a tail is simply a maxim that Jews “should strive to internalize in order to shape the rest of the year.
Additional rationales for dishing up fish heads include the fact that fish are symbols of fertility and that the New Year is a great time to remind Jews to be fruitful and multiply. And since fish never close their eyes, their stalwart eyelid-lacking presences can ward off the evil eye.
HANDMADE CLAY FISH PLATES FOR ROSH HASHANA' TABLE
WHISHING WELL FELT FISHES
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