Simanim: Significant Omens

by Devorah Walder

Many of us associate Rosh Hashanah with apples and honey, a symbol of sweetness for the new year. Did you know that at the traditional festive meal on the first night of Rosh Hashanah, there is a whole ceremony for the blessing and eating of symbolic foods? These are called simanim meelta or "significant omens", based on a Talmudic teaching. We say a short prayer about the symbolism of each food before eating it. Some of the foods are sweet for a sweet year. Some grow abundantly to symbolize an abundance of merits. Some of the foods are chosen based on their Hebrew name to represent an increase in the performance of mitzvot or an eradication of our sins. The foods and what they symbolize are as follows:

fenugreek or carrots: abundance
leek or cabbage: the end of our enemies (internal or external)
beets: that our adversaries be removed
dates: that our enemies be consumed
gourd: that our merits be proclaimed to God
pomegranate: that our merits increase
fish: that we are fruitful and multiply like fish
head of a fish: so that we should be like the head and not the tail

The word for honey in Hebrew is dvash. The letters are dalet, vet, shin, and the gematria for this word is 306 (4+6+300). This is also the gematria for Av Harakhamim "Father of Mercy", which brings us a taste of compassion with each taste of sweet.

Many blessings for a sweet year filled with compassion for ourselves, all of Israel and the whole world.

—from our September 2002 Newsletter

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