Conventional wisdom on the subject maintains that if honey cakes are removed from the oven at exactly the right time –whatever that is — the dreaded dryness will be avoided.
The apple, even more than the bibical pomegranate, has become the symbolic first fruit to be eaten during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which will be observed at sundown, Wednesday, Sept. 15.
During Rosh Hashanah, tradition calls for a perfect apple to be pared and cut into as many pieces as there are people present. A piece of the apple is dipped in honey and passed to each person at the table before the meal begins to symbolize a sweet and joyous New Year.
Overlooking bruised thumbs, sore muscles and sunburns, by week\’s end the construction crew will bubble excitedly over their measurable progress that began with a bare foundation, said Thayne Smith, construction director for Orange County\’s Habitat for Humanity.
\”At age 76, I\’m finally coming of age,\” said Arthur Oaks, who read directly from the Torah during the b\’nai mitzvah service, which is more traditional. \”I never thought I would have the opportunity. When they announced the class, I jumped at the chance.\”
\”Boy\” revolves around 40ish novelist Eric Weiss, who returns home — actually to the hospital where he was born — to visit his dying father, Manny, a shoe salesman. It\’s his first trip back in a while, and he\’s ambivalent: \”I saw what Brooklyn did to my parents, and I knew I had to get the hell out of here,\” he tells a friend. \”I saw … the fear, the xenophobia, the suffocating double grip the Holocaust and the Depression had around their throats.\”
Smashnova-Pistolesi has done it on the go. She was born 28 years ago in Minsk, Belarus. Her family moved to Israel when she was 14. She stays at her parents\’ home in Herzelia when she\’s in the country. She has her own home in Italy, where she lives with her husband, the former pro Claudio Pistolesi.
Ah, the High Holidays. Time to gather, celebrate, eat, fast, repent and eat some more. But before you can get to any of that, there\’s another, perhaps less-ancient tradition that takes place a few weeks prior. It\’s the High Holiday scramble, and anyone without deeply planted roots knows how the dance goes. Jewish New Year works much like Dec. 31: You don\’t want to be alone; there\’s pressure to have someplace to go; and for transplants, singles and others, the options are less obvious than a meal with the family and services at the synagogue where you grew up. A little originality is called for, and the industrious don\’t miss a beat.
What does $1,000 buy you these days in Jewish life?
Maybe, if you\’re lucky, a full-year family synagogue membership. But what exactly does that mean? Two tickets to High Holiday services? Free parking? Entree to Kiddushes?
At a time when families have limited time and money and so much competing for it, synagogue leaders are realizing the need to offer more to potential and existing congregant.
No, you didn\’t have to leave New York to discover Jewish observance, but something had to plant the desire. In my case, it was my bar mitzvah.
\”We only have your dad and my mom left,\” I told my husband then. \”The rest of the week is too hectic for visits. We\’ve got to get them over here for Shabbat.\”
I could never imagine how much more precious this time would become, having had no inkling that it would be so limited.
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