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As חז”ל [Ḥazal] taught us, on ראש השנה [Rosh Hashanah] we elevate puns from the lowest form of humor to the highest religious experience.
| Contribute a translation | Translation (English) |
|---|---|
The foods suggested by our Sages had names in Aramaic or Hebrew that symbolized hopes for the new year — here is a list of foods with English names for those of us for whom English is our vernacular: | |
SQUASH so that Gd will squash your enemies | |
SAGE for wisdom | |
TARRAGON so terror will be gone | |
SUNFLOWER SEEDS for illumination | |
AVOCADOS for divine advocacy | |
CASHEWS for financial success (but some customarily do not eat nuts on Rosh Hashanah) | |
PLANTAINS so all your plans will be attained | |
SOLE for spiritual depth | |
DATES for successful romance | |
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES for an end to exile and a rebuilt Jerusalem | |
POMEGRANATES so we will be soft like pom-poms but tough like granite | |
CHERRIES for a year of cheer | |
GRAINS for brains | |
PASSIONFRUIT for passion and/or compassion | |
BERRIES to bury the past | |
TURKEY or KEY LIMES to unlock a good future | |
COFFEE to breathe easy | |
MUSHROOMS for a speedy end to homelessness | |
PEAS for peace | |
LEEK for structural integrity or keeping confidence | |
CORN for humor |
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- Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s “The Vegetable Gardener”
“📄 An Accounting of Punny Foods for the Rosh haShanah Feast, by Stephen Belsky” is shared through the Open Siddur Project under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license.
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Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s “The Vegetable Gardener”
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The Open Siddur Project is a volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-commercial, non-denominational, non-prescriptive, gratis & libre Open Access archive of contemplative praxes, liturgical readings, and Jewish prayer literature (historic and contemporary, familiar and obscure) composed in every era, region, and language Jews have ever prayed. Our goal is to provide a platform for sharing open-source resources, tools, and content for individuals and communities crafting their own prayerbook (siddur). Through this we hope to empower personal autonomy, preserve customs, and foster creativity in religious culture.
ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)
And here are some Hebrew ones from ערב ראש־השנה־ה’תשע”ג —
imported beef for a good livelihood: פר נסע = פרנסה
apricot sandwich for justice: משמש בפת = משפט
Butter and toast to toast to a butter new year