📄 An Accounting of Punny Foods for the Rosh haShanah Feast, by Stephen Belsky

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28 September 2011 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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21st century C.E., 58th century A.M., festive meals, punning, סגולות segulot, סעודות seudot, סימנים simanim, symbolic foods

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.

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	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

: Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s “The Vegetable Gardener”

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Stephen Belsky

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Stephen Belsky is a graduate of the Yeshiva of Flatbush, the State University of New York at Binghamton, and the Educators Program of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. He received semikha at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and while studying there held internships at Beth David Synagogue in West Hartford, Connecticut, and the International Rabbinic Fellowship. Before starting semikha, Stephen taught at the Schechter high school in Teaneck, New Jersey, and after ordination, he returned to education, teaching Jewish Studies in the middle and high school divisions of Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield, Michigan. In addition to classroom teaching, Stephen has taught and lectured both in his local community and in synagogues across the eastern United States.

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Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s “The Vegetable Gardener”

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "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

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2 comments to 📄 An Accounting of Punny Foods for the Rosh haShanah Feast, by Stephen Belsky

Stephen Belsky
2012-09-16 at 1:04 pm · Reply.
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
Shayna
2023-09-10 at 7:22 am · Reply.
Butter and toast to toast to a butter new year