Skip to content
  Thursday 7 December 2023
Trending
6 March 2023Manchester March-April 2023 7 December 2023Meditation Station 6 December 2023A Nobel Pursuit 4 December 2023Streets Ahead 1 December 2023Shadwell Studio 1 December 2023Honest Cleaning Services 1 December 2023Magic Ironing & Laundry 1 December 2023Oliver George Property Consultants 1 December 2023Casa Alba 1 December 2023Quick Getaway 29 November 2023Traditional Potato Latkes!
  • VISIT JLIFE MANCHESTER
  • VISIT JLIFE LEEDS
JLife Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine Issues
  • Content
    • Features
    • Community News
    • Blog
    • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Advertise in JLife
  • Featured Businesses
  • Contact
JLife Magazine
JLife Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine Issues
  • Content
    • Features
    • Community News
    • Blog
    • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Advertise in JLife
  • Featured Businesses
  • Contact
  • VISIT JLIFE MANCHESTER
  • VISIT JLIFE LEEDS
JLife Magazine
  Features-Leeds  Ways of the World
Features-Leeds

Ways of the World

jlifejlife—1 August 20220
FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInTumblrRedditVKWhatsAppEmail

Explore how different Jewish communities across the globe welcome Rosh Hashanah with their own unique customs.

Morocco

Following the Midrashic tradition of honouring the number seven, Moroccan families prepare a meal using seven different vegetables during Rosh Hashanah Eve as the festival falls in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. While well-used recipes and dishes vary between each household, the national seven vegetable tagine is the most common meal shared together to represent good luck for the new year.

Eastern Europe

Although not entirely common, it’s a custom among some Chassidim to purchase and sharpen a new knife for each member of the household. Expressing wishes for a new year full of spiritual prosperity, the symbolic act also honours Chatach, meaning to cut in the name of the angel of livelihood.

More stories

Party On

30 November 2021

New Year, New You

17 December 2019

Ways of the World

1 August 2022

Keep it Symbol! Quirky Rosh Hashanah Gift Ideas

27 July 2020

Syria

It’s typical to get a fresh haircut on the eve of Rosh Hashanah to rejuvenate yourself and symbolically get rid of any sins from the previous year. Care, however, should be taken to receive a haircut before noon, allowing plenty of time for Torah studies and personal reflection. When the haircut is finished, the barbers are blessed with the Arabic phrase “ne’eman,” meaning “bliss”.

Turkey

Any leftover Matzah bread saved from Passover is expected to be consumed during a Turkish Rosh Hashanah holiday. Evoking a sense of friendship and a wish for those who share their meals to be also present at the new year feast, the tradition also further demonstrates the Passover wish to be saved from evil following the Exodus in Egypt.

Tunisia

Olives are a key part of the celebrations during Rosh Hashanah on the island of Djerba, off the Tunisian coast. After collecting as many fallen olives from the vines as they can, the children then pickle the small fruits in salt and parade them through the island’s streets. The adults then congratulate the children by reciting the traditional yehi ratzon blessing to wish that their merits multiply like olive saplings in the new year.

Poland

Taking the Rosh Hashanah translation of “head of the year” quite literally, many Polish communities prepare a meal with chopped fish heads to demonstrate a desire to be heads rather than tails in the new year. Consuming fish is also a symbolic representation of a family’s wish for prosperity and abundance together in the spirit of fish swimming in large schools.

Yemen

Ancient Baladi custom prompts some families of Yemen to get up extra early to blow 30 blasts of the shofar before dawn in addition to the blows during standard morning service. This is in line with the Midrashic proverb: “pre-empt evil before it precedes you.”

New Year
FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedInTumblrRedditVKWhatsAppEmail
Off the Path
Building Connections
Related posts
  • Related posts
  • More from author
Features-Leeds

Meditation Station

7 December 20230
Features-Leeds

A Nobel Pursuit

6 December 20230
Features-Leeds

Streets Ahead

4 December 20230
Load more
Read also
Manchester Issues

Manchester March-April 2023

6 March 20230
Features-Leeds

Meditation Station

7 December 20230
Features-Leeds

A Nobel Pursuit

6 December 20230
Features-Leeds

Streets Ahead

4 December 20230
Featured Business Leeds

Shadwell Studio

1 December 20230
Featured Business Leeds

Honest Cleaning Services

1 December 20230
Featured Business Leeds

Magic Ironing & Laundry

1 December 20230
Load more
Recent Posts
  • Meditation Station
  • A Nobel Pursuit
  • Streets Ahead
  • Shadwell Studio
  • Honest Cleaning Services
    JLife Magazine
    JLife Magazine is a community magazine for the people of Leeds and Manchester. Originally created for the Jewish community, it now has a wider outreach and regularly features news, events and more for the local community & businesses.

    # TRENDING

    ManchesterLeedsInterviewJewishNewsCommunityCharityTravelBusinessIsraelTheatreRestaurantsLJWBHealthLifestyleJLifeEducationNorth LeedsSummerUJIA
    © Copyright Nuts for Print 2023, All Rights Reserved
    • About Us
    • Terms and Conditions