Rosh Hashanahis fast upon us, and besides the date (Sundown, September 16th through sundown, September 18th) here are five quick things you’ll want to remember about the Jewish New Year.
1. It’s all about the apples and honey.If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, then Rosh Hashanah should keep you healthy for a very long time. After you’re done dipping and eating, try doing some apple-y crafts with your kids, like thisapple-print blessings placemat(including an apple and honey blessingscheat-sheet), anapple bowl for honey, anapple tablecloth craft, and thisstained glass apple plate.
2. There aresome great kids booksabout the High Holidays.Clean that sticky honey off your hands and grab some of these great reads that teach your kids all about the holidays without being totally boring.Here’s a list of our favorites. And if you’re in the New York metro area, be sure tosign up through Kveller for PJ Libraryto receive free Jewish books every month!
3. Tekiiiiii-ah!That is thesound of the shofar. It is best to embrace these loud, long, gasp-worthy sounds made from a ram’s horn, as it’s an icon of the High Holidays and your kids will love to watch the shofar blower’s face turn bright red. And they may just want their owntoy shofars.
4.这是一个walk in the park.Or at least thetashlichpart is.Tashlichis the Rosh Hashanah tradition of tossing bread into water to cast away your sins. Even if you don’t live near any water,here are some great interpretationsof the tradition that your kids can get behind (one of them involves a kiddie pool, for crying out loud!)
5. Eat already!We like to think of Rosh Hashanah as the perfect excuse to have a downright feast. Jewish holiday classics are the favorite among many the family dinner table, from胸肉tomatzah ball souptochallah(only this time, it’s round and topped with honey). For more ideas, check out thesedeliciously inventive apples and honey recipes. See also this very blog, on which we’ve been running aRosh Hashanah recipe of the dayand will continue to do so up to the main event.
