Rosh HashanahThe Jewish New Year, also considered the Day of Judgment. The period of the High Holidays is a time of introspection and atonement. The holiday is celebrated with the sounding of the shofar, lengthy prayers in synagogue, the eating of apples and honey, and round challah for a sweet and whole year. Tashlikh, casting bread on the water to symbolize the washing away of sins, also takes place on Rosh Hashana. is traditionally associated with the Creation of AdamAdam is the first human being created by God. Symbolizes: Creation, humankind. and EveEve, according to the book of Genesis, is Adam's wife, the first woman to be created. — the beginning of our story. And our story as humans truly begins when Eve chooses to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. I don’t think of Eve’s choice as a sin or even as a mistake: it’s the necessary beginning of our human story, and without forgetting or erasing all the sorrow that has followed on it, it’s our duty, not to fix what Eve broke, but to continue and finish what Eve started, to know the good and to act according to that knowledge in our lives.
If you’d like to stand with Eve in her choice, join me in this simple ritual involving the fruit of a tree — Jewish sources don’t agree on what kind the Tree of Knowledge was, so you can use any tree fruit, but apples are a traditional Rosh Hashanah food and that’s the fruit I prefer, especially if I can find wild or feral apples that weren’t bred for eating.
וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל
וְכִי תַאֲוָה-הוּא לָעֵינַיִם וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל
וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ וַתֹּאכַל וַתִּתֵּן גַּם-לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ וַיֹּאכַל
Vateireh ha’ishah ki tov ha’eitz lema’akhal,
vekhi ta’avah-hu la’einayim, venekhmad ha’eitz lehaskil,
vatikakh mipiryo vatokhal, vatitein gam-l’ishah imah vayokhal.
And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating,
and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for the intellect,
and she took of its fruit and ate, and she gave some also to her husband and he ate.
(Genesis 3:6)
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הָעֵץ
Barukh atah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha’olam, borei peri ha’eitz.
Blessed are You, Adonai our G-d, sovereign of the universe, creator of the fruit of the tree.
שָלוֹם לָךְ חַוָּה אִמֵנוּ חוֹנֶנֶת הַדָּעַת
Shalom lakh, Ḥavah imeinu, ḥonenet hada’at.
Peace to you, Eve our mother, bestower of knowledge.
אמא חוה היא עץ דעת / אמא חוה היא עץ חיים
היתה לנו אמא אחת / הינה מה טוב שבת אחים
ImaLit. Mother (Hebrew) Ḥavah, hi eitz da’at / Ima Ḥavah, hi eitz ḥayyim
Hayta lanu ima akhat / Hinei ma tov shevet akhim
Mama Eve, she is the tree of knowledge / Mama Eve, she is the tree of life
We have one Mama / How good it is to dwell as siblings
