Rosh Hashanah Customs and Simanim: A Complete Guide

New Year, New Symbols

Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year — is one of the most food-rich holidays on the calendar. But on this night, food is not just food. Every item on the table carries a wish, a prayer, a hope for the year ahead. The foods are called simanim — signs — and the practice of eating them is one of the most beloved and participatory rituals in Jewish life.

The Talmud (Horayot 12a, Keritot 6a) is the source: “Abaye said: Since you say that simanim are significant, a person should make it a practice to eat at the beginning of the year squash, fenugreek, leek, beet, and dates.” The rabbis believed that beginning the year with foods symbolizing sweetness, abundance, and divine favor could influence the trajectory of the months ahead.

Is this superstition? The Talmud seems to say: it does not matter. The act of eating these foods with intention — with a blessing on your lips and a hope in your heart — is itself meaningful. It transforms a meal into a prayer.

The Complete Simanim Table

Here is the full table of traditional simanim, with the food, its Hebrew or Aramaic name, the wordplay involved, and the accompanying prayer:

Food	Hebrew/Aramaic	Wordplay	Prayer
Apple dipped in honey	Tapuach b’dvash	Sweetness	”May it be Your will to renew for us a good and sweet year”
Round challah with raisins	Challah agulah	Cycle, crown, sweetness	(No specific prayer — the shape itself is the symbol)
Pomegranate	Rimon	613 seeds = 613 mitzvot	”May our merits be as plentiful as the seeds of a pomegranate”
Head of fish or lamb	Rosh	Head = leadership	”May we be at the head and not at the tail”
Dates	Tamar / Tamri	Yitamu = may they end	”May it be Your will that our enemies be consumed”
Black-eyed peas	Rubia / Lubiya	Yirbu = increase	”May our merits increase”
Leek or scallion	Karti	Yikartu = cut off	”May our enemies be cut off”
Beet or chard	Selek / Silka	Yistalku = depart	”May our adversaries depart”
Squash or gourd	Kra	Yikra’u = tear up	”May the evil decree against us be torn up”
Carrots (Ashkenazi)	Mehren (Yiddish)	Mer = more	”May our blessings increase”
Fenugreek (Sephardic)	Rubia / Tiltan	Related to growth	”May our merits multiply”

How to Do the Simanim

The traditional practice is to eat each food individually, preceded by the blessing on the specific type of food (fruit, vegetable, etc.) and the special yehi ratzon (may it be Your will) prayer. The order varies by community, but a common approach is:

1. Start with dates — because the blessing (borei pri ha’etz — “who creates fruit of the tree”) covers the other fruits
2. Pomegranate — eaten after the dates, sharing the same blessing
3. Apple in honey — the most iconic siman, with its own distinctive prayer
4. Vegetables — leek, beet, and black-eyed peas, each with its prayer
5. Head of fish — dramatic and memorable, especially for children
6. Round challah — dipped in honey instead of the usual salt

In Sephardic communities, the simanim ceremony can be quite elaborate, with each food presented on a separate plate and the prayers chanted together by the family. In some Ashkenazi communities, the practice is simpler — apples and honey, round challah, and perhaps one or two additional items.

Ashkenazi vs. Sephardic: A Comparison

Custom	Ashkenazi	Sephardic
Main simanim	Apples, honey, round challah, carrots	Full table: dates, pomegranate, leek, beet, black-eyed peas, squash, fish head
Number of foods	3-5 typically	7-10 or more
Head	Often omitted or replaced with gefilte fish	Whole fish head or lamb head
Challah	Round, sometimes with raisins, dipped in honey	May use traditional bread; focus is on simanim foods
Honey cake	Very common	Less common
Tzimmes	Carrots with honey (sweet = increase in blessings)	Not traditional
Pronunciation of prayers	Ashkenazi Hebrew	Sephardic Hebrew (which is also Modern Hebrew)
Puns work in	Yiddish and Hebrew	Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic

Beyond Food: Other Rosh Hashanah Customs

Tashlich. On the first afternoon of Rosh Hashanah (or the second, if the first falls on Shabbat), Jews gather at a body of flowing water — a river, stream, or ocean — and symbolically cast their sins into the water, often by shaking out their pockets or tossing bread crumbs. The practice is based on Micah 7:19: “You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

Shofar. The shofar (ram’s horn) is blown one hundred times during Rosh Hashanah services — a wake-up call to the soul, a reminder of the binding of Isaac, and a declaration of God’s sovereignty. The sounds — tekiah (blast), shevarim (three broken blasts), teruah (nine staccato blasts) — are prescribed by halakha.

New fruit. On the second night of Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat a fruit not yet eaten that season, accompanied by the shehecheyanu blessing thanking God “who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.” Exotic or unusual fruits are popular choices.

White clothing. Many Jews wear white on Rosh Hashanah, symbolizing purity and the fresh start of the new year. Some wear a kittel — the white robe also worn on Yom Kippur and at weddings.

Greetings. The traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting is “L’shanah tovah tikatevu v’tichatemu” — “May you be written and sealed for a good year” (a reference to the Book of Life, in which God is said to inscribe each person’s fate).

Making It Your Own

The beauty of Rosh Hashanah customs is that they invite participation. Children can help set up the simanim. Family members can read the prayers. Guests can share what they hope for in the new year. Some families add their own “modern simanim” — foods that symbolize personal wishes (a lettuce for “let us have a good year,” a raisin and celery for “a raise in salary” — the tradition of food puns is alive and well).

The point is not perfection. It is intention. Each food, each prayer, each moment at the table is an opportunity to pause and ask: What do I want this year to bring? What do I want to become? And how can I eat my way toward hope?

“On Rosh Hashanah, we do not just eat. We pray with our mouths full.”

The table is set. The apples are sliced. The honey jar is open. L’shanah tovah — may it be a sweet year.