The Festive Meal
It is customary to have a festive meal during Rosh Hashana. A round challah is used symoblizing fullness and compleition. After the Hamotzi blessing is recited, the challah is dipped in honey, symbolizing hope for a sweet New Year.
Next, a piece of apple is taken and also dipped in honey asking for a good and sweet New Year.
On the second day of Rosh Hashana, a new fruit is eaten which has not yet been eaten. The shehechiyanu blessing is recited.
Symbolic Foods
On Rosh Hashana, food is eaten that symbolize good things we hope for in the coming year. We contemplate what these foods symbolize, and connect with the Source of all good things.
The symbolic foods are based on a word game which connects the name of a certain food, to a particular hope we have for the new year. Here is a list from the Talmud of symbolic foods customarily eaten on Rosh Hashana. (The food and its related meaning are written in capital letters.)
After eating LEEK or CABBAGE, say: "May it be Your will, God, that our enemies be CUT OFF."
After eating BEETS, say: "May it be Your will, God, that our adversaries be REMOVED."
After eating DATES, say: "May it be Your will, God, that our enemies be FINISHED."
After eating GOURD, say: "May it be Your will, God, that the decree of our sentence should be TORN apart, and may our merits be PROCLAIMED before You."
After eating POMEGRANATE, say: "May it be Your will, God, that our merits increase as the seeds of a POMEGRANATE."
After eating the HEAD of a sheep or fish, say: "May it be Your will, God, that we be as the HEAD and not as the tail.
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