Shanah tovah to my Jewish readers!
It's Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year. As it happens, a huge chunk of my latest reading has been by Jewish writers. I'm just trying to get myself a bit reorganised so I can get some posts written and up. Watch this space...
Happy Jewish New Year to you, Kaz!
ReplyDeleteI do am intrigued by the significance of the pomegranate to this festive occasion though.
Hi Peter!
DeleteThere are a number of reasons, one of which is that in the Bible, the Land of Israel is praised for its pomegranates. It is also said that this fruit contains 613 seeds just as there are 613 mitzvot. Another reason given for blessing and eating pomegranate on Rosh HaShanah is that we wish that our good deeds in the ensuing year will be as plentiful as the seeds of the pomegranate. So there you go!!
K
Oh, how fascinating! Pomegranates are quite rare here where I live. In fact, I think I've had it only once!
DeleteThey're a desert plant - native to the Middle East. They grew wild in the area of country South Australia where my family lived, so I grew up eating them. We had pomegranate seeds on the cous cous that was part of our dinner last night. They're really good for you, apart from the fact that we like them!
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