Special Section - Rosh Hashanah (September 2025)

jewishnewsva.org | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | JEWISH NEWS | 19

Rosh Hashanah

Dear Readers, It’s true, the High Holidays are arriving, and this year, they feel “just on time.”

The humidity is gone, leaves are falling, and plans are underway for festive dinner and lunch gatherings. With Erev Rosh Hashanah on Monday, September 22, the Jewish New Year, 5786, is just weeks away.

Like so many of the recent holiday seasons, this one is set up to be like none

At the Tidewater Jewish Foundation, we believe legacy is one of the most powerful ways to shape a meaningful future.

Through the Life & Legacy Program, your gift of any size can help sustain the organizations, values, and traditions that define Jewish Tidewater.

Let the coming year be a time of intention and action. A time to listen for what matters most. A time to answer the call to build something that lasts.

other. The joke about getting three Jews in a room and having at least four opinions isn’t as funny as it once was as those diverse opinions are resulting in fractions between families, friends, congregations, and literally all communities.

To grab a phrase from the Beach Boys, “wouldn’t it be nice” if we all entered the holidays putting down our differences and focusing not on the war in Gaza or on U.S. politics, but rather on those we love, the prayers we read, the melodies of the season, and the privilege of being able to gather to observe and celebrate a new year? An editor can only hope.

May we all find ample peace and sweetness on Rosh Hashanah to sustain us throughout the year.

L’Shana Tovah,

Terri Denison Learn more at foundation.jewishva.org/legacy or contact: Amy Weinstein at 757-965-6114 or aweinstein@tjfva.org

20 | JEWISH NEWS | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | jewishnewsva.org

Editor

Rosh Hashanah

Honey’s sweetness at Rosh Hashanah Stephanie Peck celebrate the holiserved him his meal along with a honey bear that said, “I only want to Honey is an integral ingredient for Rosh day, is one of Bonnie bee Mr. Kahn’s honey.”

Hashanah, as Jews worldwide dip both Brand’s favorite The honey bear is long gone, but challah and apples into this golden, times. Along with this honey pot, purKaufman is fortunate to be the keeper syrupy liquid as part of their New Year chased on Amazon of the honey pot that sat on the table traditions. But honey comes from a bee, after her ceramic one in her grandparents’ home for as an insect that stings and creates pain. broke, she adorns her long as she can remember. It traveled Why isn’t the sweet apple enough to table with fruitfilled with them wherever they moved and celebrate Rosh Hashanah?

Betsy Karotkin’s honey pot.

Alene Jo Kaufman’s honey pot. branches from her always found a place on their table.

According to Sweet Stings, an article pomegranate tree.

It’s now 90 years old, and she treasures it for the memoon Chabad.org, two types of sweetness are experienced ries it brings of special times and loving family. throughout one’s life.

Betsy Karotkin’s hand-made honey pot Family celebrations, career success, and other joyous honors brother-in-law moments are sweet like an apple.

Nancy Peck’s heirloom honey pot This ceramic honey pot was created by This bee honey pot is an heirloom handed down by Yet another, different type of sweetness comes from Betsy Karotkin for the High Holidays during her years as a Nancy Peck’s grandmother, Eva Botnick Davis of times of challenge, when life throws an unexpected potter. The inscription, “Fred’s Honey,” refers to her brotherNashville, Tennessee. The bee currently resides in Boca curveball and a person’s spirit is tested. These moments -in-law, Fred Karotkin, Raton, Florida, with Janet Peck, her sting like a bee. But when the unfora veterinarian who also daughter, and the fourth generation tunate struggles can be overcome, the raised bees and tended to use this now antique honey pot. sweetness symbolized by honey is a their hive. special sort of experience.

Rona and Cantor David Each year, While there are many ways to Proser’s favorite honey pots Karotkin and her dispense honey, many families own husband, Ed, would Rona and Cantor David Proser have a honey pot or honey jar which feavarious honey containers that they use receive the fruits of tures prominently during the High for Rosh Hashanah. Of them all, two this bee labor and Holidays. Whether a wedding gift, a stand out for special memories. enjoy Fred’s honey family heirloom, or handmade object, One was purchased in the late the honey pots described here have in his eponymous Nancy Peck’s honey pot.

Darcy and Robert Bloch’s honey pots.

1980s on Rodeo Drive in Beverly special meaning and provenance to ceramic honey jar. these community members who share their stories.

Hills during a trip to visit family. The Prosers spotted Memories of grandparents for Alene Jo it in a store window. Not only was it unique, but it was An expanding collection for Darcy and Kaufman with her honey pot also the only item in that store that they could afford Robert Bloch Alene Jo Kaufman's paternal grandfather, Allen R. at the time. It is a glass and metal representation of a When Darcy and Robert Bloch got married 38 years ago, Kahn, was a unique individual, she says. Born in honeybee, with wings that close as a lid. The Prosers they received three glass honey jars as wedding gifts.

Mikado Michigan, and one of 10 children, his father always pair it with a Rosh Hashanah mat created They’ve used them all (only one broke). When hosting owned the local, rural, general store. With no more by their younger daughter, Maura, in first grade at family and friends for Rosh Hashanah, they received four than an eighthgrade education, Kahn became a successHebrew Academy. more honey pots as gifts. ful businessman who The other object is a moreThe Blochs fill them all with traveled the world. traditional ceramic honey jar with honey and put them out, so everyone He believed in an apple plate by Israeli artist Renee has easy access when they dip the the healing nature Vichinsky. This set was purchased apple into honey and to spread it on of honey, she says. at a Certificates in Advanced Jewish challah at the meal.

In fact, Kaufman Educations (CAJE) conference where thinks he ate honey Proser was recognized as one of the Bonnie Brand’s honey pot is at most meals – and Jewish Educators of the Year, along part of her festive spread everyone knew it. with all the principals of Jewish Hosting a festive dinner erev Rosh The restaurant where supplementary schools, by the Hashanah, when some of her adult he ate his ‘businesJewish Education Council of UJFT Bonnie Brand’s honey pot. children travel to Virginia Beach to sman’s lunch’ daily, Rona and David Proser’s honey pot. in May of 2000. jewishnewsva.org | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | JEWISH NEWS | 21

Rosh Hashanah Please join Temple Israel for the 2019/5780 holidays!

Please join Temple Israel for the 2025/5786 holidays!

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Area Jewish college students celebrate and observe holidays away from home Sam Nossen Each year, more than 200,000 Jewish students leave home to attend institutions of higher learning in the United States and Canada. Most of these teenagers have celebrated the High Holidays with their families their entire lives – never apart from them.

Still, these university students have found ways to observe and celebrate the holidays... and to enjoy them.

7255 Granby Street, Norfolk, VA 23505 7255 Granby757-489-4550 Street, Norfolk, VA 23505 www.templeisraelva.org 757-489-4550 www.templeisraelva.org

Casey Barkan University of Virginia Going into college, I was nervous about how I was going to keep my family traditions throughout the High Holidays. But I found new communities and traditions through the Hillel and Chabad that kept the high holidays meaningful for me.

We wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

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Jack Gross Tulane During the year for Shabbat, I either go to Chabad or Hillel. Generally, for the High Holidays, I go to Hillel so I can celebrate the holidays with fellow Jewish students. Not only is it a great way to practice our religion but also an opportunity to meet other Jewish students.

I would say being at school is arguably better than being at home because it provides me with an opportunity to meet new people and gain new perspectives of how people practice Judaism. However, nothing beats sitting around a table eating a homemade Rosh Hashanah meal with family and friends.

Micah Baum Tufts I typically go to the Conservative services offered at Tufts Hillel.

I am further from home than a lot of people so I can’t really go home during the High Holidays, but it’s a welcoming place that honestly offers as good an experience as I can get away from home.

Sam Nossen William and Mary For me, celebrating Rosh Hashanah at school is very similar to celebrating it at home; I attend dinner at Chabad in the evening and then services in the morning.

The rabbi and rebbetzin make being away from home for the holidays easier by providing me with an opportunity to eat a homecooked meal, connect with fellow Jews, and participate in something that gives me a sense of normality.

While being at school for Rosh Hashanah can’t beat being at home, having a place to go and feel welcome is nice.

Rosh Hashanah

THIS SEPHARDI ROSH HASHANAH SOUP IS STEEPED IN SYMBOLISM

My mother’s simanim soup is full of blessings for the new year.

Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Sheff This story originally appeared on The Nosher.

Every Rosh Hashanah, my mother Rica made a special and delicious simanim soup, which contained all the “simanim” (signs), symbolic vegetables that are used in the Sephardic Rosh Hashanah seder. Rooted in Kabbalah and with a clever play on the Aramaic names of the vegetables, at the seder, Sephardim say blessings over these vegetables, which include butternut squash, zucchini, and Swiss chard.

My mother and father were born in Larache, an ancient port city founded by the Phoenicians on the northwestern coast of Morocco. Providentially located where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean, Larache is the most important city in the Tetouan-Tanger region of Morocco.

Larache is also where my ancestors found refuge after the Expulsion from Spain in 1492.

My paternal grandfather Salomon Emquies was the proprietor of a spice shop (so appropriate that Sharon and I are the Sephardic Spice Girls). My maternal grandfather Moshe Bensabat was the chief Rabbi of Larache. He was the mohel, the shochet and conducted all the weddings.

One of the last wedding ceremonies that he performed before he made aliyah (emigrated to Israel) was that of my parents. Soon after, my parents moved to Casablanca, where my two older brothers and I were born.

When we emigrated to Los Angeles, my parents brought the jewelry that both sets of grandparents gifted my mother. They brought the menorah they had received as a wedding gift from her parents. And

they brought with them the rich religious traditions of their childhood homes.

A treasured Spanish Moroccan custom, this recipe has been handed down over generations. This soup includes apples for a “sweet year,” as well as beef cheek meat or beef neck bones, which symbolize the ram’s head and the fervent wish that we should be “the head and not the tail.”

In making this soup, my mother would soak the leeks and Swiss chard. She would peel the apple, carrots, sweet potatoes, and turnip. She would patiently chop all the vegetables. Then everything would slowly simmer with the meat in a big pot.

After the brachot (blessings), my mother would serve this nutritious, flavorful soup as the first course of our meal, a tasty connection to the many generations that came before us, passing down the faith and the Mesorah (Oral Torah).

Over time, as more and more of my family became vegetarian, my mother started making this soup without meat.

This year, I want to go back and make my mother’s original recipe. To accommodate all my guests, I will cook the meat cheeks separately in my pressure cooker, then the

meat eaters can add it to their bowl of soup.

Notes: • This recipe makes a very large pot, so you should have enough to serve this soup for two meals.

• Store soup in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.

• Total Time: 3 hours 35 minutes • Yield: A lot!

Ingredients For the meat: • 3–4 lbs beef cheek meat • ¼ cup olive oil • 1 large onion, finely diced • 2 bay leaves • 1 tsp salt • ½ tsp white pepper • pinch of saffron (optional) • 1 cup water For the soup: • ¼ cup olive oil • 4 leeks, washed thoroughly and sliced thinly • 1 bunch Swiss chard, with stem removed and chopped thinly

• 2 cups butternut squash, cubed (or acorn or Delicata squash) • 1 large green apple or quince, peeled, and cubed • 2 large zucchini, peeled and diced • 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed • 4 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed • 1 large turnip, peeled and cubed • 4 celery stalks, diced • 3 large carrots, peeled and diced • 2 parsnip, peeled and diced • ½ small cabbage, thinly sliced • 2 Tbsp chicken consommé powder • ½ tsp white pepper • 1 tsp turmeric • salt, to taste

Instructions 1. F or the meat: In a pressure cooker or large pot, add oil and warm over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add meat, bay leaf and spices.

Cook for 1 hour in a pressure cooker or until tender in the pot.

2. F or the soup: In a very large pot warm oil over medium heat, then add sliced leeks. Sauté for 5 minutes until they start to soften.

3. Add all the ingredients, except Swiss chard, zucchini, and butternut squash (set them aside).

4. P our enough water to cover the top of the vegetables. Bring to a boil, cover the pot then lower heat to medium and simmer vegetables for 1 hour.

5. A dd the zucchini and butternut squash.

Simmer for another 30 minutes.

6. A dd the Swiss chard, continue to cook on a simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

Taste and adjust seasoning.

jewishnewsva.org | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | JEWISH NEWS | 23

Rosh Hashanah

A Sephardic Rosh Hashanah

explains how her called simanim, represent positive Stephanie Peck or blessings for the mother-in-law outcomes for the year ahead. Each Ashkenazi traditions are so pervasive Rosh Hashanah cooked a soup of carries a special significance: dates for in Jewish American communities, that holiday. seven vegetables peace, green beans for prosperity, and a many – Jews and non-Jews – think that She then travels and meat in place pomegranate for mitzvot, among others. to seven or eight those traditions are THE Jewish ways to of the salads, and As participants go through the foods stores to gather the observe and celebrate holidays. Those spinach was served on the seder plate, members bless each ingredients for her of Sephardic and Mizrahi heritage as a separate dish. food and connect it to a wish for the meals: a Lebanese would most likely disagree.

Not until year ahead. store for fava beans, In fact, a new arriving in the Avidan Itzak’s an Asian shop for report commissioned United States had family prepares a dates, and a Korean

by JIMENA (Jews Halioua seen the customary seder, supplier for fish. Her Indigenous to custom of baking where they eat Rosh Hashanah meal the Middle East challah with roasted leeks and typically consists of and North Africa) apples and honey. choose to feature four or five salads, estimates that For the a quiche, spicy a fish head on the Sephardic and motzi, or blessing fish, and pkaila, table to represent Mizrahi Jews in over the challah, a dish of beans, Rosh Hashanah, the United States Halioua and her meat, sausage, or the head of the comprise 10 percent Jackie and Ben Dratch with their son, Ari Zvi, and daughter, family dip the and spinach that year. Itzak adds of the American Noa Hanna. bread into sugar. accompanies every that his paternal Jewish population Two blessings are offered for the apple: celebration, including a bris. “Yoyo,” grandparents in and that these one dipped in honey and the other or fried donut, serves as dessert, Israel include a denominations dipped in honey and sesame seeds, to accompanied by debla, or thin, fried sheep’s head at have higher rates of signify the multiplying of the Jewish dough that is cut into strips, shaped into their meal, which Jewish communal population. a rose and dipped in honey. “We make symbolizes the participation, a “I do it with love,” Halioua says everything round,” Halioua adds. ram that spared stronger connection about all of the prep in advance of the Halioua’s husband of 55 years, Isaac. to Israel, and Avidan and Andie Itzak and their daughter, Liel. holiday. “It’s a lot of work but you have Raphael, is from Morocco, and while Originally the lowest to remember your parents. That’s what both spouses are Sephardic, his traditions from Tunisia and France, Dinah intermarriage rates. Sephardim and my mother taught me.” differ slightly from her customs. Halioua Halioua (pronounced al-ee-wah), finds Mizrahim say that being Jewish is preparing for the somewhat or very much a part of their Rosh Hashanah daily life compared to Ashkenazi Jews. seder far more And, from those groups stem time-consuming unique traditions.

For the Jewish New Year, for examthan the Passover seder. In advance ple, Sephardic Jews, who observe Jewish of the holiday, customs from Spain, and Mizrahi Jews, she purchases the who observe customs of the Middle “feuilles de miel,” East and North Africa, often host a Rosh (honey leaves), a Hashanah seder, which includes a series document which of special foods eaten as symbols of provides a steppositive omens for a good new year.

Jewish Tidewater’s Jackie Dratch, by-step guide to Avidan Itzak, and Dinah Halioua share observing the some of their families’ traditions here. holiday, incluJackie Dratch, whose family is ding the calendar Israeli with a Mizrahi background, says dates to visit the she loves turning to Jewish traditions to cemetery, the days help ground her into the current season during which you and moment in time. She explains that cannot marry, and Aaron and Maurice Levy, Matt and Bellamy Baldwin, Dinah Halioua, Gabrielle Baldwin, Raphaël Halioua, Rebecca and Nessim Halioua, and Cora Baldwin in the center at Pesach 2022. the symbolic foods of Rosh Hashanah, all of the brachot 24 | JEWISH NEWS | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | jewishnewsva.org

Sweet savings for Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur

May your year rise like a round challah challah -round full, sweet, sweet, and and full, beautifully braided braided with with beautifully joy & & love. love. joy

May your year rise like a

Shana Tovah!

Shana Tovah!

Jewish Family Jewish Family Service Service of of Tidewater Tidewater

www.jfshamptonroads.org

Not to Mt. Moriah In the Wetzlar, Germany, D.P. Camp, Late 1940’s, my Grandpa Tzvi would Take me, a toddler, on long daily walks, Gratefully never ending at Mt. Moriah, To placate the God of Death who Consumed so many, too many, Of my family members, But his lech-lecha calling was To bring his prized possession, A consolation prize, if there is such, To the davening minyan of weeping Survivors bowed in indescribable

Grief-scaring a little child to no end– As I became the found Sefer Torah To be fondled by disillusioned though Praying Jews, enticing them to yet Believe that the God of Life returned To their shaken midst the desecrated, Defiled Torah to be cleansed and fit Again to lead!

Rabbi Dr. Israel Bobrov Zoberman is founding rabbi of Temple Lev Tikvah, and Honorary Senior Rabbi Scholar at Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church, both in Virginia Beach.

jewishnewsva.org | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | JEWISH NEWS | 25

Rosh Hashanah A BISSEL of YIDDISH

A bissel of Yiddish for Rosh Hashanah A combination of High German and Hebrew, Yiddish is a language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. Efforts are underway to keep the language alive through clubs, Youtube videos, classes, books, and performances.

In Tidewater, the Yiddish Club is making a comeback.

Attendees at the monthly meetings are embracing Yiddish culture, language, and history with music, film, poetry, and literature. For information, go to www.Jewishva.org/YiddishClub.

Through A Bissel of Yiddish, Jewish News hopes to introduce and remind readers of a few Yiddish words and phrases. Bissel is Yiddish for ‘little,’ by the way.

Harry Graber is researching and compiling each installment.

one wanted to wish his fellow a good yom tov, they would say gut yontif, which was often contracted into guchontif.

As Yiddish speakers poured into the U.S. at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries, gut yontif was anglicized into “Good Yontif.”

YIDDISH PHRASES FOR THE HOLIDAY Mir Vintshen eich a gut yor, a zis yor un a gebentsht yor.

We wish you a good year, a sweet year, and a blessed year.

YIDDISH WORD FOR THE HOLIDAY

Ir zolt zeine farshraybed aun tsetsliptin in der bukh fun leyben fa a yuhr fun. Gezunt, simkhe aun shalom.

May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a year of health, happiness, and peace.

Good Yontif Ashkenazi Jews traditionally say “Good Yontif” before or during a holiday.

From Chabad.org: In biblical Hebrew, a holiday is known as a chag. In later years, this term was joined by yom tov, which literally means “good day.” Among Yiddish speaking Jews, this was often contracted into something sounding more like yontif. And when

Ir zult namen eyerer kinder mit zich tzi dem yam odder taykh far avekh varfen dayn aveirahs beshas zogn der Tashlikh tefillah.

You should take your children with you to the river or ocean to throw away your sins during the saying of the Tashlich prayer.

5786 - 2025

Community High Holidays events Celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a little extra fun when some congregations in Tidewater provide offerings that extend beyond traditional services.

Chabad of Tidewater Pre Rosh Hashanah Apple Babka Bake.

Mix, knead, and roll your own apple babka.

Create unique Shana Tova cards and enjoy dinner, too.

Sunday, September 14, 4:30 - 6:30 pm $15/person RSVP: 757-616-0770 Rosh Hashanah Community Dinner.

A delicious Rosh Hashanah dinner available both nights of Rosh Hashanah.

Monday and Tuesday, September 22 and 23, 8:30 pm RSVP required by Wednesday September 17, 12 pm: 757-616-0770.

Jewish Virginia Beach Challah bake. Learn, braid, and bake your own challah. Say Lechayim to a sweet and blessed New Year.

Thursday, September 11, 6:30 - 8:30 pm $25/person Location TBD RSVP: 757-208-3696

Temple Emanuel

­ ­ ­

26 | JEWISH NEWS | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | jewishnewsva.org

Rosh Hashanah Dinner.

Kosher dinner in the social hall after services.

The main dish is salmon or vegetarian option.

September 23, 7:15 - 9 pm $25 ages 13+, $7.50 ages 6-12, free ages five and under. $30 nonmembers ages 13+, $12.50 nonmembers ages 6-12 Reservations required by September 15: contact the office to pay by check 757-428-2591 or office@tevb.org.

Rosh Hashanah Southside Chapel • 5033 Rouse Drive Virginia Beach • 757 422-4000

Give Heed to the Sound of the Shofar May it Ring in a New Year of Blessings for All

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Shana tovah u’metukah!

H AV E A G O O D A N D S W E E T Y E A R ! ] jewishnewsva.org | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | JEWISH NEWS | 27

Rosh Hashanah

These easy Israeli honey cookies are iconic It isn’t Rosh Hashanah without duvshaniyot.

Vered Guttman This story originally appeared on The Nosher.

Apples dipped in honey and honey cakes are popular across the Jewish world around Rosh Hashanah. But if you grew up in Israel, you most likely came across a unique variation of honey treats: duvshaniyot. These dense, dark, round honey cookies are a must in many families’ High Holidays nosh rotation.

The modest duvshaniyot (their name derives from the Hebrew word dvash, meaning honey) seem to have been part of the Israeli repertoire forever and you can find them on the cookie shelves in every supermarket in the country. They are cheap, pareve, and last forever, so no wonder they have become a regular for Rosh Hashanah afternoon tea, for breaking the fast on Yom Kippur, and for dipping in a cold glass of milk in the sukkah. But these unassuming cookies hold a long history, as most Jewish and Israeli dishes do.

Duvshaniyot are the Israeli adaptation of a popular Russian cookie called pryaniki. Dating back to medieval Russia, pryaniki were made with honey, rye flour, and berry juice, and were known simply as “honey bread.” Starting around the 12th or 13th centuries, when Russia started opening up to imports from the Middle East and India, spices and dried fruit were added to the cookie. In different regions throughout Russia, people experimented with new additions to this cookie, from jam filling to a later invention of sweetened condensed milk. Some versions were imprinted using delicate wooden forms, and some were simply rolled by hand and dipped in sugar glaze — the same version that’s still popular in Israel today.

People sometimes confuse pryaniki with German lebkuchen (aka gingerbread cookies), but it is rare to see ginger added to these classic Russian cookies, and even lebkuchen don’t always have ginger in them. Traditionally, pryaniki were spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, and even black pepper and cumin. In fact, their name, pryaniki, comes from the Russian word for spiced, pryanik.

Different versions of pryaniki can be found around Eastern Europe, like piernik in Poland and lect cookies in Slovenia, which are heartshaped, painted red, and artfully decorated with colorful icing. These Eastern European versions were traditionally served around Christmas, but were adapted by Jews for their own holidays, mainly Rosh Hashanah, for the use of the symbolic honey.

From Eastern Europe, the little honey cookie made its way to Israel and the United States. The Settlement Cook Book, a classic 1901 American Jewish cookbook by Lizzie Black Kander, includes two versions of lebkuchen, both with citrus and almonds, but no ginger. Even more interesting, is that neither include honey, but instead call for brown sugar or molasses.

An early Israeli cookbook, “Folklore Cookbook” by Molly Bar-David, has recipes for honey cookies that are similar to pryaniki and for lebkuchen. Bar-David suggests adding ginger to the honey cookies and calls for margarine instead of butter, maybe to keep the cookies pareve.

Today, Israeli manufacturers of duvshaniyot must be doing a good job, as I notice the same Israeli brand cookies at many Russian stores in the United

28 | JEWISH NEWS | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | jewishnewsva.org

States. But maybe because duvshaniyot are readily available in every supermarket, most Israelis do not prepare them at home.

That’s a shame, because as is the case with most baked goods, homemade is better.

And when the recipe is as easy as the one below, there’s no reason not to.

You can add any of the classic gingerbread cookie spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, clove, and even black pepper and cumin) as well as cocoa powder, strong coffee or chopped chocolate. Candied citrus peel or any tart candied fruit, as well as citrus zest. You can try to replace some of the flour with rye flour to be closer to the original Russian version or replace some of the flour with almond meal and make it closer to the German lebkuchen. It’s up to you.

Some recipes, including centuries-old recipes, suggest letting the dough rest for a few hours and up to a week before baking the cookies. This will deepen its flavors and will make rolling the dough easier. But even if you bake it right away, the cookies will improve with time, so I suggest baking them at least two days before serving. You can easily prepare them the week before Rosh Hashanah and then serve them for break the fast on Yom Kippur.

Notes: • The cookie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator, or up to overnight.

• The cookies will improve with time, so I suggest baking them at least two days before serving, though you can keep them in a sealed container at room temperature up to a month.

• Total Time: 4 hours 35 minutes • Yield: 30 cookies

Ingredients For the cookies: • ¾ cup honey • ¼ cup light or dark brown sugar • ½ cup butter • 1 tsp cinnamon • ½ tsp each cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, allspice

• 1/8 tsp black pepper • 2 large eggs, at room temperature • 1 tsp lemon or orange zest • 1 tsp baking powder • ¼ tsp baking soda •2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (you can substitute half with rye flour) For the sugar glaze: • 2 cups powdered sugar • 1 tsp lemon juice • 2–3 Tbsp water

Instructions 1. P lace a saucepan with ½ inch water on a burner and turn to medium heat.

Put a large metal or glass bowl over the saucepan and bring water to simmer.

Once the water boils, add honey, sugar, butter and spices to the bowl and mix until butter melts and all the ingredients incorporate. Remove bowl from the heat and let cool for about 30 minutes.

2. A dd eggs and lemon zest to the bowl and mix.

3. Add baking powder, baking soda and flour to the mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or a spatula until smooth.

Cover bowl and place in the fridge for 4 hours and up to overnight.

4. W hen you’re ready to bake, turn the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. U se your hands to roll 1-inch-round cookies and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

6. Bake for 13-15 minutes, switching between baking sheets after 7 minutes, until cookies are just golden at the bottom. Do not over-bake, as the cookies will become too hard. Transfer to a cooling rack until completely cold.

7. To make the sugar glaze, mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp water with a spoon in a medium bowl. If the mixture seems too dry, add up to 1 Tbsp more water and keep on mixing until a smooth glaze is formed.

8. D ip the cookie tops in the glaze and put back on the cooling rack to set.

Rosh Hashanah

The Art of the High Holidays: A Jewish Art Education virtual presentation Sunday, September 21, 7 pm $9 (half a chai*) - $36 Rosh Hashanah (Head of the Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) will come to life through 1,500 years of Jewish art with the virtual presentation, The Art of the High Holidays.

Presented by Jewish Art Education, Joanna Homrighausen, Ph.D will offer a chronological and topical overview of visual art objects and their symbolism related to these two holidays. Powerful art will be included in a slideshow along with an in-depth narration.

Joanna Homrighausen writes and teaches at the intersection of sacred text, lettering arts, and scribal crafts. She earned her PhD in Religion (Hebrew Bible) at Duke University and now teaches Religious Studies at the College of William & Mary, where she has taught the biblical Hebrew sequence, the history of ancient Israel, and first-year writing seminars. Homrighausen is the author of Planting Letters and Weaving Lines: Calligraphy, the Song of Songs, and The Saint John’s Bible (Liturgical Press, 2022). She also co-leads, with poet Fred Levy, a monthly Torah study for Temple Sinai in Newport News, Va. For more information and to register, go to www.jarted.org.

L ’Shanah Tovah!

Best wishes for a

S

sweet year in 5786.

jewishnewsva.org | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | JEWISH NEWS | 29

Rosh Hashanah

Here's how to turn ‘epic fails’ into fresh starts Rabbi Elana Zelony RICHARDSON, Texas (JTA) -- Urbandictionary.com is an opensource site where the average citizen contributes definitions to new and old words and slang. As the High Holidays approach, I’ve been contemplating the phrase “epic fail.” According to one entry on Urbandictionary.com, epic fail means “complete and total failure when success should have been reasonably easy to attain.”

Epic fail defines most of the sins I contemplate during the High Holidays.

I should have been able to succeed, but I didn’t because I’m human and I have weaknesses. I spend the period that begins with the Hebrew month of Elul and culminates with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur thinking of the many times when I

easily could have been more kind, patient, and optimistic.

It’s not that I’m incapable of those behaviors; I have a normal psyche and can be a good person. However, as a human I failed to be my best self during the past year on numerous occasions.

I know I’m not alone in my epic fail.

Look at the stories we’re told about the Jewish people in the Torah.

The epic fail of the Jewish people was worshipping the Golden Calf, and the epic fail of Moses was smashing the Ten Commandments carved with God’s own finger. All the people had to do was wait until Moses returned with God’s law, but they panicked during their leader’s absence and sought security in a golden image. All Moses had to do was reprimand the people. Instead he flies

into a rage and smashes the holy tablets.

They were capable of doing better.

Here’s the good news. Elul, the month leading up to the High Holidays, is one of contemplation. According to the midrash, on the first day of Elul, Moses began carving a second set of tablets with his own hands.

Carving the second set of tablets is about starting over again after failure.

The High Holidays cycle demands that we examine the ways we have failed, but it also gives us the strength to start anew. On the first of Elul (August 25 this year), we began re-carving our own smashed tablets. It’s hard work to hew meaning out of stone, but the effort leads to renewed relationship and hope for the future.

Some choose to gather in small

groups before the holidays, using the time to spiritually prepare. If local Elul classes aren’t possible, check out websites to help with your preparation for the High Holidays during Elul, including Jewels of Elul and Ritual Well.

On Rosh Hashanah, if I see the blisters on my friends and family’s hands, I’ll point to my own. We’ll nod knowingly and smile at one another.

We’ll affirm the hard work that went into re-carving ourselves. Together, we’ll celebrate the New Year as an opportunity to start all over again.

Rabbi Elana Zelony, the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Torah in Richardson, Texas, and is a member of Rabbis Without Borders, a network that emphasizes pluralism, innovation, and service in the rabbinate.

a v o T a n L'Sha 5786

THE BOARD AND STAFF OF THE UNITED JEWISH FEDERATION OF TIDEWATER

AND SIMON FAMILY JCC WISH YOU A SWEET & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

30 | JEWISH NEWS | SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 | jewishnewsva.org