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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

If you've been following my twitter feed (if you don't, and have a wish to hear super random thoughts on life, I'm @keshetstarr), you know I've been cooking a lot this week.

Why all the cooking, you may ask?

This Wednesday is Rosh Hashana--the Jewish New Year! Also the Jewish equivalent of a triathlon cooking-wise. Instead of cooking one or two Thanksgiving-sized meals, I'm cooking five. Luckily, I like to cook:) Oh, and I have a very helpful hubby!

There are so many fun details about Rosh Hashana I could tell you about! Since it's the new year (we like to get it started in September instead of January, according to the Jewish calendar), it's a custom to have sweet foods for a "sweet year." That means apples and honey (the classic), challah and honey (best thing EVER. trust me), and lots of sweet foods. And extra dessert, naturally. Another custom is to have a food you haven't eaten all year, so you can make a special blessing on it. So my fruit bowl is now filled with pomegranates, starfruit, and some strange fruit that look like sweet potatoes but have horns on them? That was S's pick, if you're wondering.

The customs are all really fun, but the real point of Rosh Hashana is that in Judaism, we believe it's the time where G-d makes major decisions for the future year and judges us on our actions. It's sort of like a "tax day for the soul" where we stop and think about who we are, where we're going, and what we need to work on. I find that for myself, it's so easy to think that I'm doing enough. I'm nice enough, I give enough charity, I think of other people enough. But in reality, the good things I may do don't erase the many mistakes I've made or areas I need to grow in. And even if I'm not failing horribly at something (like speaking nicely to telemarketers, for example--ahem), there's always room to grow.

I don't want to just do enough. I want to do my best. Especially now that I'm going to have a little person to raise soon, G-d willing, I want to pay close attention to the areas of myself that need work, and get cracking.

And on a less serious note, it wouldn't be a holiday post without a Maccabeats video!


What's one thing YOU want to work on this year?

15 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this Keshet. I definitely need to work on patience.
    I hope you have a great holiday and aren't too tired from cooking to eat all that food!

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  2. Oh no! I was going to pick patience!

    Thanks for sharing your holiday with us! Take some food pictures too yum!!!

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  3. Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy all that delicious food!

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  4. Loved the music video - very catchy tune! Once again I enjoyed your informative post. Happy New Year and happy eating :)

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  5. Happy New Year!
    I've been working on this all year but it's something I'll continue to work on in the new year-being open minded and open hearted (so not a word!). Opening my mind and heart to other people's idea's and thoughts. I have a bad habit of being "my way or highway", trying hard to stop that.

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  6. Thanks for the insight. Have a blessed new year!

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  7. happy new year to you, keshet! happy ayin beth 5772 :)

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  8. Shana Tova, Keshet! Thank you for sharing of yourself and the video. I enjoy reading your blog.

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  9. Shana Tova, Keshet.
    Now, back to cooking and cleaning.

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  10. That video is awesome! Love it! I can't imagine you needing to work on improving any character traits. You rock! Hope you much sweetness and goodness in the New Year. Happy Rosh Hashana!:-)

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  11. Happy New Year to you! I hope you have a lovely time with friends and family and all of those yummy sounding treats!

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  12. Thanks for sharing!
    I didn't know much about Rosh Hashana and now I am glad I do!
    I think you explained it beautifully and it makes me want to take stock for myself :)

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  13. Enjoy! I can't say that I would enjoy THAT much cooking ;)

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  14. Great post Keshet! Thanks for sharing these customs. All that food sounds fabulous!!!

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  15. do you have photos of the food? yumm... sounds delish! Happy New Year Keshet!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment! I love hearing your thoughts:)