In Israel, Jerusalem Post columnist describes family baking traditions for Rosh Hashanah
In Israel, author Barbara Sofer described in a column for the Jerusalem Post how culinary traditions for Rosh Hashanah changed in her family — from teiglach and honey cake to babka. According to her, Jewish food is defined not only by the origins of dishes, but also by the place they hold in family and religious life.
Symbolic foods of the holiday
Sofer mentioned simanim — symbolic foods common on the holiday tables of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. Their Hebrew and Aramaic names are used in wishes for the coming year. In particular, her family eats beets — “selek” — and leeks, called “karti.”
During her childhood in Colchester, Connecticut, the author’s aunt made teiglach — small knots of dough boiled in honey. Later, this dish disappeared from the family menu. Honey cake also did not become the family’s favorite pastry, although, according to Sofer, it has been mentioned in Jewish sources for nearly a thousand years.
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Babka for the holiday table
An alternative for the family was babka, which Sofer remembers from her childhood. Colchester Bakery, operating in Colchester, had rabbinical supervision; its baked goods were familiar to the local Jewish community. Among the bakery’s products was cinnamon babka with raisins.
The late rabbi and food historian Gil Marks linked Jewish babka to Eastern Europe in the early 19th century. According to his description, homemakers used leftover challah dough and added cinnamon, jam, or honey. Jewish bakers used oil instead of butter so that the pastry would remain pareve and could be eaten after a meat dish.
This year, Sofer ordered three types of babka from the artisan bakery Emmer & Cane in Ramat Beit Shemesh: cinnamon, chocolate, and Cookie Dough Babka. During the pandemic, the bakery’s co-owner Robin Chait perfected sourdough baking at home, and later she and her husband Yussi decided to create a bakery.
