Rosh Hashanah is a holy day of sounds, sights, and tastes. We will hear the 100 blasts of the shofar, and we will see the entire community gather. Yet, let us not forget the taste of our apples dipped in honey.

We have a Sinai Temple rabbinic tradition. Rabbi Jason Fruithandler, of the Woodbury Jewish Center, who began his rabbinic career at Sinai Temple, joins our family over Zoom for the annual “Apple Taste Test.” Our children buy three different types of apples and taste them without looking, and we vote on which apple is best to use for Rosh Hashanah evening.

Why do we dip a fruit that is naturally sweet into honey, which is also sweet?

I recently learned from Rabbi Adi Ciner of Israel that honey is the only product made by joint communal effort and collaboration and therefore has an even sweeter quality than the apple. We dip one into the other to show that even the sweetness of individual accomplishment can be elevated when paired with what we can build and create together.

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday when we come as individuals and leave as a community. The Sinai Temple clergy eagerly await your arrival on these most sacred days so we can elevate who we wish to be in the year ahead. Shana Tovah