Rosh Hashanah - 5786

Rosh Hashanah - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  Simanim -- are they permitted?

In general, we are forbidden to use material representations for spiritual things to ensure we do not end up treating those representations as idols. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image nor any likeness...you shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them" [Shemot 20:4-5] which means treating anything as having any divine powers. We hear in many places about the "signs and wonders" that God did for us in Egypt. It would seem that signs are the exclusive domain of God, so how are we allowed to assign some meaning to a sign? There is much discussion among the commentators about how the Rosh Hashanah simanim should be done, so there must be some way to understand it outside of possible idolatry.

There is also another relevant prohibition. Talelei Oros asks our question directly, "Why is this custom permitted?" He refers to the verse "do not practice soothsaying" [Vayikra 19:26]. He explains, based on Rashi, that this is a prohibition against saying or believing that "a certain day is ausipicious for beginning work" or "a certain hour is inauspicious for departing", etc. He then refers to "do not practice divination" in the same verse which prohibits taking things as a sign, such as "if a deer crosses their path" or "food falls from their mouth", etc. In other words, breaking a mirror and walking past a black cat or under a ladder do not have meaning to a Jew other than possible safety issues.

The Rosh Hashanah custom of eating "simanim" is delineated in the Shulchan Aruch [583]. The way he writes it seems to say that the idea is to use these food items as reminders to say blessings regarding God, as opposed to anything actually about the food item itself. This approach gets us around the above problems, but does not address why we would need food reminders when we could just as well have a list of blessings in our machzor, which in fact we do. The foods then are not of any significant value here so why do we use them?

Rabbeinu Bechaye uses the analogy of a mezuzah. It is a little tube with a 'shin' on the outside and a scroll inside. He explains that the non-Jews see it as a protection device for our homes in the same way that their prayers to their star-gods are what they consider their protection. We know that the purpose of the mezuzah is in fact to serve as a reminder to us to look up to God for our protection, that the tube, 'shin' and scroll themselves do nothing for us.

What kind of simanim are allowable here? In the Gemora Kereitot [5b-6a] and Horayot [12a] Abaye lists "a gourd, fenugreek, leek, beets and dates". The Gemora there also lists some other simanim that are not related to Rosh Hashanah. The Shulchan Aruch gets a little more specific and includes words to be included in a blessing for each, and Rama adds honey with apple or challah as the minhag in Poland. The Mishnah Berurah observes "Now all these devices are performed entirely to be symbolic of good" to which Talelei Oros adds "we choose foods that can serve as positives, not negatives, foods that are sweet or whose name relates to something good." Since we do all this for a "good and sweet year", certainly we would avoid unpleasant tasting foods in the process.

The reason these positive simanim are allowed is that they are merely requests to God for good things, and are not predictors or signs and wonders. Something negative would be an attempt at predicting the future, which would be prohibited. As Sfas Emes says, "simanim allude to our service of God. One should not ask for personal material and physical needs, rather for the revelation of the glory of God in the world." This seems to run contrary to how many people recite the blessings, in that the objective is to ask for those personal needs instead of revelation of God. Because of this, many people do not have the custom of simanim.

The object for which simanim is permitted is the glorification of God. If you have this custom, as you go through the process, keep in mind this permitted purpose.