HaGaon HaRav Ben Tzion Mutzafi, a leading Sephardi posek, was asked last week about the minhag of eating apple in honey on Rosh Hashanah.
“Are Sephardim noheig to eat apple in honey?” one of Rav Mutzafi’s talmidim asked. “Because my grandfather said that not.”
Rav Mutzafi responded: “שאל אביך ויגדך זקניך ויאמר לך. Your grandfather is completely right. Until today, we, the bnei eidos hamizrach, are not noheig to eat honey on Rosh Hashanah, but to cook some kinds of fruits and vegetables in sugar and eat them.”
“According to Kabbalah, honey is Middas HaDin, and it shouldn’t be stirred up on Rosh Hashanah, because it is yellow-gold in color. Its number also reminds us of the letters ש”ו from the word ‘shofar,’ which are sweetened through the tekios and with the 14 knuckles of the fingers that hold on to the shofar, is the gematria ש”ך, which are dinim as mentioned in Adra Rabba in the Zohar HaKodesh.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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17 Responses
So if you hold the honey with the 14 knuckles (whatever those are) you’re good to go?
The fourteen ‘knuckles’ are usually known as ‘joints’ of the hand. The sefardim don’t enjoy chopped liver either (brought in the Kaf HaChaim). As far as sugar goes, white sugar has no nutrients in it, but raw cane sugar does.
@Rebbe Yid Leitzanos on what an Adam Gadol says is not appreciated and is not funny
Having taught at a sefardi yeshiva, old-time sefardim indeed never dipped apples in honey. Currently sefardim are taught largely by ashkenazim, who are not aware of the difference in minhag.
whats wrong everyone does as the minhag of his fathers
What kind of a misleading News from Y W
as long nt zionny
Reb Yid,
There is wonderful sefer called sifsei chein that will open up new understanding of these ideas. the yad had 14 knuckles , hence yud and daled = 14. gold color represents middas hadin, hence no gold clothing on yom kippur…the egel hazahav, etc…
Is this whole article some type of joke or troll?? So sephardishe yidden are now going to start parsing the color and gematria numeric equivalent meaning of every food they eat.
Hey Gadolhadorah (I’m assuming your screen name refers to gadlus in something other than daas Torah)
This is not some childish, Sephardim never had the minhag to dip an apple in honey, this is already brought down by the Ben Ish Hai and other Sephardic poskim. Our minhag is to eat an ape baked in sugar.
Stop being so AshkeNormative, your minhag doesn’t define what is normal or not, as everyone else reading this article was able to understand; the Sephardic customs are very precise and deep.
All he’s really saying is everyone should follow their family minhag.
This is interesting.And certantly sephardim should folow thier minhagimn. However the minhag of apple in honey on rosh hashanah is actually very well founded acording to kabalah . It is brought down by none other than Rabbi chaim vital one of the foremost mekubalim and the student of the arizall, in sefer Pri etz chayim פרי עץ חיים, שער תפילות ראש השנה ז׳ “ואנשי מעשה נוהגין לאכול תפוחין בדבש .There should be no doubt that this is מנהג ישראל תורה and ashkenazim should likewise follow their minhagim.
love it…..this is the best….enjoy
Yechezkel,
Please do not assign the commenter who presents himself as a gadol as Ashkenormative.
His normative is completed unadulterated am horatzus. As described in the Gemara.
Yechezkel18: An ape baked in sugar?
That gave me a laugh thanks!
The minag on Rosh Hashanah of dipping an apple in honey dates back to the times of the Geonim as mentioned in Sefer Haagudah, Rosh Hashanah, which quotes the Geonim (c. 589-1038 C.E.) as having this custom.
Specifically using a red apple (perhaps due to its sweetness) is based on the writings of Rabbi Simcha of Vitri (d. 1105 C.E.), who in his classic work Machzor Vitri.
So the Rav shlit”a is worried about not eating an apple in honey, yet he’s not worried that so many Sfardim dress as Ashkanazim?
Nisht: Minhagim are just that…minhagim. The Kabalah-based rationalizations for the minhag referenced in the article are fine if your into that but applying that “logic” to all foods would get a bit challenging.
As an ashkenaz Jew myself, I have to say the following: I believe that if an ashkenaz rav came out and said this exact thing, we would all leave it alone with the comments. But since a Sephardi rav said it we have to attack. Yidden wake up!! Rosh hashona is in less than a week! Put the pride aside, and if you don’t agree with something that someone said (in this case he’s not just a someone he’s a big rav) then just leave it. Now is the time to perfect our middos and grow as people. Ksiva vchasima tova.