Tag Archives: jewish

Apples & Honey: Jewish New Year Ritual

Age: 63
Occupation: Retired
Language: English

Informant Information:

Age: 63

Date of Performance: 2/18/2025

Language: English

Nationality: American

Occupation: Retired

Primary Language: English

Residence: Alameda, California

Text:

“Both my parents were Jewish, and at the new year—which, in Judaism, is a holiday in the fall when apples are in season—you cut apple slices, dip them in honey, and that will give you a sweet, prosperous new year.”

Context:

The informant, a California native from a fully Jewish background, grew up celebrating the Jewish New Year with her parents.

Analysis:

Eating apples dipped in honey is a Jewish tradition during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Their round shape symbolizes the cyclical nature of the year, while the honey’s sweetness represents hopes for a prosperous and joyful future.

Before eating, participants often recite a blessing expressing their wish for a “sweet new year,” reinforcing the ritual’s symbolic nature. For the informant’s family, this ritual was a celebration of their Jewish identity and means of passing down traditions to future generations. The timing, coinciding with apple season in the fall, also reflects the natural alignment between cultural customs and the regional produce available in California.

“Schmutz”

Nationality: American

Age: 21

Occupation: Student 

Residence: Orange County, CA, USA

Date: 02/22/2025 

Primary Language: English

Language: Yiddish

Description: 

“Basically, there’s a lot of like Yiddish things that we use in my family…we’ve used forever and ever and ever, and it just like, kind of continue. But I think it’s interesting that I use them because obviously, like, I don’t live my family anymore, whatever. Um…one of the things that I say all the time is Schmutz. S-c-h-m-u-t-z. Schmutz. Which basically means like…it’s like a kind of way of saying, like, you have shit on you. Like you have schmutz on you, which basically means like…like dirt. Usually, when I use it, it’s something that’s a little more like, um…lasting. Like if I get like pasta sauce on me, I go:

‘I have schmutz on me.’ If I got like, if I had like a leaf on me that I could like, brush off, you wouldn’t necessarily say that because it’s not something that’s, like, detrimental to your clothing or whatever.”

Subject’s opinion: 

Interviewer: Do you know where [the phrase] originated?

Subject: In Yiddish. Like…it’s been a term that’s been used…I’m pretty sure it’s actually a word in Yiddish, but I think it’s very Americanized. Not like Americanized…but it’s like, very like American Jew…usage. 

Interviewer: Do you know what it literally translates to? 

Subject: No…but that’s, I think, what’s interesting about it. A lot of the Yiddish words that we use, I don’t know exactly what they mean. Like “schvitzing” is sweating. “Schmear” is like a…a schmear! Like, I can’t even explain that. It’s just like a schmear…a lot of what Yiddish is, it’s like…like, schvitzing is like a lot of like, sch-vit-zing. It’s like a lot of hard letters for something that’s kind of gross. Like, you’re sweating. Schvitzing It’s kind of disgusting. Like, you go to the Schwitz is what you say if you go to the sauna. 

Analysis:  The subject’s Jewish-American background brings much complexity to the consideration of these words as folk tradition. On one hand, they are real words rooted in multiple linguistic origins, mainly Yiddish as well as German. On the other hand, based on the subject’s description, these words have taken on a life of their own in the American social context. The subject laid emphasis on the exclusivity of these words’ usage and how they’re only a shared lingo between her, her sister, and her parents. Since the subject does not speak Yiddish, she only offered her opinion on the phonetic profile of these words and its role in their effectiveness. In this context, the use of these words becomes a social performance, particularly in the special paralinguistic patterns of voice quality and vocalization as well as how they appeal to tradition—a way to stay in touch with one’s roots in a language that pulls from a greater realm of cultural heritage.

Tiferet

Context: This testimony given by SS is a former Los Angeles high-school student who shared with me her reflections on a semester spent in Israel as part of a 10th grade educational program. Her testimony sheds light on the programs commitment to the students safety, and their willingness to use realistic stories to deter the kids on the trip from misbehaving.

Text: “At my high school in 10th grade you can apply to a program and spend your second semester of 10th grade in Israel. And because there’s a lot of freedom given on the trip and you are at such a young age, there’s a strong emphasis on not being able to drink or smoke or do anything like that. When we went out we would need to be chaperoned by a madrichim which was a live-in councilor for the trip. This was always a rule but we were told it became more strongly enforced after an incident that allegedly occurred more than 5 years prior to when I went. Certain weekends would be referred to as open shabbat because you would have the option to stay with a nearby family in Israel, and a girl during this free weekend drank and got alcohol poisoning and needed to have her stomach pumped at a local hospital. As a result of her actions, she was supposedly kicked off of the program and had to immediately go home. Looking back I think they only told us this story to keep us in check and scare us out of doing anything crazy” 


Analysis: I believe the purpose of this testimony serves as a cautionary tale, aiming to teach a lesson through the consequences that the alleged girl who got alcohol poisoning suffered through. The alcohol poisoning serves as a warning to other students about the health risks of engaging in the prohibited behaviors, whilst the girl being kicked off of the trip works to further deter students from following in her actions, as that would result in them being flown back to Los Angeles from Israel and presumably additionally failing the semesters classes.  At its heart, I believe it serves as a mechanism for social control which works particularly well amongst the high schooler demographic, especially when paired with the aim to establish the authority of the madrichim by painting them out to be both guardians of the students and enforcers of the program’s rules.


Jewish Tradition for Rosh Hashanah

Text: Every Rosh Hashanah, the informant throws a piece of bread into a body of water, which Symbolizes getting rid of their sins. When the informant does this ritual, which he has always performed with his immediate family, you talk about what you did wrong last year and what you’re going to try and do better next year. Rosh Hashanah is the new year and when Jews are supposed to be cleansed. He said it is their way of communicating our sins and regret for them to god. This usually falls in late fall or winter. 

Context: He’s been doing it ever since he can remember, he doesn’t feel that it does anything of significance in terms of good standing with God but He likes to be with his family at this time and feels that it helps him grow and be a better person

Analysis: The practice of casting bread into water as a symbol of casting away sins embodies a communal approach to repentance. While the informant expresses skepticism about the ritual’s direct impact on divine judgment, their continued participation highlights a personal and cultural commitment to the values of family unity and personal growth. The secular shift towards these traditions could be a reflection of the more secular shift which happened to many jews after the holocaust. This suggests that, within this cultural framework, traditions serve not only religious purposes but also support social cohesion and individual self-improvement.

Matzah Hunt

Text:

During Passover, the informant’s grandparents would hide two pieces of matzo (one for him, the other for his sister) that they would then search for. Sometimes, this would involve a game of “hot or cold”. If they found the pieces of matzo, they would get a bit of money as well.

Context:

The informant is not Jewish, but rather considers themself a mix of various ethnicity, citing Jewish as one, but mentioning that he was mostly Christian and Scottish, with a bit of Native American ancestry.

Analysis:

When looking further into the matzah hunt, I found out that there’s quite a bit of history and symbolism behind it. The bread is part of a group of three matzo, and the one that’s hidden is broken off from the middle one of the three pieces. It is then wrapped in a napkin and hidden somewhere in the house. In terms of symbolic importance, it’s referred to as either representing the sacrifice that was once offered at the temple in Jerusalem, which speaks to the historic and cultural importance of the activity. Alternatively, it can be seen as a way of representing how one must set aside a portion of what they own for the less fortunate. With such an important symbolic represented here, it’s interesting to see it applied to a game for children to play. Judging by the informant’s recollection of the event, I can’t imagine the player of this activity has much awareness of its importance. As a result, they just see it as a game they can earn something from if they win. Perhaps this can be seen as the way folk practices apply in different ways to different people. While the children see a fun game, the adults see a piece of symbolism that represents them as a people, and said children do not learn such symbolism until they are much older.