How to Have a Rosh Hashanah Seder at Home

Netivyah International

A Rosh Hashanah seder is the festive evening meal that opens the Jewish New Year. It follows a simple order: light candles, say Kiddush over wine, thank God for bringing you to this day, bless a round challah dipped in honey, and then share a series of symbolic foods with short prayers for the year ahead. You can do all of it at your own table in under an hour.

The word seder just means "order." Most people know it from Passover, but Jewish families in many communities, especially Sephardic ones, set out an ordered table on Rosh Hashanah too. Below is the order we use, with the blessings in English and the reasons behind each step.

What Rosh Hashanah is and when it falls

Rosh Hashanah means "head of the year." It falls on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which lands in the fall, usually in September or early October. Like every biblical day, it begins at sunset, so the seder is held on the evening the holiday starts.

It is a happy day with a serious edge. Jewish tradition calls it the Day of Remembrance and the Day of Judgment. The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:2) teaches that on this day everyone who has come into the world passes before God like a flock passing before its shepherd. So the table is full and sweet, but the prayers lean toward repentance and hope.

Where it comes from in Scripture

The Torah gives the day briefly. Leviticus 23:24 calls the first day of the seventh month "a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation." Numbers 29:1 calls it a day of blowing the trumpets, which is why many Christians know it as the Feast of Trumpets. The Hebrew name in those verses is Yom Teruah.

The clearest picture of a festive meal on this day comes from Nehemiah 8. On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra read the Torah aloud to the people who had returned from exile, and they wept as they heard it. Nehemiah and Ezra told them to stop weeping: "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared" (Nehemiah 8:10). They added, "the joy of the LORD is your strength." That is the spirit of the Rosh Hashanah table in one verse. Take the Word seriously, then eat something sweet and share it.

How the day is kept in Jewish practice

In the synagogue, the center of Rosh Hashanah is the shofar, the ram's horn, blown in a set pattern of long, broken and staccato blasts. Many communities also pray Avinu Malkeinu, "Our Father, Our King," asking God for mercy in the coming year. In the afternoon of the first day, many families walk to a body of water for Tashlich, a custom built on Micah 7:19: "thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

People greet each other with Shanah tovah, "a good year," and often Shanah tovah u'metukah, "a good and sweet year." The day also opens the Ten Days of Awe, which lead to Yom Kippur. If you want to understand the trumpet blasts themselves, read our teaching on hearing the shofar on the Feast of Trumpets.

The order of the evening meal

1. Light the candles

The table is lit in the last minutes of daylight. Set out a pair of candles and kindle them. Many households then circle their hands over the flames three times, drawing the light inward as a picture of inviting God's presence into the home. Then cover your eyes and pray:

"Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us to light (Shabbat and) festival candles."

Some believers insert the phrase "and through Messiah Yeshua" right after "His commandments." The words in parentheses belong only to years when the holiday opens on Friday at sundown; otherwise leave them out.

2. Say the Kiddush

Kiddush comes from the same Hebrew word as kadosh, the word for holiness. Saying it over a full cup of wine or grape juice marks this evening as set apart for the Lord.

When the holiday begins on Friday night, the Shabbat portion of creation comes first, Genesis 1:31 to 2:3:

"Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made."

Any other night of the week, open the Kiddush at this point. Lift the cup:

"Attention, Gentlemen! Blessed are you God, our Lord, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine." ("Amen!")

"Blessed are you God, our Lord, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and desired us. And with love and goodwill has invested us with His holy Shabbat, a remembrance of the act of Creation. (For it is) the first of the holy festivals, commemorating the exodus from Egypt. (For You have chosen us and sanctified us, among all the nations) and with love and goodwill You have given us Your Holy Sabbath as an inheritance."

"Blessed are You God, who sanctifies the Shabbat, and Israel, and the Day of Remembrance." ("Amen!")

That opening call, "Attention, Gentlemen!", translates the traditional Aramaic savri maranan, a polite way of asking the table to listen.

3. Thank God for bringing you here

Jewish tradition keeps the Shehecheyanu for firsts and milestones, and the turn of a year is about as big a milestone as a household gets. Whatever the last twelve months held, the losses, the weddings, the ordinary Tuesdays, God carried you through them. Now you are sitting together at one table, and that alone deserves a blessing.

"Blessed are you, o Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has given us life, and Who has allowed us to reach this day."

4. Bless the round challah

On an ordinary Friday night the challah is braided and covered with a cloth, a reminder of the layer of dew around the manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:13-14). At the new year the loaf is coiled into a ring instead. A circle has no break in it, which makes it a fitting shape for a year that turns and a life we hope stays whole. Where a Shabbat table would salt the bread, this one reaches for the honey jar, a small edible prayer for sweetness. Some bakers work raisins into the dough as well.

"Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth the bread of the earth."

5. The simanim: foods that carry a prayer

The custom is old. The Talmud (Horayot 12a and Keritot 6a) records the sage Abaye saying a person should make a habit of eating gourd, fenugreek, leek, beet and dates at the new year. Most of these simanim ("signs") work by wordplay: the Hebrew or Aramaic name of the food sounds like the prayer said over it. They are hints, not obligations. Use the ones you have. For a fuller look at each food, see our page on simanim, the symbolic Rosh Hashanah foods.

Apples and honey. If you only have time for a single symbolic food, choose this classic pairing. First say, "We praise You, Eternal God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the tree." Next add, "May it be Your will, Lord our God, that this be a good and sweet year for us." Finally, take a bite of the apple coated in honey.

Pomegranate. The Bible often points to this fruit as a standard of beauty (Song of Songs 4:3), and craftsmen attached small golden versions of it to the high priest's garments (Exodus 28:33-34). An old Jewish teaching suggests a single pomegranate holds exactly 613 seeds, mirroring the total number of instructions found in the Law of Moses. While the actual seed count changes from fruit to fruit, the metaphor remains a beautiful way to pray: "May it be God"s will that our lives may be as full of mitzvoth as the pomegranate [is filled with seeds]."

Gourd and carrot. The Aramaic term for a gourd (kara) sounds nearly identical to the Hebrew words meaning "to rip apart" and "to read." Meanwhile, the Hebrew word for carrot (gezer) shares a root with the word for a legal judgment. Both foods prompt the exact same plea to God: "May it be Your will, Lord our God, that the evil decrees against us be torn up, and our good merits be read out before you."

Beets or spinach. Selek, the Hebrew name for beet, has the ring of a verb for sending something away. So the prayer over it asks for exactly that: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that our enemies, haters and those who wish evil upon us shall depart."

Dates. In Hebrew a date is a tamar, and its first syllables echo tam, finished or complete. Say the usual blessing over fruit, "Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the tree," and follow it with the request: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that there come and end to our enemies, haters and those who wish evil upon us."

Grapes. This one reaches for Micah's picture of peace: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that soon and in our days we will see what was prophesied by our prophets: 'Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken (Micah 4:4).'"

Fennel. Its Hebrew name, shumar, is a near rhyme for lishmor, the verb for guarding. Pray: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that You will protect and save us, and that you will save all that you have created, for '...the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore (Psalm 121:8).'"

Quince. Quince is khabush, close in sound to the Hebrew for binding up a wound. Pray: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that You will bandage and heal our wounds and sick, like it is written: '...the Lord binds up the bruises of His people and heals the wounds He inflicted (Isaiah 30:26).'"

Kohlrabi or turnip. Believers in Jerusalem introduced this specific vegetable to the table purely for its sound. Say kohlrabi out loud to a Hebrew speaker and they hear kol rabi, every single rabbi. The request is: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that every rabbi will come to faith in Yeshua, like it is written: 'They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child... (Zechariah 12:10)'"

A head. In older custom the head of a fish or a lamb sat on the platter. Plenty of families now use a head of cabbage or lettuce, which is easier on everyone's appetite. Head in Hebrew is rosh, the same word that opens the name of the holiday. Say, "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that we will be a head and not a tail." The idea is to step into the coming months as a leader guided by the Lord, rather than trailing behind.

What this night means for followers of Yeshua

Rosh Hashanah asks a hard question: if God is judging the world, where do I stand? For a disciple of Yeshua (Jesus), that question does not go away. It gets an answer. Scripture says "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1), and invites us to "come boldly unto the throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16). The sweetness on the table is not pretending judgment is unreal. It is confidence in the Judge.

The trumpet also points forward. Paul writes that the Lord himself will descend "with the trump of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16), and that the dead will be raised "at the last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:52). When the shofar sounds this season, believers hear both a call to repent and a reminder of the morning when Messiah returns.

Keeping it simple with children

You do not need every food or every word. A good family version looks like this:

• Light two candles and say the blessing together.
• Pass one cup of grape juice for Kiddush and the Shehecheyanu.
• Tear a round loaf, dip it in honey and let the kids go first.
• Choose three simanim: apples and honey, pomegranate and a head of lettuce.
• Read Nehemiah 8:10 aloud and ask everyone to name one person who could use a "portion" from your table this week.

Let the children pick a food and write their own "May it be Your will" prayer for it. Some of the best simanim started at a family table exactly that way.

A question to take into the new year

Before you clear the table, go back to the head. Ask each person: where is God asking me to lead this year instead of follow? Pray it over one another by name, "that we will be a head and not a tail," and then read Psalm 121 together as a blessing for the year's coming and going. Shanah tovah u'metukah.

Questions people ask

How do you do Rosh Hashanah at home?

Hold a festive meal on the evening the holiday begins. Light two candles before sunset, say Kiddush over wine or grape juice, say the Shehecheyanu, bless a round challah dipped in honey, and share a few symbolic foods with short prayers for the year. Many families also read Nehemiah 8:9-12 at the table.

What are the main Rosh Hashanah blessings?

The core blessings are the candle lighting, the Kiddush over wine, the Shehecheyanu for reaching this day, and the blessing over bread. Over the symbolic foods, people add short prayers that begin "May it be Your will," such as asking for a good and sweet year over apples dipped in honey.

What is said for Kiddush on Rosh Hashanah?

Kiddush begins with the blessing over the fruit of the vine, followed by a blessing that sanctifies the day and closes with "Blessed are You God, who sanctifies the Shabbat, and Israel, and the Day of Remembrance." When Rosh Hashanah begins on a Friday evening, the creation passage from Genesis 1:31 to 2:3 is read first.

What is a Rosh Hashanah seder?

A Rosh Hashanah seder is an ordered holiday meal built around symbolic foods called simanim. Each food has a name that sounds like a Hebrew or Aramaic word, and a short prayer is said over it, such as asking God to tear up evil decrees over a gourd or carrot. The custom goes back to the Talmud (Horayot 12a).

Can Christians celebrate Rosh Hashanah at home?

Yes. The day is commanded in Leviticus 23:24 as a memorial of blowing trumpets, and its themes of repentance, God's judgment and His mercy speak directly to followers of Yeshua. You do not need to leave your church or become Jewish to set a table, read the Scriptures and pray for a good year.