Rosh Hashanah, known as the Jewish New Year, is one of the "High Holy Days" in Judaism. Starting on the first day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, usually between September and October, Rosh Hashanah commemorates the time when God is believed to have created the world.

Traditionally, people begin the Rosh Hashanah meal by eating apple slices dipped in honey and saying a special blessing to represent the hope for a sweet new year. Rabbi Mendel Teldon of Chabad of Mid-Suffolk in New York explained, “eating these foods is a way of engaging and communicating with God.”

Other sweet treats and symbolic foods are also enjoyed during a Rosh Hashanah meal. Foods such as carrots stewed in honey help bring additional goodness to the new year, pomegranate seeds represent an abundance of good deeds, and a round, rather than braided, loaf of challah, symbolizes the circle of life.