Rosh Hashanah
5767/ September 23-24, 2006
Lectures on
the weekly Torah reading by the faculty of
Nuts
on Rosh Hashanah
Attny. Mordechai Manowitz
Bne Brak
In his
glosses on Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim par.583.2, Rema notes: “Some
people take care not to eat nuts, since the gematria for egoz
(Heb. “nut”) is het, or sin; moreover, nuts cause a lot of phlegm and
mucus and spoil one’s prayers (Maharil).”
As we shall
explain below, the two reasons for this custom mentioned by Rema are rather
flimsy, so much so that it is hard to suppose that they are indeed the reason
and source of this custom. It seems
more likely that after the custom had become widespread these two explanations
were found in order to reinforce the practice and give it justification.
Nuts and
Sin
The first
explanation, that egoz (including the kolel)
[1] in gematria
has the same value as the word het (=sin), is problematic since the
value of egoz also equals the value of the word tov (=good) without
having to include the total number of words; hence this is a preferable gematria
and thus the symbolism of nuts is more towards “good” than “sin.”
Ba’al
ha-Levush mentions this custom, phrasing his explanation somewhat differently:
[2]
Some people
take care not to eat nuts because they cause a lot of phlegm and mucus and
cause one’s prayers to be spoiled, and the indication that this is so is that
the gematria of egoz equals het.
In other words, one should not eat sins
on Rosh Hashanah, the day on which we are judged for our sins.
It follows
from his remark that the gematria of egoz is not the reason for
the custom of prohibiting eating nuts, rather it is a sign alluding to the
custom.
The Rema,
whom we cited above, did not share this view insofar as he cited the gematria
of egoz as the first reason, as an explanation standing independently on
its own, and then added a second reason:
“moreover, nuts cause a lot of phlegm and mucus…”
Magen
Avraham went even further, asserting that the explanations cited by Rema have
practical implications. According
to the reason based on gematria, only those nuts that go by the name of egoz
should be forbidden, whereas smaller nuts that go by a different name – luz
(=filberts) – should be permitted; but according to the explanation that they
cause a lot of phlegm and mucus, all sorts of nuts should be prohibited on Rosh
Hashanah, no matter what their name.
It follows from these remarks that each of the explanations individually
sufficed to establish the custom of not eating nuts on Rosh Hashanah.
Also the
second explanation mentioned by Rema, “nuts cause a lot of phlegm and mucus,”
is hard to accept as the source of the custom, since the prayers said
throughout the year are no less important than the prayers recited on Rosh Hashanah;
they, too, include recitation of the Shema as ordained by the Torah, and
recitation of the Shemoneh-esreh as ordained by the Rabbis, so why do we
not abstain from eating nuts, “which spoil one’s prayers,” all year round?
[3]
Nuts in
the Evening
Furthermore,
concerning the custom of not eating nuts on Rosh Hashanah, no distinction is
drawn between those who have already said their prayers and those who have not
prayed. Would eating nuts in the
evening, after reciting the evening prayers, be permitted?
If one were to answer that the effect of
nuts hindering prayer is long-lasting and therefore nuts should not be eaten at
night, then could one not argue as well that we should also abstain from eating
nuts during the day preceding the eve of Rosh Hashanah (erev Rosh
Hashanah)?
If we look
directly at Maharil, who is the source for the custom cited by Rema, we see
that his explanation was not that it hinders prayer, rather that it hinders
blowing the shofar. The
Maharil wrote as follows:
[4]
Mahari
Segal exhorted all the people to take care not to cough up or spit out when the
shofar is blown, so that they hear the blast in its entirety and not
miss the smallest bit. There are
various opinions as to whether the beginning or the end of the blast is the
most important. Be that as it may,
anything that causes phlegm or mucus is forbidden to be eaten on Rosh Hashanah,
and for this reason people take care not to eat nuts on Rosh Hashanah prior to
the sounding of the shofar, since they cause a lot of phlegm.
It follows
that one may eat nuts on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and after the sounding of the
shofar. It is only in the day, prior to the shofar blowing, that
one should abstain from eating nuts, so that they not cause one to cough and
consequently not fulfill the obligation of hearing the shofar.
Parenthetically
we note that this custom did not originate with Maharil.
Rather, he was discussing a custom that
was already in practice, as he said, “for this reason people take care not to
eat nuts…”
[5]
It follows
from all this that, as we have said above, the two reasons given by Rema are
too insubstantial on which to base the custom.
It seems more likely that after the
custom already existed but the reason had been forgotten these two reasons were
found in order to explain it.
Traditional
Foods
We suggest,
hypothetically, another explanation of the origin of the custom.
Looking in
the Shulhan Arukh and Rema’s glosses on par. 583.1-2, we find a list of
foods that are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah as symbols for the new
year, following the saying of Rabbi Abaye:
[6]
“Now that we say symbols have
significance, on Rosh Hashanah a person should eat squash, beans, leeks, beets,
and dates.”
If we
consider the list of foods traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah, we see that
they fall into two categories: one,
in which the name or appearance of the food is a sign indicating something
good; the other, foods which are sweet or tasty, so that the flavor is a sign.
What is more, in countries which spoke different languages, different reasons
were given for eating each food. For example, ‘carrots’ has one symbolic
meaning in Hebrew (‘to decree’), another in Yiddish (‘to increase’). The names
of the foods mentioned in the gemara and cited in the Shulhan Arukh
are given in Aramaic, i.e., the names of the foods appeared in a language that
was in use at that time and place (
In view of
this, perhaps people abstained from eating nuts on Rosh Hashanah because in
Yiddish or German they are called nuss, a name that hints at something
negative, namely running away or fleeing (Heb. menusah). Since the word
for ‘nuts’ appeared in Hebrew, not in German or Yiddish, in every source in
which posekim discussed the custom, the primary reason passed into
oblivion. This reason for the custom would also explain why the practice of
abstaining from nuts on Rosh Hashanah spread only in
A similar
custom of abstaining from a food whose name sounds like something bad is
mentioned by Hida:
[7]
“Rabbi Abudarham wrote that one should
eat fish (Heb. dag), but Rashbatz there said that one should be
concerned because of its name, since in Scripture we find the word dag
spelled with an aleph ( da-ag = worried).”
In Mahazik
Berakhah (loc. sit., par. 3) Hida reiterated:
Rashbatz
wrote that one should not eat fish since we find it is written da-ag, as
I cited in Birkei Yosef, and now I have found substantiation for what he
said in Tikkunei ha-Zohar ha-Kadosh, p. 53b, printed in Constantinople,
that dag is interpreted as related to the word de’aga (= worry, loc.
sit.).
He added in
the addenda (loc. sit., par.2):
Responsa
Beit Yehudah, part
I, at the end of the discussion of customs, p. 107b, wrote that some families
in his city do not eat fish on Rosh Hashanah, and the reason he gave is for
rejoicing (loc. sit.). It
seems to me that a better reason is that it sounds like da’ag, as
Rashbatz said, and I brought supportive arguments.
Here, too,
with the custom of abstaining from eating fish, the custom spread (contrary to
the practice today) but the original reason was forgotten, and Responsa Beit
Yehudah sought to give a new reason which Hida felt was unacceptable.
Therefore Hida returned to the
explanation associating the custom with the sound of the name of the food.
[1] “With
the kolel” is a term used in gematria to denote cases where one
had to add to the numerical value of the letters also the number of words in
the phrase; in this case, since there is only one word, the numerical value of
the letters in egoz “with the kolel” is 17(16+1) and in het,
17.
[2] Orah
Hayyim, loc. sit.
[3] Rabbi Jacob Kopel Reinitz (to whom I am grateful) called my attention to the fact that Pri Megadim, in his work Eshel Avraham, par. 583.4, sensed this and added: “On Rosh ha-Shanah one has to be more silent and attentive to what the Hazzan is saying.”
[4] Minhagim, Hilkhot Shofar, par. 2.
[5] Kolbo,
par. 64, wrote about the Maharam of Rothenburg, “He does not take care about
eating garlic and nuts, or any other food.”
In other words, by the time of the
Maharam of Rothenburg there were people who abstained from eating nuts on Rosh
ha-Shanah. (Again I wish to thank
Rabbi Reinitz for calling my attention to this point.)
[6] Tractate
Keritot 6a.
[7] Birkei
Yosef, par. 583.5.