A Happy And A Sweet New Year - Rosh Hashanah Wishes

August 26, 2014

Jewish New Year falls on the 25th September 2014 this year. And what does it mean to the Jewish people?

Well Rosh Hashanah - Jewish New Year - is a time to remember the creation of the world and to reflect on one's priorities in life. A time to ask God's forgiveness and to think about how to live life over the forthcoming new year.

Observant Jews will attend synagogue in the morning and then return home to eat a special meal, which will probably include apples dipped in honey - symbolising the sweet new year that hopefully lies ahead.

Challah - the bread Jews eat on the Sabbath - is created in braided rounds for Jewish New Year to symbolise the never-ending circle of life.

Family and friends who have gathered together will wish one another "Shanah Tovah" - Hebrew for "A Happy New Year".

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A Happy And A Sweet New Year

Ways To make Rosh Hashanah Extra Special

There is plenty of visual symbolism centred around the Jewish New Year - apples, honey, pomegranates ... Pomegranates are often put on the dining table as they contain many seeds - which show all the good deeds that should be carried out over the forthcoming year.

There are plenty of recipes about for special dishes for Rosh Hashanah. We like the idea of this Walnut Honey Cake and a Tsimmes by Evelyn Rose.

Or create these Pomegranate Coolers - which contain pomegranates and honey, so many of the flavours of Rosh Hashanah.

It's always wonderful when the family can get together and celebrate. But if you're not able to all be together, you can say L'Shanah Tovah to your loved ones with a beautiful greetings card from Ananya. Order your cards online now so you have plenty of time to send them out. You'll find all our Jewish New Year designs here - the difficulty will be choosing which to buy!

Personal Touch and Winning Ways to Make Rosh Hashanah Extra Special

August 28, 2013

Make Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, memorable and innovative by using some creative ways to add your own stamp to the celebrations or give imaginative gifts. At Ananya, we have done some research and offer you some simple, easy, yet effective suggestions.

1. Personalised Place Settings with a Difference

Each place setting uses an apple adorned with a golden leaf on which is written the guest’s name. This is what you will need:

Heavy gold paper or gold cardboard
hemp or ribbon
a hole punch

Cut the gold paper into the shape of a leaf, in proportion to the size of the apple. Write the name of your guest on the leaf, make a hole at the base of the leaf and pass the hemp/ribbon through the hole and tie it to the stem of the apple. Do this for each guest and place each apple at the correct place setting. It’s quick and easy and looks elegant! If you want, you can write Shanah Tovah on each leaf and have the adorned apples as a centre piece.

You can also replace the apples with pomegranates, which are symbolic at Rosh Hashanah. For other craft ideas, check out Creative Jewish Mom.

2. Apples and Flowers, a Great Match!

Using apples in your flower arrangements is another novel idea to create drama to your table décor. You will need:

A clear glass vase – either tall and narrow, square or round
Some green apples
Your choice of colourful flowers

If using a tall vase, place some green apples into the vase so they almost fill up the vase, add water, then arrange flowers in an oasis and place them at the top of the vase. The contrast between the green apples and the flowers will be striking! If you don’t want to arrange flowers at the top, simply place small colourful flowers interspersed with apples along the sides of the vase and fill it with water. The apples and flowers together will look beautiful. If you are using a round vase, you can fill it with water and add decorative twining stems around the interior of the vase, add apples up to the top of the vase, then allow some contrasting coloured flowers to float at the top of the vase – again the effect can be stunning! Use your imagination and create something unique!

Source: Project Wedding

3. Apples + Tea Lights = Ambience

So simple and so sweet – it can be used either as a centrepiece, on a sideboard or coffee table. You will need:

Apples
Tea lights
Knife to carve

Cut out the centre of the apple to make enough space to fit a tea light comfortably in the apple so it is flush with the top. Then light the tea lights at the appropriate time and watch your friends go “wow”!

Source: Style Me Pretty

4. Going Natural

A gift basket with a difference; an English Ash wood foldable basket from sustainable resources in Cumbria is filled with goodies such as delicious luxury dried fruits and nuts, an Israeli wild flower raw honey, a bottle of Chenin Blanc and a wooden honey drizzler. This is a gift oozing with luxury and will last well beyond Rosh Hashanah.

There are also other choices on offer at Ripe Gifts to wish your loved ones Shanah Tovah!

5. Apples and Honey for a Sweet New Year

It is a simple gift, but full of meaning at Rosh Hashanah, from International gift wrapping expert Arona Khan. An apple sits atop a bottle of honey, both tied together with raffia with a bow at the top! Apples and honey to usher in a Sweet New Year!

While you may not be able to invite all your friends to your celebrations, you can let them know you remember and appreciate them by sending them a card; either with a gift, or by itself. A hand written card is always welcome. Ananya has a range of beautiful contemporary cards for Rosh Hashanah that are sure to please your friends. Make them feel special – send them a card.

Shanah Tovah!

Shanah Tovah! Warm Wishes for a Good and Sweet New Year

August 24, 2013

As Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of a new year approaches in the Jewish faith, we thought we would offer you a couple of easy recipes to try that include some of the symbolic fruits often eaten at this time – the pomegranate, apples and honey. The pomegranate is regarded as the symbol of righteousness because it is said to have 613 seeds representing the 613 Mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah. The pomegranate also represents fruitfulness because of its many seeds, as well as knowledge, wisdom and learning. The apples and honey are harbingers of a good, sweet and holy year. Shanah Tovah and a sweet New Year to you! Refreshing and simple to prepare, they are great dishes no matter what your faith.

Recipe: Pomegranate Guacamole

Ingredients

2 large ripe avocados
1/2 large onion, grated
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 fresh chilies, serranos, seeded
2 tablespoons fresh coriander leaves
1 freshly squeezed lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pomegranate juice
3 tablespoons pomegranate seeds

Directions

1 Finely chop the onion, garlic, chilies serranos, and coriander leaves.

2 Place in bowl and add lime juice and salt, set aside.

3 Peel and pit the avocados and place in a bowl. Mash with fork slowly adding the tablespoon of pomegranate juice.

4 Add onion and garlic mixture and fold together to make a course pulp. Gently fold in pomegranate seeds.

Serves 6

Source: Recipe and image thanks to www.joyofkosher.com

Recipe: Apples and Honey Tart - an elegant yet easy finish to a Rosh Hashanah meal

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry (1/2 of a 17 oz box)
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, halved, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
3 tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of salt
cinnamon for sprinkling
2 tablespoons Honey

Directions

1 Place frozen puff pastry on the counter and let thaw until it is soft enough to unfold without it cracking, approximately 40 minutes.

2 Unfold pastry and cut in half. Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Place the two puff pastry rectangles onto a baking pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with parchment paper.

3 Place apples, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Allow to sit for a few minutes, until the juices start to come out of the apples.

4 Arrange apple slices on the pastry rectangles in a straight line, overlapping as you go. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.

5 Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle with honey, using 1 tablespoon for each tart. Transfer to a serving tray and serve warm or at room temperature.

Serves 6-8

Source: Recipe and image thanks to www.joyofkosher.com

At Ananya, like the meaning behind the symbolism of the pomegranate, honey and apple, we too are constantly learning and increasing our knowledge and appreciation of other cultures. Whilst the pomegranate and honey were valued symbolically in ancient times, they are very much relevant in today’s world for their health promoting benefits. And an apple a day, as we have been told, keeps the doctor away! Giving new life to ancient traditions and making them appealing, meaningful and contemporary, is at the heart of Ananya’s vision. Our lovely Rosh Hashanah greeting cards capture the essence of this ancient tradition and bring it into today’s world.

Have you bought your Rosh Hashanah cards yet?

Looking For Rosh Hashanah Cards? Here's An Elegant Way To Wish Family And Friends A Happy And Healthy New Year!

August 19, 2013

Rosh Hashanah - the celebration for Jewish New Year - is nearly upon us, falling on 5 September this year.

What Does Rosh Hashanah Mean?

The Jewish New Year - known as Rosh Hashanah - commemorates the creation of the world and lasts for two days.

When greeting one another Jews say "Shanah Tovah" which means "for a good New Year."

Observant Jews will attend synagogue where one of the rituals for Rosh Hashanah is the blowing of the Shofar, a ram's horn trumpet. In a special pattern a hundred notes are sounded out. This is something young children particularly look forward to.

After the service, families disperse for a special meal where the theme is sweetness. Families wish one another a "happy and sweet New Year". Apples are dipped in honey, as a symbol of the sweet New Year that each Jew hopes will follow and sometimes a sweet carrot stew called a 'Tzimmes' is served.

The traditional Challah or Hallah bread is served as a round loaf at this time of year, rather than the plaited loaf usually served. This symbolises the circle of life and the year.

Sometimes a pomegranate is placed on the table too. Tradition dictates that a pomegranate holds 613 seeds, which represent each of the commandments a Jew is meant to keep.

Being with family and close friends is a wonderful tradition to keep over Jewish New Year but sometimes this is not always possible. Talking on the phone is lovely, but sending a beautiful Ananya Card for Rosh Hashanah is an elegant way of sending Jewish New Year greetings and messages to far away loved ones.

Our cards have a variety of designs featuring both apples and the tree of life and a message for a sweet new year. You can order the Rosh Hashanah cards online in plenty of time for the end of September - receiving a handwritten card through the post is always a delight.

Here are just some of our designs - you can find the rest on our website.

We also offer cards for other Jewish celebrations, including Bar Mitzvah messages, Bat Mitzvah and Pesach. We pride ourselves on elegant and contemporary designs, so take a look.

What do you enjoy best about celebrating Jewish New Year? Have you any special recipes you'd like to share with us? We'd love to feature them!

Passover

March 17, 2013

Passover : A Celebration of Freedom - 25th March to 2nd April

Passover, also called Pesach is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish festivals, commemorating the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.

The story of the Exodus tells how God helped the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves. The 10th plague was the death of the Egyptian first-born. The Israelites were told to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a spring lamb and that would be the sign for God to ‘pass over’ the first-borns in these Jewish homes.

The freed Israelites left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). To commemorate this, no leavened bread is eaten during Passover. This is why Passover is also called "The Festival of the Unleavened Bread", and ‘matzo’, an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water is eaten during the festival.

Special Service

On the evening before Passover begins, a special service called a ‘seder’ takes place over a meal with family and friends in the home.

The ‘seder’ plate consists of:

A lamb bone
A roasted egg
A green vegetable to dip in salt water
Bitter herbs made from horseradish
‘Charoset’ (a paste of chopped apples, walnuts and wine)

On the table, there are three ‘matzos’ (unleavened bread) on top of each other. At the start of the ‘seder’, the middle ‘matzo’ is broken and the largest piece is hidden. Children look for this hidden piece, and the one who finds it gets a small prize.

Four glasses of wine are drunk to represent the four expressions of freedom from slavery. An extra cup of wine is placed on the table and the door is left open for prophet Elijah who the Jews believe will reappear at Passover to announce the coming of the Messiah.

Innovative Desserts

We've found some desserts not usually associated with Passover - people love experimenting with new, tempting ways to make Passover dessert!

Chocolate cupcake with raspberry frosting

Saffron cake with lemon-fig compote

Matzo chocolate-mint ice cream cake

Here's one we found that matches our Passover cards.

Reciting the Story

During the meal, the story of the exodus from Egypt is read aloud from a special text called the ‘Haggadah’, and rituals that correspond to aspects of the story are performed. Everyone takes part in reading the ‘Haggadah’. Children play an important role in the ‘seder’ and the youngest child recites four questions from the book which ask what distinguishes this special night from all other nights, and the father answers the questions.

The story of Passover has a positive and inspiring message; that one can find freedom from bondage, and that the future can be better than the present.

Our Passover cards set the right tone for this significant festival, celebrated by Jews all over the world. Remember to send cards to your near and dear ones this Passover.

The team at Ananya wish all our Jewish friends and colleagues a very Happy Passover!