It is the new year
and I am driving home
from Rosh Ha Shanah morning services.
I will rest until the evening
when I will join friends for the festive meal.
We Jews eat like Italians.
We have special foods for every holiday.
Symbolic foods.
Foods that make a statement to God
as they travel into our mouths.
Have you ever really thought about matzah?
I have.
It’s intense.
Matzah has so much meaning
it makes the dictionary seem like a Canadian.
We even have special foods to eat
when nothing special is happening.
Let’s talk kugle, kishke, falafel.
Don’t ask what kishke is,
but Kugle,
I could go on about kugle for days.
I will be well fed tonight.
There will be potato dishes
that would kill most Anglos,
and apples dipped in so much honey
the new year will be sweet enough
to last through the naming of all our children.
To be a Jew is to eat
like our ancestors before us ate.
Are you hungry?