This is why the day after Rosh Hashanah is a fast day . . .

September 25, 2006 - 2:34 PM by Sarah

Forget repentance, the grandeur of God, and spiritual rebirth. Rosh Hashanah is about the food. And Jews know how to do food: Two-day Jewish holidays such as Rosh Hashanah involve four Thanksgiving-level meals back-to-back. As friends of mine once said, “if you’re not too full to move, you’re not to full to eat.” Our own OlehGirl, Yael, tells us how she managed the “best Rosh Hashana she’d ever had“:
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I spent the holiday with Kat and Bob’s family and Bob’s parents are amazing and wonderful people. It was my first sephardic holiday celebration and it was way fun. I just have to say, sephardic food beats ashkenazi food hands down. After an absolutely huge and delicious meal on Friday night I was greated with a lovely cup of coffee (better than a cafe cuppa!) and a slice of cake on Saturday morning. I scarfed it down, still feeling full from the night before. Then Kat warned, uh, just to let you know –that wasn’t breakfast, breakfast is coming. And about 45 minutes later breakfast did indeed come –the best salad I’ve had since living here, two eggs sunny side up, amazing challah spread with butter, and yogurt with nut butter added. Oh my. then cakes and things came out and graced the table but I was way too full-up.

We munched on nuts and things after that, I met lots of very nice people and tried to talk to them in very bad hebrew through-out the morning and around 1ish I collapsed for a nap. When I woke up at 2 with my tiny brain exploding from the hebrew, I was greated with the smell of barbecuing.
Nooooooooo. But yes, another meal on the way. I didn’t think it was possible to consume anything further. Yet. YET. When an hour later we sat down at a fully laden table in the back garden under the shade of a tree, I found that I could. And did. Salad, blintzes, hummus, and more. I staunchly remained veggie vigilant while all around me (including the now veggie-traitorous Kat –I so do understand how she turned traiter now) consumed large quanties of very large meat-things (I so didn’t ask) from the grill. Then there was a dessert to die for and I wasn’t sure if I might not just die if I put another bite into my mouth. I managed to survive, however, and was so glad I did (both survive and ate it). Then these nuts were there and I kept munching on them, along with both the fresh and the dried dates. Oy. And there was good bit more meeting and attempting to communicate with people.
I had at this point consumed more food in 24 hours than I had in the last week combined. And I wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. At about 6:30 we headed for Tel Aviv for dinner (!!) hosted at a very good friend of mine’s Sarah who makes Ashkenazi food that gives the sephardic a real run for its money. I didn’t think I could manage. I wondered if I could politely just say, hmm can I have some coffee while you guys eat. But when I arrived and the overpoweringly delicious smells reached me I discovered that I could indeed manage. Manage even with gusto. I had the best (absolutely best) challah bread (home-baked by Sarah herself) that I’ve ever had in my life. A delicious leafy salad, fish, hummus, rice with mushrooms, and an amazing tofu dish that I had two servings of because I just couldn’t help myself. But when the desserts came out I finally had to throw in the towel. I just could. not. manage. And this was such a shame because Sarah makes about the best darn desserts I’ve ever eaten before. But I was finally beaten.