MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL Like an apple tree is my beloved, Israel While Rosh Hashanah is called the birthday of the world, that is not technically correct. According to our sages (Midrash Rabbah, parshat Devarim), the world was actually created on the 25th of Elul. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the sixth day, the day on which humans were fashioned. It was also on this day, the first of Tishrei, the very day of their formation, that Adam and Eve ate of the apple, were punished for their sin, and were denied immortality. How fitting it is that on this day, on Rosh Hashanah, we, too, contemplate sin and punishment. In the Rosh Hashanah prayers we say, “Adam, yesodo meiafar, v’sofo le’afar—Humans originated in dust and return to dust,” language taken from the story of Adam and Eve and their brief sojourn in the Garden of Eden. And this is the day on which we eat apples. With all of us now hyper-attuned to fake news, fervent fact-checkers will be quick to point out that, according to the Jewish tradition, the forbidden fruit that our ancestors ate was not an apple at all. It is true that the Hebrew Bible does not delineate the precise produce that was partaken, and identifies it only as a peri, a fruit. It was the Latin Vulgate translation of Scripture in the fourth century that popularized the apple as the allusive fruit, since the Latin word for apple, and the Latin word for evil, are homonyms: malus. But a Jewish translation of the Bible also made this connection. The Targum, the ancient Jewish Aramaic translation of the Bible, speaks of tapuach deginta dieden—the apple of the Garden of Eden (Shir Hashirim 7:9). The eating of apples on Rosh Hashanah may therefore go back to the very first Rosh Hashanah in Paradise. Also in the Song of Songs (2:3), King Solomon compares the Jewish people favourably to an apple: Like an apple tree among trees of the forest, So is my beloved [Israel] among the youths. This quote, in turn, is a reference to the love between God and Israel that we seek in the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah, and which is the epitaph for the month of Elul: I am my beloved’s, And my beloved is mine. (Song of Songs 6:3) It has been customary to eat apples on Rosh Hashanah since at least the Middle Ages. The custom is related to the pleasant taste of the apple, which augurs a sweet and good new year. Rosh Hashanah is also a day filled with prayers and petitions to God, and according to Patti Shosteck’s Lexicon of Jewish Cooking, in medieval times people carved prayers into apple skins before eating them. Our new Akiva apple trees This year, Akiva School is celebrating the apple as a symbol of prayer, sweet tidings, and hope. In anticipation of Rosh Hashanah, our students planted two apple trees in our back yard, adjacent to our new playground. Our students will be learning about apples and trees, about their environmental import, their culinary contribution, and the intricate Jewish laws (halachot) involved in stewarding and harvesting fruit trees. In the near future, the trees will provide apples for Akiva students to dip in honey before Rosh Hashanah. A special thank-you to Akiva parent Sylvie Bismuth for both conceiving and funding this initiative. Norene Gilletz's Second Helpings, Please! Montreal apples have a special Rosh Hashanah connection for my family. While many people prepare honey cake as a Rosh Hashanah dessert, growing up in Toronto my mother, instead, always made apple cake from the recipe in Second Helpings, Please!, the 1968 cookbook edited by Montrealer Norene Gilletz and published by Montreal B'nai B'rith Women. Gilletz passed away earlier this year, but her recipe lives on, and my mother and I continue our tradition to this day. I have included the recipe (inset)—I baked mine last night! Trees, especially fruit trees, give us hope for the future. This year, more than ever, trees with their verdant leaves and blossoms portend a tomorrow filled with growth, beauty and fruitfulness. For parents and educators, trees represent gratitude to our own parents for the love they gave us and learning they imparted, and a commitment to our children to pay this forward. As the Talmud relates (Ta’anit 23a), “As my ancestors planted trees for me, I too plant for my descendants” Karynne, Ezra, Max, and I wish the entire Akiva family a year of sweetness and growth. May we enjoy the fruits of God’s world together, again, soon. Shanah tovah u’metukah. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Dear Friends, I recently heard an interesting story about the late Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz who died just last month and who was known for his Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud. The story goes that his father, who was a grandson of the Slonimer Rebbe, actually emigrated to Palestine in 1924, was a devout communist who went to Spain in 1936 to fight with the international brigades in the Spanish Civil War, and raised his son secular. However, when it came time to educate young Adin he chose to send him to yeshiva, saying that while he no doubt wanted him to be a heretic, he should at least not be an ignoramus. I love this story because it speaks to the beauty of pluralistic Judaism, the ideological foundation of Akiva. At Akiva we take pride in the diverse observances of our families, and yet during periods such as the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe, we are all contemplating our tradition in some form or another and embarking on some kind of like-minded spiritual journey. That we have all made the choice of Jewish education speaks volumes about our collective commitment to the future of our Jewish community, the choice of Akiva as that school is just the cherry on top. It would not be fitting to share any wishes for Rosh Hashanah without acknowledging both the hardship that many members of our community are experiencing this year more than any other, as well as the monumental work that our team at Akiva has done to protect our children and to do so in a meaningful way. It is because of the latter that we are able as a community to continue caring for the former. That, after all, is the virtuous cycle of our community. From my family to yours, please accept our sincerest wishes for a shanah tovah u’metukah. |