Peeling a Pomegranate

With the Kohenet session starting, I knew that I’d be asked about what I’ll be working on over the next year.  In general I want to dive into symbolic foods in Judaism and how they’ve been used over the centuries.  I’m not sure how I’m going to tie this into the Life Spiral work that is the focus of the second level of Kohenet training, but I have a few ideas.

Along with whatever assignments come my way this year,  I had one huge goal for myself already.  This year I’ll be producing the 5th anniversary edition of the Peeling a Pomegranate Passover Haggadah!  I’m planning and working on a radical overhaul.  I’m taking all the wonderful comments that people have given me over the years and doing the most comprehensive new version I’ve done, since I started publishing it.  The work started just after Pesach this year, when I sat down and removed a section that I was clinging to, but frankly never worked all that well.  I’m hoping that my new learning and insights into food practice will really enhance this new revised edition.

Along with my general research on Jewish food practices and food symbolism, I’ve also fallen in love with the little practiced Rosh Hashanah tradition of “Yehi Ratzon.”  The practice is a great example of Jewish food magick or if you are not comfortable with that word, food offering practice where you ingest the offering.

The custom is based on a phrase from the Talmud:

“Abaye said ‘Now that you have said that an omen is significant, at the beginning of each year, each person should accustom himself to eat gourds, fenugreek, leeks, beets and dates…’.” (Kerisus 6a)

I’m not going to go into the specifics of the practice right now, because I’ll do that when it gets closer to Rosh Hashanah.   What I’m doing now around this practice is researching each of these foods to learn what their symbolic, historical, social, and metaphysical properties are - both historically and now.  I’m doing this for a bunch of foods, but as part of my High Holiday preparations, I’m focusing on these foods to for now.

I just ordered Food At The Time Of The Bible: From Adam’s Apple To The Last Supper.  It looks like a great reference for this work.  I looked about ten different books before ordering, and from what I can tell this one has the kind of information and detail on specific foods that I’m looking for.  So stay tuned! Hopefully there will be a veritable harvest of delicious sacred eating and food posts coming soon.

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