31/08/2026
In America, we're used to having apples and honey, brisket, and round challahs. Or maybe we dine on Persian gondi, or Iraqi kubbah. But what would you see if you spent Rosh Hashanah with a Jewish community in Europe? The answers might surprise you.
With the Jewish year coming to a close, we decided to explore some of the traditions connected to destinations featured in our newest Global Jewish Destination Guide.
In Italy, Roman Jewish families welcome Rosh Hashanah with dishes such as red mullet prepared with raisins and pine nuts. For dessert, many buy "lo storto," a traditional half-moon-shaped cake, at Boccione, the historic kosher bakery in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto.
In Poland, Jewish communities traditionally served gefilte fish for Rosh Hashanah, but the recipe changed according to geography. In Galicia and southern Poland, it was often sweetened with onions, raisins, and almonds. Farther north, it was seasoned more sharply. The divide became known as the "gefilte fish border."
In Spain, the Reform Jewish Community of Madrid celebrates a Sephardic Rosh Hashanah seder built around symbolic ingredients. Dates, squash, leeks, beets, beans, apples and honey, pomegranates, and a fish head are accompanied by wishes and blessings for the year ahead. The community has even collected family recipes and stories inspired by this tradition in its own Rosh Hashanah seder cookbook.
Every tradition holds the story of its own community and the memories of those who carried it through generations.
Which of these tables would you like to sit at on your next Jewish Heritage trip?
