Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Dining

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Ari Shemirani displays trays filled with the fresh baked bread available at Mama's Kosher Bakery in Los Gatos. He says, 'It's the only kosher bakery for a minimum 50-mile radius.'

Mama's Kosher Bakery creates cakes, breads for Jewish holiday

By Suzanne Cristallo

Jews everywhere will greet each other on the eve of Sept. 22 with the wish that they be "inscribed for a Happy New Year;" that is, recorded in the Book of Life as opposed to the Book of Death. The two books are where Jews believe God places their names based on how they have lived their lives.

The two-day New Year holiday, called Rosh Hashana, opens the most important time of the Jewish religious year. This year, it celebrates the birth of the world 5,767 years ago. It is celebrated with foods that have special meanings and opens up a 10-day period leading to Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. That is when pious Jews confess their sins and shortcomings in the synagogue after a month of self-evaluation, followed by feasts.

"It doesn't matter so much what we believe," says Pat Bergman, a volunteer secretary of Abahat Torah, a synagogue on Meridian Avenue in San Jose. "It's the action [on our beliefs] that counts." In essence, Jews believe God's evaluation of them is based on those actions.

In preparation for the Day of Atonement, Jews eat apples dipped in honey and round, smooth loaves of bread. The roundness of the loaves symbolizes how the year goes around. The smoothness and sweetness represent hopes for a smooth, sweet year.

Mama's Kosher Bakery in Los Gatos carries several cakes, cookies and breads for the New Year celebration. "It's the only kosher bakery for a minimum 50-mile radius," says Bergman. Owner/baker Ari Shemirani is offering challah, a round bread with raisins, and honey cake.

Symbolism abounds in the foods eaten during Rosh Hashana. "We eat the head of a fish or a lamb, because we want to be 'ahead' and not a tail," Bergman explains with a smile. "The many seeds in a pomegranate represent many blessings and the opportunities for doing good deeds," she says.

The symbolism in the fruit doesn't stop there. The pomegranate looks like a head with a crown symbolizing God and his coronation, according to Rabbi Aaron Cunin, whose Chabad congregation holds services at the Jewish Community Center on Oka Road in Los Gatos. "We're accepting God as king and celebrating his coronation with Rosh Hashana," he says. "And by eating the pomegranate, we're reminding God, 'Hey, look! We're full of good deeds' [much as the fruit is full of seeds]. This is called mitzot."

When the holiday culminates with Yom Kippur, a period of fasting on that day ends with a feast where kreplach, a meat representing severe judgment, is covered with a white flour dough symbolizing the compassion and love that God can use to cover over any harsh judgment. Tongue is a reminder of good will. "Some eat it because we only want to use a tongue for good things, like speaking good of people," Cunin says.

Lastly, the honey cake means a wish for a sweet year. "When we ask for a piece, we are saying that it should be the only thing we ever need to ask another person for," Cunin concludes. He notes that food used in celebration is the way Jews show their confidence that God will answer prayers and give them a good and plentiful year.

Mama's Kosher Bakery, 473 N. Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos, is open 8 a.m.­5 p.m., Sunday to Friday. Closed Saturday. Call 408.395.5254.