A Pomegranate Full of Mitzvot

May your new year be as full of mitzvot as a paper pomegranate!

Long before “simanim” were trendy, when I was growing up we always had a “Rosh Hashanah seder,” complete with apples and honey, pomegranates, dates, black eyed peas, spinach, leeks and of course fish heads. We recited a yehi ratzon before eating each siman, read from the small, cracking black siddur that my grandfather brought for my father from Yerushalayim when he was a young boy. We would run away to hide when the smelly fish head was brought out! When I was in collage, I designed a simanim booklet to supplement the siddur, so everyone could have the words in front of them. So to me, the simanim of Rosh Hashanah are a crucial part of my holiday.

The yehi ratzon we recited on the pomegranate is “she’yirbu zichuyot ka’rimon,” that our merits should increase and be as plentiful as the seeds in a pomegranate. We decided to illustrate this idea by creating a pomegranate full of mitzvot. My eight year old decided to draw pictures illustrating teshuva, tefillah and tzedakah, the three components that can erase a bad decree, which we work especially hard on during these days of Elul leading up to Rosh Hashanah. Of course you can use any mitzvah that appeals to you (or that you find easy to illustrate!) May we all merit a year full of mitzvot!

Looking for more Rosh Hashanah projects?
Pop-up Apple Place Cards for Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah Paper Fortune Cookies

Time:
Active: 15-20 minutes
Drying: No need to wait for the glue to dry before coloring.

Age: 5-9

Materials:
Red paper
White paper
Scissors
Glue
Something round to trace
Markers/crayons/colored pencils

Process:
Cut the shape of a large pomegranate out of the red paper. Trace three circles within the pomegranate. Cut out the circles most of the way, but leave one side attached to create a flap.

Glue a piece of white paper to the back of the pomegranate, being careful not to glue down the flaps. Trim the white paper so it can’t be seen from the front.

Inside each flap, draw a picture of a mitzvah, or print out and glue them on.

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!

Rosh Hashanah Paper Fortune cookies

Share your hopes for a sweet new year!

I can hardly believe that Rosh Hashanah is really around the corner! Summer here was a mess of plumbing problems, that ended up with a renovated bathroom and some new concrete on the floor in the garage. Sigh – this was not in our summer plans! But as we get ready to face a new year, we are all thinking about what might happen in the year to come.

We decided the fold up our new year’s wishes in paper fortune cookies! These would be really fun to share at your Rosh Hashanah table. We stuck with simple messages like “I hope you have a sweet new year” but you can put in whatever you want, deep or funny.

These were pretty easy to make, thanks to youtube.  This one requires more adult hands-on than some of our other projects because of the glue gun and the harder fold, but kids can definitely come up with the fortunes themselves! Share any good ones you come up with!

Looking for more Rosh Hashanah projects?
Pop-up Apple Place Cards for Rosh Hashanah

Time:
Active: 15-20 minutes
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint

Age: 3-9

Materials:
Paper – decorate your own, or use patterned or colored paper
Scissors
Something round to trace
Glue gun

Process:
I am handing this one off to youtube. Find the fairly easy directions here.

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!

Pop-up Apple Place Cards for Rosh Hashanah

Make your holiday table fun with pop-up apple place cards!

School has begun, long sleeves have been stocked in the drawers, and our neighbor’s tree is full of apples…fall is just about here and that means Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner. The kids will almost certainly bring flimsy plastic honey dishes home from school that you want to figure out how to avoid using (“Let’s keep it clean, so we don’t mess it up!”) and you definitely do not need more of those hanging around. This is neater and more personal project that you can use to decorate your table while helping your guests find their seats.

While you can stick to authentic apple colors, there is no reason you need to! Especially for the youngest artists, scribbling in multi-colors will just make these look more fun. I think I prefer the colorful ones!  You could also crumple small pieces of tissue paper in red, green and yellow and glue them to the apples for added dimension. Or use pompoms in place of tissue paper in a rainbow of colors!

I printed my cards on regular paper since my printer can be stubborn about printing on card stock but if your printer can handle it or if you are drawing the apples yourself, I recommend a heavier weight paper so that the place cards will stand up nicely, especially if you are gluing on any decorations. You can download the template here.

 

Pop-up Apple Place Cards

Time:
Active: 30 minutes, depending on how many you make
Drying: 15 minutes+ if using paint or glue

Age: 2-9

Materials:
Paper or place card template
Something with which to decorate the paper – paint, markers, crayons, tissue paper, pompoms, etc.
Scissors
Glue if needed

Process:
Draw your apple outlines on a card of your own size choice, or download and print ours. I sized them so they fit six on a page.

Decorate in any way you want. We just used markers.

When they are decorated, cut the cards into individual pieces. Fold each card in half.

Cut out the shape of the apple on the top part of the card only! This proved to be a bit tricky for the leaf and stem so I suggest helping out younger children.

Add names below the apple and place one at each seat at your table.

Did you do this project? Share your pictures on our facebook page!