Why don’t we eat nuts on Rosh Hashanah?
By Rabbi Shalom Landau.
Rabbi Landau explains that this custom “isn’t just a random law, it’s a mindset.” On inauguration day you don’t bring up the past.
Imagine being invited to a king’s coronation and saying, “By the way, do you remember when I betrayed you? Remember when I failed you?” “That’s insanity. No one does that.” At that moment the king doesn’t want to hear your confession. “He wants to hear your loyalty, your presence, your voice declaring, ‘Long live the king!’”
That is Rosh Hashanah. We don’t bring up sins, and that is why we don’t eat nuts. “It’s not about allergies.” The gematria of the word egoz, nut, equals chet, sin. “But this isn’t superstition. We don’t even eat something that hints to sins. Why? Because today isn’t about mistakes, it’s about His majesty. It’s about crowning the King of the universe.”
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Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level
Surface claim
Rabbi Landau teaches that we avoid nuts on Rosh Hashanah because egoz has the numerical value of chet, sin.
What may be behind it
The custom is a mindset: on the day of coronation we don’t even bring a hint of sin to the table.
Deepest human truth
The day is not about our mistakes but about His majesty. What the King wants is loyalty, presence, and a voice declaring Him King.
More questions from this teaching
More answers: The Cycle of Renewal: Elul, Holidays, and Light · All questions · Questions about Rabbi Landau and Rivnitz