From a young age, we are conditioned to love fall. "As children, we come to associate fall with going back to school, new school supplies, seeing friends," Kathryn Lively, professor of sociology at Dartmouth College, explains in the Huffington Post. "We still respond to this pattern that we experienced for eighteen years." As adults, we mimic these delights with fall flavors and holiday traditions, reinforcing our excitement for the season.
In Jewish communities, fall also brings the most important religious holidays and Jewish customs, chock-full of rituals and recipes that create our own unique associations with the season. The sweet Rosh Hashanah taste of honey recipes, inspired by the tradition of eating apples and honey to symbolize our wishes for a sweet new year, the sounds of the shofar blasts, which act as reminders of our need for repentance, and the citrusy smell of etrogim that fills the synagogue on Sukkot mold us from a young age to connect this time of year to the sensations of the High Holidays.
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