Rosh Hashana usually begins with pieces of apple and challah dipped in honey. This 'sweet beginning' is to celebrate a sweet New Year. The challah also symbolizes the cycle of the New Year with its roundness. The round shape, symbolic of the cyclical and eternal nature of life, express the hope that the coming year will be a good one.
Many bakeries add raisins in their challahs.
The custom of eating sweets on Rosh Hashana is more than 1,500 years old. It expresses the hope that sweetness will enter the lives of all Jews in the coming year. Another common food eaten during Rosh Hashana is honey cakes. Honey cake is served with the hope and prayer that those who observe Jewish traditions will be blessed with a 'goodly portion. The High Holy Days end with our fate for the New Year in scribed in the pages of the Book of Life.